From myth to logic
Aqib Ullah
Reading philosophy has always been an intriguing journey for people dote on expanding their knowledge of different ideas. In a time when many were engrossed in futile stories and were creating their own stories to satiate themselves, philosophers appeared at the forefront to challenge these stories with their own approach.
Among those early philosophers who left a great impact in the history of philosophy was Thales, hailing from Miletus, a Greek colony in Asia Minor. It s said that he used to travel a lot and was the first person who had measured the height of a pyramid after comparing it with his own shadow. He was the first person who had predicted a solar eclipse in the year 585 B.C, when sun was considered a god by the people of that time.
Among these intellectual giants, the second was Anaximander, also from Miletus. He introduced the concept of the “boundless” (Apeiron), but it is not breeze to grasp wholly what he meant by it. He believed that our world is just one of many that evolve and dissolve , known as the boundless.
The third of these early philosophers,before Socrates, was Anaximenes (570–526 B.C.). He believed that the basic of everything was air or vapor, which was against the thoughts of Thales, who was a staunch believer that water was the basic substance behind all existence on Earth.
The most important among these early thinkers was Parmenides (540–480 B.C.), who came forward with the idea that everything that exists is everlasting and will continue to exist for good. He believed that nature is in a state of flux.
A contemporary of Parmenides, Heraclitus (540–480 B.C.), jumped into the arena with new idea that the world is characterized by opposites. Viz; pain is necessary to appreciate happiness, and without experiencing war, one cannot fully value peace. In simple words, he believed that both good and bad have their own importance in making the world a balanced place.
How can we put Anaxagoras (500–428 B.C.) on back burner, who surmised that life might exist on other planets after pondering over the vastness of the universe? He was also the first to challenge the belief that the sun was a god. He said that it was a giant ball of fire. His interest in astronomy was the main reason behind his debunking several myths.
There were myriad others, such as Democritus, who shared spellbinding and thought-provoking views on fate and the universe. While reading these philosophers, one cannot help feeling awestruck and gobsmacked by their pursuit of knowledge, especially at a time when technology and access to information were out of the question for them.
Their curiosity should coerce us to ask ourselves: why have we lost that interest of discovery and enthusiasm for knowledge? We don’t need to agree with all their ideas, but they deserve due respect for laying the foundations of rational thought and philosophical inquiry.