THE BEGINNINGS OF

DOING PHILOSOPHY

PRE PA RE D BY JO NA LD JUST I NE UMA LI I T UG OT, LPT

Lesson Objective
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
✓give a concise background on the beginnings of
Western Philosophy;
✓describe the practice of doing philosophy from the
Western and Eastern traditions; and
✓have an idea of how the pre-Socratic philosophers in
ancient Greece went about their philosophic
endeavor.
The Pre-Socratics
▪Many of the popular ideas today had
their roots in pre-Socratic philosophy.
▪Western philosophy began in 630 B.C.,
while Socrates was born on c. 470 B.C.
▪Miletus was considered as a “melting
pot of ideas from other cultures” being
a center of trade and commerce
The Milesians
▪Philosophy started with the
triumvirate composed of Thales,
Anaximander and Anaximenes – all
from Miletus

Thales – Father of Western Philosophy

Anaximander – a student of Thales
Anaximenes – a student of Anaximander
The Milesians
▪Considered as the first group of
philosophers who have a non-
mythological account of nature
▪Did not use any instrument in
their claims, but used their
rational faculty together with their
ability to observe and to speculate
The Milesians
▪Considered as “hylozoists” (stuff
+ life) because they believed that
the universe is alive or animate
▪Believed in the doctrine that “all
matter has life”
Thales
▪One of the seven sages of ancient
Greece who was known for being a
philosopher, mathematician, and an
astronomer
▪Assumed that the earth is flat, thus, if
one reaches the edge of the horizon,
he/she will fall
Anaximander
▪A “very good prose writer”
▪Claimed that the fundamental
substance of reality is the infinite
(apeiron) which has no precise
characteristic or attribute
▪Attempted to draw a map and
believed that the earth is cylindrical
and is suspended in space
Anaximenes
▪Concluded that the fundamental
substance of reality must be air
▪Believed that the earth is flat, but
claimed that that it is floating like a
saucer in the air along with other
heavenly bodies
Question:
What do you think might have
happened if Thales failed to go
against the mythological tradition
of ancient Greece?
 TABLE COMPLETION
Complete the table below by filling-in the needed information.
(Textbook, pp. 10-12)

NAME OF PERSONAL TIME FRAME / MAIN IDEA(S)

PHILOSOPHER DESCRIPTION YEAR(S)
Pythagoras
Heraclitus
Parmenides
Empedocles
Anaxagoras
Zeno of Elea
Pythagoras
▪Leader of a religious cult known as the
“Pythagoreans”
▪Treated philosophy as a way of life,
and philosophy and religion are
connected and merged into one
▪Considered philosophy and
mathematics as “good for the
purification of the soul”
Pythagoras
▪Gave importance to the contemplative
life for the cathartic process of
purification, particularly in describing
the elation that one feels after
successfully solving a mathematical
problem
▪Believed that the primary constituent
of reality are numbers because
anything could be explained through
numbers
Heraclitus
▪Known for the mystical nature of
philosophy
▪Believed that the only permanent
thing in this world is change, and said
that “You cannot step twice into the
same rivers, for fresh waters are ever
flowing in upon you.”
▪Believed that the world is always
changing just like an ever-living fire
Parmenides
▪Leader of the Eleatic school in Southern
Italy
▪Contradicted Heraclitus’ idea of change
by saying that the only permanent thing
in this world is “being” made up of one
continuous object (something
indestructible, immovable, and complete
without beginning or end), and
everything in this world is interconnected
▪Became the inspiration for the study of
phenomenology and existentialism
Empedocles
▪Believed that we as immortal and that
he had magical powers, having cured
somebody who was comatose for 24
months
▪Had a lover named Pausanias, a
physician, who became the inspiration
for this literary works
▪He is regarded as a pluralist believing
that the reality is made up of four
elements: earth, air, fire, and water
Anaxagoras
▪Believed that the reality is not made of
just one element, saying that matter is
infinitely divisible and each separated
part contains elements of everything
else
▪Contributed the idea about the “nous”
(mind) which is external but infinite
and self-ruled, and has the “greatest
strength and power over all things” –
This was said to have emerged as the
Christian concept of God
Zeno of Elea
▪A loyal student and follower of
Parmenides who reiterated the
former’s latter’s concept of “being”
and interconnectedness
▪Believed that there is no such thing as
motion by explaining his theories
about Achilles and the Tortoise and
The Arrow in Flight Which is At Rest
The Arrow in Flight is At-Rest
Leucippus and Democritus
▪Believed that the ultimate
substance of reality is made
up of something inseparable
or indivisible (atom)
▪Their idea was later adopted
by the scientific community
after being proven upon the
discovery of the microscope
 Comparison of Western and Eastern Philosophy
WEST EAST
• The basic task of philosophers is to • There was no division between the
satisfy their curiosity objective world and man as a human
• Veered away from mythological being, thus man is seen as being one
tradition to explain the nature of with the world and this oneness is
things using rational ability practiced through religion
• Tends to use heavy logic, reason and • Philosophy, like religion, is a way of
categorization life, thus those who succeed reach a
• Breaks down ideas and focuses its high level of consciousness (Nirvana
parts rather than the whole in the Buddhist tradition)