The Natural Philosophers


 

 

  1. What did Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxargoras think about the universe?
  2. What is a rationalist?
  3. What did Parmenides and Heraclitus disagree upon?  Who help settled their disagreement and how?
  4. What does Heraclitus mean by "You cannot step into the same river twice" ?
  5. How does Democritus determine that “nature must consist of infinitesimal blocks that can join and separate again”?
  6. What does the word atom mean in Greek?
  7. How does Democritus combine the thoughts of those natural philosophers before him?  In particular, how does he combine Parmenides and Heraclitus?
  8. What does a materialist mean?

 

Discuss the following:  (a minimum of 2 posts)

Extrapolate on the implications of either looking at the world through Heraclitean (truth is changable or is in constant flux) or Parmedian (Truth is eternal, always the same) lenses.  If you are having difficulty look at the different strands of philosophy or Blooms Taxonomy and use a little imagination.