Is this creature the same throughout its life?

Ancient Metaphysics The Presocratic Thinkers

Before We Get Started Let’s Review… Metaphysics is hard to define but it is a traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it – existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect etc. The term originated from its place in Aristotle’s manuscripts because it came “after the Physics”. Because of this, Metaphysics has acquired a sense of being concerned with things beyond the physical although not originally intended as such

Presocratics: The World’s First Official Philosophers Group of men who taught in Ancient Greece beginning in the 17 th century BC (Before Socrates) Theories may seen naïve or primitive, however they are the first to try to explain the world beyond anthropomorphic gods and monsters The evolution from superstition to science was a revolutionary leap in thinking and their efforts paved the way for the scientific method.

Presocratics: Their Questions The Presocratics concerned themselves with two main areas of questioning – What is nature/the world made of? What is the essence of everything that exists? – How can we explain the process of change in things? Is there anything that is permanent? How can something permanent be part of a system that changes?

Presocratics: Their Answers The Presocratics answers fall into one of two type of answers – Monists believe that everything which exists in the universe is made of the one type of substance. Philosophers do disagree however about what that type of substance is. – Pluralists believe that everything which exists in the universe is made of a variety of substances