The Beginning of the Solar System

Scientists believe that the solar system was formed when a cloud of gas and dust in space was disturbed,
maybe by the expl osion of a nearby star (called a supernova). This explosion made waves in space
the gas and dust together. Just like a dancer that spins faster as she pulls in her arms, the cloud began
to spin as it collapsed. Eventually, the cloud grew hotter and denser in the center, with a disk of gas and
dust surrounding it that was hot in the center but cool at the edges.
What will happen to the Solar System?
Scientists believe that stars do not always remain the same. We believe our Sun and our solar system
was formed by the collapse of a cloud of gas and dust in space 4.6 billion years ago. The Sun is now a
middle aged star, with 9 planets and many other bodies near it in the solar system. In another 5 billion
years, scientists think that the Sun will become much larger as energy from within makes the outer layers
of the Sun expand, eventually becoming red giant. As this happens, most of the inner planets will be
destroyed (including Earth). Eventually, after another 100 million years, the Sun will no longer be able to
make energy, and will become a white dwarf, the size of a small planet.
As the disk got thinner and thinner, particles began to stick together and form clumps. Some clumps got
bigger, as particles and small clumps stuck to them, eventually forming planets or moons . Near the
center of the cloud, where planets like Earth formed, only rocky material could stand the great heat. Icy
matter settled in the outer regions of the disk, where the giant planets like Jupiter formed. As the cloud
continued to fall in, the center eventually got so hot that it became a star, the Sun, and blew most of the
gas and dust of the new solar system. By studying fragments of rock left over from this early phase of the
solar system, scientists have found that the solar system is about 4600 million years old!
Any model of Solar System formation must explain the following facts:

 All the orbits of the planets are prograde

 All the planets (except Pluto) have orbital planes that are inclined by less than 6 degrees
with respect to each other
 Terrestrial planets are dense, rocky and small, while jovian planets are gaseous and
large.

10. Parmenides (510 BC–560 BC)

Parmenides was a known follower of Pythagoras, another renowned figure in the

philosophical paradigm of ancient Greece. His poems and thoughts have always seemed to
be significantly influenced by the philosopher Xenophanes, leading most historians to
believe that he must have been his pupil. Among the pre-Socratic philosophers (those who
were in the limelight before the time of Socrates), he is seen as one of the most significant
ones.

In his only known work, the aptly titled poem On Nature, he tries to unravel the biggest
question of all: Is it or is it not? His attempt at deciphering this philosophical question (a
rhetorical one, some might say) leads to a rather paradoxical statement rather than a
satisfying answer. Parmenides states that everything “that is” must have always been, since
any arbitrary “nothing” would have to come from nothing itself. And in turn, it becomes a
paradox because it is impossible to think of what “is not,” and again, it is also impossible to
think of something that cannot be thought of. Subsequent philosophers would go on to try
and simplify these philosophical impossibilities.
9. Anaxagoras (500 BC–428 BC)

Another important figure from the pre-Socratic era, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae was an
influential philosopher and scientist who lived and taught in Athens for almost 30 years.
His philosophical views revolved around nature itself. As was the case with most of the
philosophers in ancient Greece, his ideas contrasted and collided with contemporary
ideologies and beliefs and this led him to face life-threatening cons. Anaxagoras is credited
as being the first to establish a philosophy in its entirety in Athens, a place where it would
go on to reach its peak and continue to have an impact on society for hundreds of years to
come. He devoted much of his time to explaining nature as it is, taking the universe as an
undifferentiated mass until it was worked upon by a spiritual component which he called
“nous” meaning “mind.” He believed that in the physical world, everything contained a part
of everything else. Nothing was pure on its own, and everything was jumbled together in
chaos. The application of nous assigns a certain motion and meaning to this chaos.

8. Anaximander (610 BC–546 BC)

Anaximander of Miletus is the famous pupil of, and in many ways a philosophical successor
to, Thales himself. He is credited as being the first known writer on philosophy because the
first surviving lines of Western philosophy were written by him. He is also well known in
the fields of early biology and geography. He created the first world image of an open
universe, a move away from the notion of a closed universe, making him the first
speculative astronomer in human history.

He further extended the philosophical views of his master, proposing an “arche” or a

principle that he believed to be the basis of the whole universe. But unlike Thales, he
thought that this basis had an “apeiron” (an unlimited substance) that acted as a source for
everything. This source acted as the prime point of differentiation for polar opposites like
hot and cold, light and dark, and so on. Much of his work remains truncated, especially at
the hands of subsequent generations of philosophers. But he was indeed one of the greatest
minds in ancient Greece.

7. Empedocles (490 BC–430 BC)

Empedocles was one of the most important pre-Socratic era philosophers and even more
outstanding were his poems that went on to have a great influence on later poets including
the likes of Lucretius. One of his philosophical landmarks has been his assertion of the four-
element theory of matter. It states that all matter is basically composed of four primary
elements – earth, air, fire, and water. This became one of the earliest theories to have been
postulated on particle physics, although some historians see it as a complex effort to negate
the non-dualism theory of Parmenides.
He simply rejected the presence of any void or empty space, thus completely contradicting
the philosophical ideology of Parmenides. He put forth the idea of opposite motive forces
involved in the building of the world, namely love as the cause of union, and strife as the
cause of separation. He also went on to become the first person to give an evolutionary
account on the development of species.

