EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY: THALES, HERACLITUS, EMPEDOCLES, ANAXAGORAS (through the literary criticism: MARXISM)

Early Greek Philosophy: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras is a reading from the text that combines different aspects of the four different “pre-socratics” philosophers. These four philosophers were some of “the earliest ‘scientific’ thinkers of ancient Greece and they are known as the pre-socratics because historians have seen a sharp break between their interests and those of philosophers after Socrates”. Most of these four philosophers that are quoted in this text lived in the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia, in modern Turkey. However, these four philosophers’ writings in this text are not completely their own work. Instead, many people after their time period were able to keep track of ‘fragments’ of the philosophers words/ideas, and this usually means “that they were quoted or paraphrased by much later ancient authors”. Even though these four philosophers’ ideas come from a paraphrased or fragmented piece of their works, it is still clear that their ideas were revolutionary.

Looking at this text through the Marxism literary criticism point of view is very relevant and helps readers understand more of why these four philosophers believed in what they believed in. For example, reading through the entire text itself it is evident that each philosopher; Thales. Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, all have their own personal beliefs and theories as to what made up the earth as a whole and what are the primary reasons for earth’s sustainability. Basically, these four scientific philosophers wanted to get to the bottom of what the earth was made of and how it keeps surviving… and they had some pretty interesting theories! Thales believed that the earth was made up of a single underlying substance: water. Heraclitus believed that change is the fundamental principle of the universe and it operates with a continual process of opposites turning into each other. Empedocles believed that the world works by a combination of love and strife, so the four elements – air, earth, water, and fire – are constantly being conjoined and separated from one another. Finally, Anaxagoras believed that the parts of the universe are in a constant process of separation and mixture, controlled by an underlying principle of intelligence or mind. From this text it is obvious to tell what these four scientific philosophers believed in, however, why did they believe in it? Well, looking at it through the Marxism point of view that becomes very obvious as well. These four scientific philosophers believed in these theories of what made up the universe because they lived in a social setting of ancient Greece/Greek-speaking cities, and there economic class just so happened to be that they were average people with no real power or anything. It was not until they began to question earth’s existence and make theories/discoveries as to why earth was here that they became very honorable scientific philosophers who went down in history and their beliefs went on to other people. I believe that due to their economic standing of when they first became ‘scientific philosophers’, these four have given themselves more credit to be believed and not misjudged. They are definitely not some rich, powerful individuals who just came up with these theories/discoveries out of thin air… no. Instead, they did their research and came to the most reasonable conclusion they could as to why the earth exists and how it remains stable in its existence!

Barnes, Jonathan. “Early Greek Philosophy: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 48-51. Print.