Essay - Pre-socratic Philosophy: What are Some of the Main Themes of...

Pre-Socratic Philosophy: What are some of the main themes of the Pre-Socratics?

What are we made *****? Who ***** we?

The Pre-Socratic philosophers of ancient Greece *****re not a formal philosophical school, but a loose group of *****s, m*****ny of whom disagreed with one a*****her or were preoccupied with different philosophical questions. Some, like the Pythagoreans strove to understand the organization ***** ***** universe, others like the Sophists, strove ***** answer the question of how to live a better moral and civic life. The term "*****" is usually used to refer a general ***** of philosophers who lived before the time of Socrates. Some influenced his teachings—or crossed rhetoric swords with the great philosopher and others viewed the world through a scientific or mathematical rather than a moral paradigm.

Some ***** the concerns of ***** Pre-Socratic seem fairly tangential to Socrates' interest in living a good or ***** life. What we think ***** modern scientific *****, such as the composition of natural life, w***** the preoccupation of many *****, such as Thales, who theorized that all of matter was composed of water. Pythagoras and Zeno attempted ***** underst***** the world from a ***** perspective. Pythagoras' belief in a h*****rmonious world and essential symmetry to the cosmos sprung forth from ***** mathematical philosophy.

One of the most enduring legacies ***** the ***** concern with ***** source of all sentient life is a*****m*****m, advocated by Democritus. The definition of atoms as things "that cannot be cut up or actively divided up and split," seems more like a precursor to ***** physics rather than philosophy (80) ***** ***** as Crit***** asked questions, not about the natural world, but the moral and political life of citizens and acted as "independent, often itinerants teachers of wisdom," and above all conveyers of "political skills" that were of vital importance in a free-for-all democracy like ancient A*****ns, where the ability to "speak well" and persuasively was a ***** survival skill (6;96). The Sophists were rivals ***** Socrates because ********** claimed that morality was based in convention, and did ***** exist outside of social *****stitutions like language.

***** diversity of the Pre-Socratic *****s highlights the complexity ***** what constituted ***** in ancient *****. Some philosophers asked questions about *****, ***** ***** morality, but philosophy did not evolve as a seamless line of ideas, rather different questions seemed pressing, depending on the political state ***** affairs of the nation.

Works Cited

Pre-Socratic Reader: Selected Fragments ***** Testimonial.

Edited by Patricia Curd. Translations ***** Richard D. McKirahan. Jr. New York: Hackett Publishing Company,