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CHAPTER 2
THE PRESOCRATIC SOPHOS
Chapter 2 Key Concepts
The ancient Greeks mythological accounting of events
established two crucial principles: (1) There is a difference
between the way things appear and the way things really
are. (2) There are unseen causes of events; things happen as
they do for some reason.
The first philosophers were called sophos, or sages, from
the Greek word for wise. They challenged the mythological
worldview by asking for rational explanations of questions
that mythology could not adequately answer.
Traditionally, the first Western philosopher is said to have
Monism is the name for the belief that reality is essentially
one either one reality, one process, one substance, one
structure, or one ground.
Thales appeal to reasoned arguments inspired others to
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Heraclitus used the idea that the basic stuff is fire to solve
the problem of the one and the many: How is it possible that
many different things can come from one basic stuff?
Heraclitus called this universal principle logos. The Greek
word logos is rich and complex, meaning intelligence,
The Pythagoreans asserted that number is the first
principle of all things. The Pythagoreans discovered that
natural events could be described in mathematical terms,
especially as ratios. To the Pythagoreans, the principle of
number accounted for everything; number was a real thing,
not just a mental construct; numbers existed in space. In such
a view, all things follow rules, are ordered.
Parmenides radically transformed the early philosophers
interest in cosmology, the study of the universe as a rationally
ordered system (cosmos), into ontology, the study of being.
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Parmenides pupil, Zeno of Elea, forcefully defended the
paradoxical idea that motion is impossible, using a method
of proof known as a reductio ad absurdum (reduce to
Anaxagoras believed that any sensible thing contains bits
of an infinite variety of ultimate stuffs, or seeds.
Anaxagoras attempted to solve the riddle of the one and
The Atomist Democritus argued that there are really
many Parmenidean ones. He termed these ones atoms,
arguing that the absence of not-being is not the same thing as
the absence of empty space. Space is empty when it does not
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
Chapter 2 Teaching Tips
1. Take a moment to discuss the early notion that the sophos
is always a stranger to the world because he is atopos or
unclassifiable. Ask students to find current examples of
individuals or classes of individuals who fill the role of
sophos. If they cannot, is it because they are unaware of such
individuals or because contemporary culture has no place for
them?
2. The Presocratics have a false reputation for being
irrelevant or inaccessible to contemporary introductory
3. Of course the most important use of this chapter is to
prepare students for Plato s theory of the forms (Chapter 5).
4. Take advantage of student frustration over so many
conflicting theories by occasionally making references to
5. If you follow tip number 4, you will be laying additional
groundwork for discussing Plato s theory of forms.
6. Discuss some of the following rules of the Pythagorean
community with your class:
10. Help a man who is loading freight, but not one who
is unloading.
18. Do not sit on a quart measure. . . .
24. Do not look in a mirror beside a lamp.
7. Zeno s Paradoxes are always intriguing to students. When
8. Use the box Woman as Sophos on page 60 to raise the
question of women s overlooked contributions to philosophy.
9. Call attention to the Philosophical Query on page 60 to
generate a discussion of what it means to be a philosopher or
Muslim or Christian or liberal or conservative. How much of
a gap can exist between what a person professes and how he
or she behaves before we consider them to be insincere? Is
weakness of will distinguishable from hypocrisy? On what
criteria?
10. Use the microscopic image on page 68 as a prompt for a
discussion about the radical notion that all life is sacred and
worth preserving. If delta smelt, snail darters, artic fungi, and
other members of the natural community are entitled to
environmental protections and rights, are bacteria and
viruses? How do we decide? Are such distinctions
judgments, opinions, or feelings?