STS Prelim ILP

2nd Trimester
SY 2019-2020

Name: Francis Niel S. Apolistar

Section: ERCA

Instructor: Jasmin Bulanhagui

Thales of Miletus
(624 – 548 B)
Traditionally
regarded as the first
Western philosopher and
mathematician, Thales of
Miletus (a Greek colony on
the west coast of present
day Turkey) lived c. 585
BCE. He accurately
predicted the solar eclipse
of May 28, 585 BCE and
was known as a skilled astronomer, geometer, statesman and
sage. Thales, it is said, was the first to ask the question, “What is
the basic 'stuff' of the universe” and, according to Aristotle, claimed
the First Cause was water because, among other attributes, water
could change shape and move while still remaining unchanging in
substance. There are no known writings by Thales and all that is
known of his life and work is through what we have written about
him by others.
Thales founded the Milesian School which, today, would
equate with a private college at which young men could pursue a
course of study in debate, investigation, and exploration of the
world around them. While there is no evidence that Thales was an
atheist or that he taught atheism, there is ample evidence that the
traditional understanding of the gods had no place in his teachings.
His most famous pupil, Anaximander, carried on this same point of
view as did Anaximenes, also of the Milesian School, after him.

Anaximines (611 – 547 BC)

Anaximenes of Miletus
(l. c. 546 BCE) was a younger
contemporary
of Anaximander and generally
regarded as his student.
Known as the Third
Philosopher of the Milesian
School after Thales (l. c. 585
BCE) and Anaximander (l. c.
610 - c. 546 BCE), Anaximenes
proposed air as the First Cause from which all else comes, differing
from Thales, who claimed water was the source of all things, or
Anaximander, who cited 'the boundless infinite'. To the Greeks of
the time, 'air' was comparable to 'soul' and, just as one's breath
gave an individual life, so air, Anaximenes claimed, gave life to all
observable phenomena.

Pythagoras of Crotona
(624 – 548 B)
Pythagoras (c. 571- c.
497 BCE) was
a Greek philosopher whose
teachings emphasized the
immortality and
transmigration of the soul
(reincarnation), virtuous,
humane behavior toward all
living things, and the concept
of “number” as truth in that mathematics not only cleared the mind
but allowed for an objective comprehension of reality.
He is best known in the modern day for the Pythagorean
Theorem, a mathematical formula which states that the square of
the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares
on the other two sides. This formula has been applied to measuring
distance and space as, for example, in planning and executing the
construction of a building. Although attributed to Pythagoras by
ancient writers, modern scholars cite evidence from Babylonian
texts, written some time before Pythagoras, which discuss the
same formula or, at least, one very similar.
Democritus (460 – 370 BC)

Democritus (c. 460 - c.

370 BCE) was
a Greek philosopher and
younger contemporary
of Socrates, born in Abdera
(though other sources cite
Miletus) who, with his teacher
Leucippus, was the first to
propose an atomic universe.
Very little is known of
Leucippus and none of his
work has survived but he is known by ancient writers as
Democritus’ teacher, and apparently wrote on many subjects
besides atomism.
Known as the 'laughing philosopher’ because of the
importance he placed on 'cheerfulness’, Democritus was the first
philosopher to posit that what we refer to as the 'Milky Way’ was the
light of stars reaching our perception and that the universe may in
fact be a multi-verse with other planets sustaining life (a theory
which Physicists today are increasingly recognizing as
mathematically probable).

Hippocrates of Kos
(430 – 347 BC)
Hippocrates was born
on the Greek island of Kos in
the 5th century BCE, and he
became the most famous
physician in antiquity. He
established a medical school
on the island, wrote many
treatises on medical matters,
and is, through his systematic
and empirical investigation of diseases and remedies, credited with
being the founder of modern medicine.
Hippocrates has long been credited with writing a large
number of ancient treatises, speeches, and letters on medicine,
collectively referred to as the Hippocratic Corpus (Corpus
Hippocraticum), which was compiled in the Hellenistic period in
Ptolemaic Alexandria. Modern scholars consider that, on stylistic
grounds alone, these texts must actually have been written by
multiple authors and point out that there is no reference to
Hippocrates ever writing anything in sources contemporary with his
lifetime. Scholars, therefore, hold the position that some of the texts
were written by Hippocrates but exactly which ones are still
debated.

Euclid (300 BC)

Euclid of Alexandria (lived c.
300 BCE) systematized
ancient Greek and Near
Eastern mathematics and
geometry. He wrote The
Elements, the most widely
used mathematics and
geometry textbook in history.
Older books sometimes
confuse him with Euclid
of Megara. Modern
economics has been called "a series of footnotes to Adam Smith,"
who was the author of The Wealth of Nations (1776 CE). Likewise,
much of Western mathematics has been a series of footnotes to
Euclid, either developing his ideas or challenging them.
Euclid did not originate most of the ideas in The Elements.
His contribution was fourfold:
 He collected important mathematical and geometric
knowledge in one book. The Elements is a textbook rather
than a reference book, so it does not cover everything that
was known.
 He gave definitions, postulates, and axioms. He called
axioms "common notions."
 He presented geometry as an axiomatic system: Every
statement was either an axiom, a postulate, or was proven
by clear logical steps from axioms and postulates.
 He gave some of his own original discoveries, such as the
first known proof that there are infinitely many prime
numbers.