Why does /his/ think early Greek/pre-Socratic philosophers wanted to reduce reality to a single element or force? Are the differences between philosophers just arbitrary?
Because "evertything is one", also everything can't be exchange or change of themselves.
Which one? They didn't all do that, some believed in a harmony of elements
>pre-socratic philosophers
>inferring anyone gives a shit about this prehensile nonsense
>plinytheelder.jpeg
>>331108
High intellect garbage?
Garbage that has the ability to grasp or wrap-around?
Was prehensile the right word?
>>331126
Nonsense* I should have wrote.
>>331126
prehensile in the sense it failed to grasp the simplest of modern concepts, moron
>>331141
Then it wasn't prehensile. Prehensile would mean that it *could* grasp things, both physically and mentally. Consult a dictionary before you try to be the 4chan smart-man.
>>331172
actually prehensile means it is incapable of grasping, thus the 'pre' prefix at the start of the term hensile. lrn2dictionary neckbeard faggot
Parmenides is the most based thinker before Plato
>>331199
Hensile isn't even a fucking word you buffoon.
"Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term prehendere, meaning "to grasp" "
I hope your only pretending to be retarded.
>>331172
perhaps your enthusiasm and energy towards correct grammar would be better suited improving your social life? perhaps take up fitness, just like your personal hero did
>butthurt detected
>>331216
to be fair, plato also went around buttfucking children so he's probably not the best role model
>>331216
Gonna need to buy a new projector mate
>>331216
>quote by Socrates
lol, from where
assuming Socrates even existed (given the extremely diverse personalities attributed to him), probably the closest we have to a "historical" quote is the Apology
>>331252
Actually I've read quite a few of Socrates works so you can shut up
>>331204
This. Parmenides is not only the best pre-Socratic but poses an ongoing problem to the whole rest of philosophy T B H
>>331265
Did Aristotle properly defeat Parmenides?
>>331285
no desu
democritus and protagoras were much smarter than plato and his dumbasses.
all they needed was a form of probability theory, so they could bridge the gap from true individual subjectivity to aggregate objectivity. plato exploited this defect and returned to superstition of the masses.
>local faggot ruins everything for the next 2000 years
>>331285
Not really. They have almost diametrically opposed ontological positions
>>331308
>Man is the measure of all things.
>muh atoms
pls
it's not like the Socratic method is important or anything.
It's a mistake to understand the pre-socratics as elemental wizards. Anaximander's concept of the infinite is very interesting.
He believed "infinite" was the original state of everything, that was the original element from which all others are formed. He also proposed the universe had an unlimited size and literally described the multi-verse, an infinite amount of universes.
What's importaint about Thales, even though he was wrong that everything is made of water is he was the first to propose that there is some greater understanding of reality, a secret nature nature of the world. You can actually sum up a great deal of philosophy with his formula
"The world appears to be normal, but it is actually all _____"
Thales: Water
Pythagoras: An expression of Math
Heraclitus: Flux
Plato: Forms
Shoupenhaurer: Will
Hegel: Geist
Spinoza: A unified God
Nietzsche: Power
Baudrillard: A hyper reality
Feminists: Patriarchy
Heraclitus's flux theory is amazing. The guy thought matter was energy, Einstein would later prove him right.
>>332023
Pssst Thales may not have proposed that all was water; some scholars suggest he spoke of a flood myth rather than an arche.
>>332034
I think his "everything is full of Gods" idea was probably more important than we think. Generally attributing divine properties to something means it's importaint. So attributing divine properties to everything is an affirmation of life.
stephen hawking himself says in a brief history of time that the goal of modern physics is to find the single force that explains the universe, combining relativity with quantum mechanics
>>331252
Where and why did this meme start
>>332685
Socrates in the Apology is different to Socrates in the Republic
Ergo Socrates never existed
>>332712
It seems more and more likely that Socrates, as we know him, was an invented literal figure, and everyone after Plato joined in on the joke
Plato blatantly uses him to represent his own views, and several biographical descriptions that we have are very different, portraying him as an annoying pest that bothered nobles, to a natural philosopher, to someone who only dealt with ethics.
We just can't know without any texts from the guy, it's almost as mysterious as Jesus.
>>332750
Plato did represent Socrates in several ways but it's important to know that these different representations correspond to different periods of Plato's writings, it's generally agreed that the earlier dialogues (such as the Apology) represent a Socrates as Socrates whereas the later dialogues utilize Socrates as a literary technique to outline Plato's own views.
