Presocratic philosophers

E13939

Presocratic philosophers were early Greek thinkers before Socrates who sought natural and rational explanations for the cosmos, laying the foundations of Western philosophy and science.


Statements (58)
Predicate Object
instanceOf ancient Greek philosophers
group of philosophers
historical movement
contributedTo concept of logos
development of scientific reasoning
early cosmological models
early theories of matter
coreQuestion How does change occur in nature?
What is the fundamental substance of reality?
What is the origin of the cosmos?
documentedBy Aristotle
Theophrastus
documentedIn Diels–Kranz collection
field cosmology
epistemology
ethics
metaphysics
natural philosophy
ontology
hasLocation Ionia
Magna Graecia
ancient Greece
southern Italy
hasSubgroup Atomists
Eleatic school
Milesian school
Pythagorean school
Sophists
hasTimePeriod 6th century BCE to 5th century BCE
includes Anaxagoras
Anaximander
Anaximenes of Miletus
Democritus
Empedocles
Gorgias
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Leucippus
Melissus of Samos
Parmenides of Elea
Philolaus
Protagoras
Pythagoras of Samos
Thales of Miletus
Xenophanes of Colophon
Zeno of Elea
influenced Aristotle
Plato
Socrates
Western philosophy
Western science
knownFrom fragments
later doxographical reports
language Ancient Greek
precedes Classical Greek philosophy
Socrates
rejected purely mythological explanations of nature
sought natural explanations of the cosmos
rational explanations of the cosmos

Referenced by (13)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Antisthenes ("Sophists")
Aristotelianism ("Pre-Socratic philosophy")
Aristotle ("Pre-Socratic philosophers")
Lucretius ("Pre-Socratic atomists")
Socrates
influencedBy
Gorgias ("Pre-Socratic philosophy")
Heraclitus ("Pre-Socratic philosophy")
era
Presocratic philosophers ("Milesian school")
Presocratic philosophers ("Atomists")
hasSubgroup
Democritus ("Pre-Socratic philosophy")
Pythagoras ("Presocratic philosophy")
philosophicalSchool
Ionian school ("Presocratic philosophy")
partOf
Eleatic school ("Presocratic philosophy")
philosophicalTradition

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