6. Zeno (490 BC–430 BC)

At a time when most philosophers in ancient Greece were using reason and knowledge to
interpret nature, Zeno of Elea was devoting his time to elucidating the many puzzles and
paradoxes of motion and plurality. It is worth noting that he attempted to explain
contradictory conclusions present in the physical world many years before the
development of logic.

Zeno further expanded and defended the philosophical ideologies established by

Parmenides, which were facing much opposition from common opinion at that time. He
propounded multiple paradoxes himself, which were debated among later generations of
philosophers. The majority of contemporary arguments on his paradoxes were on the
infinite division of time and space, such as if there is a distance, there is also half that
distance and so on. Zeno was the first in philosophical history to show that the concept of
infinity existed.

5. Pythagoras (570 BC–495 BC)

Another pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, Pythagoras is known far more for his theories and
ideas in mathematics than in philosophy. In fact, he is best known for the theorem in
geometry that is named after him. He is one of the most familiar names in pre-Socratic
society, yet we know surprisingly little about him. He is credited with founding a
philosophical school that amassed a great many followers.

It was at this school that Pythagoras tried to find a mutual harmony between real life and
the practical aspects of philosophy. His teachings were not strictly confined to what we
know as philosophy, but also included common issues like rules on living, what daily food
to eat and so on. He regarded the world as the perfect harmony and based his teaching on
how to lead a harmonious life.

4. Socrates (469 BC–399 BC)

Socrates embarked on a whole new perspective of achieving practical results through the
application of philosophy in our daily lives, something that was largely missing in the
approach of pre-Socratic philosophy. He openly moved away from the relentless physical
speculations that previous philosophers had been so busy interpreting and assimilating
and attempted to establish an ethical system based on human reasoning rather than
various (and often widely debated) theological doctrines.
Instead of regurgitating ideas based solely on his individual interpretations, he would
question people relentlessly on their beliefs, and try to find definitions of virtues by
conversing with anyone proclaiming to possess such qualities. Socrates became a key
figure and amassed numerous followers, but he also made many enemies. Eventually, his
beliefs and realistic approach to philosophy led to his execution. But one might argue that
his philosophical martyrdom, more than anything else, turned him into the iconic figure
that he is today.

3. Plato (427 BC–347 BC)

Plato was a student of Socrates and was visibly influenced by the philosophical approach of
his master. But while Socrates was relentlessly occupied with interpreting philosophy
based on human reasoning, Plato combined the two major approaches of pre-Socratic
metaphysics and natural theology with Socratic ethical theology.

The foundation of Plato’s philosophy is threefold: dialects, ethics, and physics, the central
point of unison being the theory of forms. For him, the highest of forms was that of the
“good,” which he took as the cause of being and knowledge. In physics, he agreed with
many Pythagorean views. Most of his works, especially his most famous work The
Republic, combine various aspects of ethics, political philosophy, and metaphysics among
others, into a systematic, meaningful, and applicable philosophy.

2. Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC)

Aristotle of Stagira was the most influential among the disciples of Plato. His interpretation
of things was more based on facts learnt from the experience people would gain in their
lives, an approach that differed from that of his master who preferred a perspective that
was beyond the accessibility of the physical senses. He proved to be an imaginative writer
and equally creative polymath, gradually re-writing pre-established concepts in almost all
areas of knowledge that he encountered.

At a time when human knowledge was still far too generalized, he broke down this
knowledge into distinct categories such as ethics, biology, mathematics, and physics – a
classification pattern still used today. Aristotle is truly a key figure in ancient Greek
philosophy whose influence went on to have an impact way beyond the bounds of ancient
Greece.

1. Thales of Miletus (620 BC–546 BC)

Thales of Miletus gets the top spot on this list for representing a pivotal point in ancient
Greek philosophy from which subsequent generations of famous thinkers, theorists,
dialectics, meta physicists, and philosophers sprouted. He is hailed among historians as the
father of ancient Greek philosophy. The majority of Thales’ ideologies come from Aristotle,
who points to Thales as the first person to have investigated basic principles such as the
origin of matter. Thales is also said to be the founder of the school of natural philosophy.

As a philosopher, Thales rarely confined his research to the limited area of contemporary
knowledge and was actively engaged in understanding various aspects of knowledge such
as philosophy, mathematics, science, and geography. He is also said to have developed a
well-defined standard to theorize why changes occur. He proposed water as the basic
underlying component of the world. Thales was highly esteemed among ancient Greeks and
his hypotheses usually added meaning and breadth to already existing ideas on nature.

Conclusion

The emergence of the entire Western philosophical tradition can be traced back to the era
of ancient Greek philosophy. The evolution of philosophy and critical thinking in ancient
Greece started somewhere around the sixth century BC and arguably played a pivotal role
in the subsequent development of the knowledge that we have today. Philosophers
practiced varying approaches to their philosophical journey, seeking answers to known
paradoxes, and creating countless more on the way. This started with the first attempt by
Thales to look at the world from a methodical perspective. The subsequent cohort of
critical thinkers went on to diversify this approach into natural science, metaphysics and,
eventually, ethical theology – leading to the evolution of philosophy as we know it today.