these are my notes............it has to be in essay form but I have to cover all these questions with the info from my notes The nature of substance (Ousia) The what(ness) of a thing- If removed things would not exist. The problem of permanence & change What everything shares in commen. Permanence What if there was only permanence- there wouldn’t be a change. We know that with permanence there is always change. It is in terms of being and becoming (the everyday experience) Being- (Ology) the existence of something There is change in being which explains the becoming. Being & Becoming contradicts each other. To what extent do they change? The One in the many (or the One and the many)- There are many things in the world that we encounter. There are a lot of things that we encounter in the world. Is there one characteristic that these thing share We are saying what everything has in common- Ultimately we are saying how the One becomes the many. Ousia- The substance, the Matter, the result of which something is made up First Philosophers: The Milesians (Matter) (Ionians (peninsula in the eastern colony of Greece; today’s Turkey) A city of Miledis: Three Thinkers: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes The Milesians are considered as materialists. They believed ousia is matter. Thales: Water- Everything is made of water. (Water) 1st Philosopher- Regarded as such by the Ancients. He is first to predict the occurrence of an eclipse. Philosophy begins in 585 B.C.E. Predict- saying what is going to happen before it happens based on philosophical or nature. Prophesy- saying what is going to happen before it happens based on a higher being. In prediction the saying is ultimately based on a pattern of events that happened in the natural. Thales went to Babylon- there they kept meticulous records of the movement of the heavenly body. To the Babylonians this was an act of religion. Using their record, Thales discovered that there were multiple accounts of eclipse in a pattern; which he ultimately uses to predict the next one. Thales could have made money but chose not. This changes the attitude from mythological to philosophical. He develops better ways to build fire, bridges and other practical ideas. This becomes the core aspect of the world view. “Nature is not something to be scared of; it is there for our use. 5/21/09 He says the earth is highly condensed water, and uses it to explain earthquakes. He is ultimately saying that earthquakes are natural events that just happen and there are no mythological explanation for it. Anaximander is a student of Thales. (Apeiron) He actually put himself under the guidance of Thales. Although he learned a lot, he disagreed with Thales. Born approximately 610 b.c.e- 545b.c.e. Ousia= Apeiron- the boundless or the unlimited and a basic, fundamental matter that does not present itself to us as anything. It is pure matter This is something that we would recognize but it creates something that we recognize. Apeiron is explained it in 4 different varieties: 1. Hot 2. Cold 3. Wet 4. Dry In the beginning before there was anything identifying there was apeiron. Motion seems to be natural in apeiron. (Hint because it is natural you do not have to explain it.) In Apeiron you begin to have clusters of things that are alike. All the cold, all hot, all wet, all dry in different areas. This creates secondary concentrations: wet cold, surrounded hot dry: which explains the natural formation or origin of the earth. Because this is happening on earth it means that the same thing is happening somewhere else. Hence what is happening on the earth is not unique. This is the transition from inert matter to a human being. The apeiron is saying that there are in fact other human beings in the universe. Anaximander says the earth is drum shaped and we walk on one of its sides. This indicates that space is isotropic: the same in all directions. It is his belief that there are rings around the earth that are filled with hot and dry apeiron. Each tube has holes and the holes are the sun, moon and stars. He also believes that the sun is closer than the moon because it’s brighter and we can feel the heat. Infinite Regress: any answer you give results in another question that asks the same. Anaximander explains why eclipses occur- he say periodically as the hot and dry apeiron goes in and out it starts getting clog and becomes blocked. The blockage hides the sun until it clears up.