Anaxagoras
Pre-Socratic philosopher who introduced Cosmic Mind and explained eclipses.
He gave novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including a correct explanation for eclipses.[1] Anaxagoras, responding to Parmenides' arguments about change being impossible, put forward the idea of Nous (Cosmic Mind) as a force that brings order.[1] Around 450 BC, Anaxagoras proposed that the Sun might be a star, a view also later held by Aristarchus of Samos.[2]
Quick Facts
- Region
- Western philosophy
- Era
- Ancient philosophy
- Born
- c. 500 BC
- Birthplace
- Clazomenae, Ionia, Persian Empire
- Died
- 428 BC
- Place of death
- Lampsacus
- School of thought
- Ionian school
- Main interests
- Natural philosophy
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
At Athens, he became close with the statesman Pericles.[3] He described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation came from relative preponderance of ingredients.[4] He deduced that the Moon reflected sunlight and did not produce its own light.[5] His book was reportedly available for a drachma in the Athenian marketplace.[6]
Anaxagoras came from the town of Clazomenae, where he was born early in the 5th century BC, possibly into a family of high social standing.[3] The spirit of scientific inquiry and philosophy was carried from Ionia to Athens by Anaxagoras.[7] Both Diogenes Laërtius and Plutarch record that Anaxagoras faced an impiety charge later in life and subsequently went into exile at Lampsacus.[3] To account for change, Anaxagoras stated that a homogeneous or nearly homogeneous original mixture was set in motion and separated by an ordering force he called nous (cosmic mind).[4]
According to Anaxagoras, the heavenly bodies were rocky masses that had been ripped from the Earth and set on fire by their swift spinning.[8]
What the cited sources add
The "Ask a Solar Physicist" source states that Anaxagoras, around 450 BC, was the first known person to suggest that the Sun is a star up close.[2] That source also notes he thought the Sun and stars were fiery stones, with stars too far away for their heat to be felt.[2] The same source adds that Anaxagoras had no way of actually measuring the sizes of or distances to stars, so he had no proof for his ideas.[2]
References
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ask a Solar Physicist" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Ask a Solar Physicist". facts only, no text reused. solar-center.stanford.edu
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Curd 2019, p. 1; DK 59A1; Curd 2019, p. 1; Copleston 2003; Curd 2019, p. 1; Curd 2019, p. 1; Filonik 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Curd 2011, p. B12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wills, "Anaxagoras and the Eclipse: The First to Get It Right", JSTOR Daily, February 17, 2024; Gregory, "Parmenides, Cosmology and Sufficient Reason", Apeiron, 2014, p. 16–47; Burgess, "Transcendent Apriorism: Pure Reason's Quest for the Noumenal", Universal-Publishers, 2011, p. 90 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Curd 2019, p. 1; Curd 2019, p. 1; Curd 2019, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wallace Mitchell 1911, p. 943; Wallace Mitchell 1911, p. 943; Schmitz 1870 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Anaxagoras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wallace Mitchell 1911, p. 943 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Anaxagoras (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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