11. Thales and Anaximander: The Beginning of Philosophy

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Why Matter is More Known Than Maker #

• Matter is more immediately known to us through sensation
• Example: We know more directly that we came from our mother (matter) than from our father (maker/form-giver)
• During nine months of gestation, all the matter of which the baby grows comes from the mother
• Etymology connection: Latin materia derives from mater (mother)
• Therefore, in seeking the beginning of all things, reason naturally begins with matter rather than with a maker

The Principle of Finding One Beginning #

• Reason naturally seeks one simple principle from which all things come
• A formless matter is more reasonable as a beginning than matter with definite qualities
• If all things were made from red wine, everything would be red
• If all things were made from sugar, everything would be sweet
• A formless matter can take on all qualities without contradiction

Key Arguments #

Thales: Water as the Arche #

Reasonable grounds:

• Living things depend on water for germination; seeds don’t germinate unless moistened
• Most living things are composed mainly of water
• Water is the only substance in ordinary experience that exists in three states: gas, liquid, and solid
• Water appears formless, colorless, tasteless, and shapeless—able to become any form without contradiction
• Even in the non-living physical world, water is the only thing we experience that can become all three states

Scientific footnote:

• Modern science recognizes hydrogen as the simplest atom
• Water (H₂O) is very close to this fundamental principle
• To our senses, water appears homogeneous; only through complex laboratory experimentation do we learn otherwise
• To our senses, water appears to be the simplest thing

Literary evidence:

• Homer, in one tradition coming after Hesiod, represents the gods swearing by the river Styx
• If the gods swear by water, this suggests water is the origin—even of the gods
• Homer may be anticipating something true

Anaximander: The Unlimited (Apeiron) #

The problem with water as the complete answer:

• Water still possesses limiting qualities: it is wet and cool in its natural environment
• If everything is made from wet and cool matter, how do we get dry things?
• How do we get hot things like fire? Water extinguishes fire
• We live in a world of contraries: hot and cold, wet and dry, sweet and bitter

The solution: the unlimited in quality

• The beginning of all things must be unlimited in quality—not restricted to any particular quality
• If we remove the limitations of wet and cool, we have something entirely formless
• This formless beginning can produce all contrary qualities without contradiction
• Thales went partway by choosing water; Anaximander goes all the way by choosing the entirely unlimited

The unlimited in quantity:

• Every spring, new things come to be in the world
• There seems to be endless generation without cessation
• If things keep coming to be forever, the origin must be unlimited in quantity—infinite
• The beginning of all things must be unlimited in both senses: quality and quantity

The principle: Beginning and End Are the Same

• “From which existing things come to be is also that into which they are corrupted by necessity”
• Whatever things are originally made out of, when they break down, you end up with what you started with
• Analogy: wooden blocks remain wooden blocks when broken down; a Lego set remains a Lego set when disassembled
• If something returns to something different when broken down, it came from something different—creating something from nothing, which is impossible
• Therefore: whatever is the beginning of things is also that into which they return

Consequences of this principle:

• The beginning is never corrupted (DK2)
• “The nature of the unlimited is everlasting and does not grow old”
• “The unlimited is immortal and indestructible” (DK3)
• This principle anticipates modern conservation laws in physics (conservation of energy, conservation of momentum)
• Our mind naturally seeks something unchanging as the origin of change

Justice and compensation (DK1, final sentence):

• “For they render justice and give up injustice to one another according to the order of time”
• Uses legal and social language metaphorically for natural processes
• The contraries (hot/cold, wet/dry, etc.) compensate or balance each other
• Just as we speak of “laws of nature” and things “obeying” physical laws, Anaximander speaks of natural processes through the language of justice

Important Definitions #

Apeiron (ἄπειρον) #

• Literally: “a-peiron” (not-limited)
• Can mean unlimited in quality: not restricted to any particular quality
• Can mean unlimited in quantity: infinite, boundless, endless
• For Anaximander, likely means both simultaneously
• It is a negative definition—defined by what it is NOT

Arche (ἀρχή) #

• The beginning, principle, or origin of all things
• Not necessarily a maker (that comes later in philosophy)
• Rather, the material source or fundamental substance from which all things come
• Must be sought through reason applied to sensible experience
• Sought by descending from the general (what all philosophers seek) to the particular (what specific philosophers propose)

