Ancient Philosophy · Before Socrates
The Presocratics: Thales to Heraclitus
How a handful of Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor stopped explaining the world with gods and started asking what everything is made of: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Parmenides and the atomists.
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Key idea
Prereqs: none. Next: Pythagoras; Socrates. Sources: Kirk, Raven & Schofield, *The Presocratic Philosophers* (2nd ed., 1983); Jonathan Barnes, *Early Greek Philosophy* (Penguin, 2001).Next: 1. The question: what is the arche?