Phases of Pre-Socratic Philosophy: Approaches To The Question of Being

Phases of Pre-Socratic Philosophy: Approaches to
the Question of Being

Pre-Socratics approached the question of being primarily using two sets of questions: first,
whether the ultimate reality can be conceived of through a model based upon sensible element(s)
or intelligible element(s); second, whether the ultimate reality is immutable or ever changing.
This classification schema, however, is not exhaustive and some pre-Socratics (like the Sophists)
were not metaphysicians. The term “pre-Socratics” does not designate any particular school or
position, but simply all early Greek philosophers who were not under the influence of Socrates.
The first set of questions is whether the ultimate reality (ousia) is conceived of based on a model
of sensible elements or one of intelligible elements; in other words, visible materialistic elements
or invisible intelligible elements. Milesians and Pythagoreans were divided by their response to
this question. Earlier Milesians such as Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes approached being
from a sensible or materialistic aspect, and Pythagoreans approached being from an intelligible
or non-sensible aspect. This distinction between sensible and intelligible became the foundation
for the distinction between matter and form, which Aristotle fully developed later on.
The second set of questions is the question of whether the ultimate reality (ousia) is unchanging
or changing. Heraclites conceived of being as an ever-changing process or becoming,
and Parmenides conceived of being as unchanging or identical. The question of being and
becoming has become one of the perennial questions in the history of philosophy.
The concepts of being and becoming and immutability and change posed questions to Greek
thinkers. While the Parmenidean argument of being was logically appealing, the Heraclitian view
of the change and diversity of phenomena was experientially undeniable. Pluralistsand Atomists
responded differently to this question. Pluralists such as Empedocles and Anaxagoras identified
the essence of being with a number of immutable elements and explained changes by their
combinations. Atomists such as Leucippus and Democritus identified the unchanging being with
countless numbers of small indivisible elements called atoms (means “indivisible”) and
explained changes by their combinations and movements.
Pre-Socratics or pre-Socratic philosophers were the earliest Western

philosophers, active during the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.E. in ancient Greece.
These philosophers tried to discover principles that could uniformly, consistently,
and comprehensively explain all natural phenomena and the events in human life
without resorting to mythology. They initiated a new method of explanation known
as philosophy which has continued in use until the present day, and developed their
thoughts primarily within the framework of cosmology and cosmogony. Socrates was
a pivotal philosopher who shifted the central focus of philosophy from cosmology to
ethics and morality. Although some of these earlier philosophers were contemporary
with, or even younger than Socrates, they were considered pre-Socratics (or early
Greek Philosophers) according to the classification defined by Aristotle.
The pre-Socratic style of thought is often called natural philosophy, but their concept
of nature was much broader than ours, encompassing spiritual and mythical as well
as aesthetic and physical elements. They brought human thought to a new level of
abstraction; raised a number of central questions of ontology, which are still relevant
today; and cultivated the human spirit so as to open our eyes to the eternal truth.
Primary sources for their philosophical discourses have all been lost except in a
fragmentary form, and the best source is Aristotle. Although Aristotle’s interpretation
of their thought dominated for centuries, modern scholars have gone beyond
Aristotle to identify the original and unique contributions of the pre-Socratics.

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Phases of Pre-Socratic Philosophy: Approaches to

the Question of Being

Pre-Socratics or pre-Socratic philosophers were the earliest Western

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