I leave you the best phrases of Anaximander, philosopher of ancient Greece, disciple of Thales of Miletus and teacher of Anaximenes. Anaximander (610-546 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city in Ionia (in modern Turkey). He belonged to the milésiana school and learned the teachings of his teacher Thales of Mileto.
He succeeded Thales and became the second teacher of that school, where he had Anaximenes and possibly Pythagoras among his students. According to available historical documents, Anaximander is the first known philosopher to have written down his studies, although only a fragment of his work remains.
He was one of the first defenders of science and tried to observe and explain different aspects of the universe, with a particular interest in its origins. He claimed that nature is governed by laws, just like human societies, and anything that upsets the balance of nature will not last long.
Like many thinkers of his time, Anaximander's philosophy included contributions to many disciplines. In astronomy, he tried to describe the mechanics of the heavenly bodies in relation to the Earth.
In physics, his postulation that the indefinite (or apeiron) was the source of all things, took Greek philosophy to a new level of conceptual abstraction. His knowledge of geometry allowed him to introduce the gnomon in Greece.
He created a map of the world that contributed to the advancement of geography. He was also involved in the politics of Miletus and was sent as a leader to one of its colonies.
His philosophy can be summed up like this (described by Aristotle):
Among its achievements, the following stand out:
- He was the first known Greek who dared to publish a prose treatise on nature.
- He devised the first map of the world.
- He was the first to invent a gnomon and placed it on the sundials in Lacedaemon.
- He was the first to trace the perimeter of the Earth and the sea and also built a celestial sphere.
- He anticipated current theories of evolution, stating that life must have started in water and that man is too weak to have survived in more hostile times; For this reason, it must necessarily come from fish-like animals, which had greater protection.
You may also be interested in these phrases of great philosophers or these of Archimedes.
His most outstanding phrases
-Immortal and indestructible, surround everything and destroy everything.
-Water is the arché (principle) of the universe.
-The indefinite is divine, because it is immortal and imperishable.
-The unlimited has no beginning because, in that case, it would be limited.
-Nature is eternal and does not age.
-The earth is cylindrical, three times as wide as its depth and only the upper part is inhabited. But this earth is isolated in space and the sky is a complete sphere in the center of which is, without support, our cylinder, the Earth, is located at the same distance from all points in the sky.
-The original principle of things is the apeiron. This is where they arise, this is where they later perish out of necessity.
-The indefinite is ingenious and incorruptible, since what begins necessarily has an end and all corruption has an end.
-Things originate from the separation of opposites.
-All beings are derived from other older beings by successive transformations.
-The principle and element of things is the indefinite.
-Things are full of Gods.
-There are many worlds and many Universe systems that all exist at the same time, all of them perishable.
-The origin from which existing things derive their existence is also the one to which they return in their destruction.
-The air is cold, the water is humid and the fire is hot. Therefore, if any of these elements were infinite, the rest would have already ceased to be.