What is the Fabric of the Cosmos?
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Is the basic element of existence subjective
or objective?
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Is the basic element of existence knowable?
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How can we test for the basic element of existence?
Metaphysics
(all dates and stories are approximate truths):
The First Metaphysicians (Materialism)
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Miletus (585bce): Early metaphysicians all
posited that reality was made of physical
elements.
Early Philosophers (or the earliest we know of in
the West) attempted to discover what the nature
of reality was from observing physical nature.
Almost twenty-six hundred years ago, the first
philosopher recorded his thoughts on the nature
of reality
He was known to be eccentric; he once fell into a
well while thinking about the stars (‘Little Bear’).
He argued the nature of reality was Water…
THALES
(624 – 546bce):
First Western Philosopher
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Lived in Miletus along the Mediterranean Sea
Left no writings; references to his writings/life
Became wealthy from Olive Oil business; invented tools of
measurement, solved military problems during wars with Persia
“Water is the ultimate reality”: comprehensible, solid, substantial
(substance); What does our textbook say is so monumental about
this assertion? How does it reflect modern science’s attempt to
explain metaphysics? (see pg 114)
He believed water passed the Ontological tests. All things, he
believed, were made of water.
In what ways is he correct?
In what ways is he wrong?
Anaximander
(610 – 546bce),
student of Thales
Reality is made of apeiron (indefinite)
 Reality is unknowable, mysterious
 It is the most basic component of reality
 We cannot experience it; we can only know if its manifestations.
 All was once infinite and boundless; then from this indefinite infinity, finite
things broke off
 Humans crawled from the sea and changed into other creatures over time.
Other worlds exist, other galaxies exist.
 “From what source things arise, to that they return of necessity when they
are destroyed…”
 What problems arise with this solution to reality?
Challenge: Read Anaximander’s quote on pg 114. Explain what he means
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Anaximenes
(585 – 528bce),
student of Anaximander
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Lived in Miletus and studied with Anaximander; Last of the Milesian
philosophers
Attempted to combine both Anaximander and Thales’ ideas to come
up with his assertion  Air
Air is boundless (everywhere); also specific and tangible substance
Water was thickened air
Earth was thickened (even more) air
“[Air] differs in essence in accordance with its rarity or density. When it
is thinned it becomes fire, while when it is condensed it becomes
wind, then cloud, when still more condensed it becomes water, then
earth, then stones. Everything else comes from these.” -Anaximenes
Heraclitus from Ephesus
(536 – 470bce):
Believer in Fire
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Shifted the discussion to most basic substance to ‘the problem
of change’  All things are in flux.
[Modern assertion] Reality is energy and change, matter is an
effect of energy
Fire is the most basic substance (because it is ever-changing)
Fire is always changing and consuming
Fire seemed necessary to constructing most important
materials
“The world that is the same for all, neither any god nor any
man shaped it, but it ever was and is and shall be ever-living
Fire that kindles by measures and goes out by measures.” Heraclitus
Democritus
(460 – 371bce):
An early Atomist
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Believed the most basic element was an atom
He claimed they were tiny indestructible materials
(atoms); they could combine and recombine to form
different elements
Elements might change or be destroyed, but not their
atoms.
Atoms (protons, neutrons, electrons) made up reality,
Democritus claimed.
How similar is this view to today?
 What has changed?