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Background
Background
The Philosopher, Anaxagoras, was born in, 2500 years ago in, what is nowadays called, Turkey, which was then part of the Persian empire. Anaxagoras was quite a remarkable man, who is remembered for a number of impressive accomplishments.
Firstly, Anaxagoras is credited with bringing Philosophy to Athens. Athens is perhaps the city most famously associated with western Philosophy. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle all lived and philosophised in Athens, but it was Anaxagoras who brought the subject to the city, and he is mentioned in the works of Plato and Aristotle.
Anaxagoras is perhaps most famous for his studies of physics. Despite living 2,500 years ago, when there was very little scientific equipment and knowledge, many of his ideas proved to be correct.
Anaxagoras upset the powerful people of the time because he challenged some of their religious beliefs – for example, lots of people were upset that he described the sun as a fiery lump (rather than a god). So, Anaxagoras had to leave Athens, and was exiled in Lampsacus.
Just before he died, he gave humanity one last gift: school holidays. The authorities asked him how we would like to be remembered, and he suggested that in honour of his memory, students should be given a month off school. Anaxagoras - What a great fella.
Anaxagoras the physicist
Anaxagoras the physicist
Anaxagoras was one of the first people to suggest that the Sun was a fiery lump, and that the moon shone because it was illuminated by the sun. And, as you will now find out, he came up with a theory that was very similar to the idea of the conservation of energy, a very modern understanding of physical forces, it was Anaxagoras who came up the idea of, or at least a forerunner to, the Big Bang: the idea that all the stuff in the Universe expanded from a single point.
Anaxagoras’ argument
Anaxagoras’ argument
Firstly, Anaxagoras agreed with Parmenides, who thought that ‘nothing cannot be’. You might remember from when we studied Parmenides, the thought that you could not describe ‘nothing’ and therefore, it cannot exist. So, Anaxagoras thought, if ‘nothing cannot be’, then nothing cannot come into existence, and something cannot become nothing. Stuff doesn’t appear out of nowhere or disappear.
But, that’s a bit confusing, because stuff does seem to be created all the time. Things do appear to come in and out of existence. Anaxagoras argued, however, that stuff never just pops into existence, it is created when stuff (that already exists) changes – when bits of stuff join together or separate from one another.
Also, nowadays we can see order in the universe. So where did this order come from?
This led Anaxogoras to speculate that, at the beginning of the universe, all the stuff in the world was in a big lump, but then this force (which he called ‘mind’) started rotating everything, and so everything started moving outwards. Similar ideas to that of Anaxagoras have been going out of fashion and coming back in for the two and a half thousand years since he died. It's like a forerunner of the ‘big bang’.
An outline of Anaxagoras’ argument
An outline of Anaxagoras’ argument
Originally, all things were together in an infinite, motionless, and undifferentiated mixture.
Now, the universe has order to it (it is a cosmos rather than chaos).
Something must have changed it from being one to the other.
That thing that changed it cannot have been a part of it. It cannot have been made of matter; it must have been self-ruled. It must be an unmoved mover.
‘Nous’ (pure intellect) is the only thing that fits this description.
∴ Nous is the necessary first mover.
Tasks
Tasks
Explain Anaxagoras’ argument in your own words.
Explain one possible objection to Anaxagoras' argument.
Do you find his argument convincing? Explain your response.
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