Anaxagoras
E15102
Anaxagoras was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher known for introducing the concept of Nous (Mind) as the cosmic ordering principle and for offering naturalistic explanations of celestial and physical phenomena.
Aliases (1)
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ancient Greek philosopher
→
person → pre-Socratic philosopher → |
| activeIn |
5th century BCE
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|
| approximateBirthDate |
c. 500 BCE
→
|
| approximateDeathDate |
c. 428 BCE
→
|
| associatedWith |
Athens
→
Pericles → |
| birthPlace |
Asia Minor
→
Clazomenae → Ionia → |
| citizenship |
Ancient Greece
→
Classical Athens → |
| concept |
Nous as an ordering and moving principle
→
cosmic vortex (rotation) as cause of world order → everything contains a portion of everything → seeds (spermata) as basic constituents → |
| cosmology |
denial of generation and destruction in absolute sense
→
mixture and separation of ingredients explain change → |
| deathPlace |
Lampsacus
→
|
| influenced |
Aristotle
→
Euripides → Plato → Socrates → later Greek cosmology → |
| influencedBy |
Ionian natural philosophers
→
Parmenides → |
| knownFor |
introducing Nous as cosmic ordering principle
→
naturalistic explanations of celestial phenomena → naturalistic explanations of physical phenomena → pluralistic cosmology → theory of Nous (Mind) → |
| language |
Ancient Greek
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|
| legacy |
bridge between Ionian naturalism and classical philosophy
→
early proponent of scientific explanations of nature → |
| legalIssues |
prosecuted for impiety in Athens
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|
| name |
Anaxagoras
→
|
| philosophicalSchool |
pre-Socratic philosophy
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|
| profession |
philosopher
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|
| viewOnEclipses |
eclipses are caused by obstruction of light
→
|
| viewOnMeteorites |
meteorites are stones falling from the heavens
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|
| viewOnMilkyWay |
the Milky Way is the light of distant stars
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|
| viewOnMind |
Nous initiates motion in the cosmos
→
Nous is the finest and purest of all things → Nous is unmixed with anything → |
| viewOnMoon |
the moon is an earthy body that reflects the sun’s light
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|
| viewOnSun |
the sun is a fiery stone larger than the Peloponnese
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|
| work |
On Nature
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|
| wroteIn |
prose
→
|
Referenced by (13)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Classical Greece
→
Ionian school → |
hasNotablePhilosopher |
|
On Nature
("Anaxagoras of Clazomenae")
→
|
associatedWith |
|
On Nature
→
|
author |
|
Clazomenae
→
|
birthplaceOf |
|
Lampsacus
("Anaxagoras of Clazomenae")
→
|
famousResident |
|
Age of Pericles
→
|
hasAssociatedPerson |
|
Classical Greek philosophy
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|
hasKeyFigure |
|
Clazomenae
→
|
hasNotablePerson |
|
Presocratic philosophers
→
|
includes |
|
Socrates
→
|
influencedBy |
|
Anaxagoras
→
|
name |
|
Pericles
→
|
patronOf |