Matter (Materia) vs. Maker #

• Matter: the material cause, the substrate from which things are made
• Maker: the efficient cause, the agent that forms matter into particular things
• Reason naturally inquires into matter first because it is more immediately known

Examples & Illustrations #

Berquist’s Personal Story: The Child’s Logic #

• His young son Paul asks: “Did I come from Mama?”
• Upon learning that he and his siblings came from their mother
• The child asks his father: “Did you come from Mama?”
• When told “no,” the child concludes: “Well, then you don’t really belong here. But you can stay.”
• Point: The obvious connection between siblings is their common origin (the mother). The father, who doesn’t share this origin, seems not to truly belong to the family group.
• This illustrates why matter (mother) is more obviously the principle of connection than the maker (father)

The Wooden Blocks Analogy #

• A child builds towers, ships, and slot machines from wooden blocks
• When knocked down, everything returns to wooden blocks
• If the child instead builds with a Lego set and dismantles the structures, everything returns to the Lego pieces—not wooden blocks
• If you knock down an erector set made of steel, you get steel pieces back—not wood or plastic
• Principle: Whatever is the beginning of things is also that to which things return when destroyed
• Whatever we made things from is what we get back when we break them down

The Ladder of Reasonableness #

• As we descend from general to particular, disagreement increases
• All philosophers agree: seek one beginning
• Most agree: one simple beginning
• Fewer agree: one simple formless beginning
• Even fewer: that beginning is water specifically
• This shows how reasoning becomes less certain as we become more particular

Theological Footnotes #

God as Water in Scripture #

• God is metaphorically called water in the Psalms
• Augustine divides the 150 Psalms into three groups of 50; each group contains psalms of thirst
• Psalm 62: “O God, you are my God, whom I seek; for you my flesh pines, my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless without water. I seek you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.”
• The soul’s desire for God is expressed metaphorically as thirsting for water
• Why water? Because water is naturally the source of life in the material world

Baptism and Water #

• Baptism uses water as a sign, but not only of cleansing
• Water also signifies new birth and new life
• “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost”
• Water is appropriate for baptism because it is naturally tied to life in the material world
• Baptism is not merely a washing away of sin, but a birth into grace

The Beginning and End in Theology #

• “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end”
• In theology, God is both beginning and end, but in a different sense than matter
• Matter: beginning as material cause (the substance from which things come); end as what things return to when corrupted
• God: beginning as maker and efficient cause; end as purpose and final cause
• Despite the different sense, there is a circle in reality: from God, through creation, back to God
• Ash Wednesday: “Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return”—this reflects the circular principle

Greek Philosophers Coerced by Truth Itself #

• Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle’s phrase, says Greek philosophers were “coerced by the truth itself” to think that the beginning of things is unlimited
• They did not fully understand in what way the beginning is unlimited
• In some way, God is unlimited, but in a different way than the apeiron would be
• God is one and simple, but in a different way than matter is
• There is a distant likeness here: the human mind is naturally moving toward God without knowing it

Anaximander’s Development Beyond Thales #

Connection to Living Things #

• Aristotle reports that Anaximander noted water animals come before land animals
• Life began in water rather than on dry land
• This could be influenced by Thales’s emphasis on water as the beginning of living things
• Evidence: Frogs (anuta) begin life as fish-like creatures that swim, then become semi-land animals
• This pattern suggests land animals came after water animals, confirming that life began in water
• Modern biologists would tend to agree with this view of evolutionary development

Natural Philosophy and Reason #

Following the Senses vs. Reasoning from the Senses #

• Natural philosophy begins and ends in the senses (Aristotle and modern science agree)
• But “following the senses” does not mean we cannot reason about what we cannot directly sense
• We can reason FROM sensible experience TO things we do not sense
• Example: Modern scientists follow the path of an electron in a Wilson cloud chamber
• We don’t see the electron itself, only the water particles disturbed by its passage
• Scientists deduce facts about what they don’t see through what they do see
• This is not opposed to natural science; it is proper to natural science
• Therefore, if we reason well from what we sense, we remain within natural philosophy

Questions Addressed #

Why is the beginning of all things more reasonably sought in matter than in a maker? #

• Matter is more immediately known through sensation
• We directly perceive that things depend on their material composition
• The maker is not directly sensible; we infer its existence later
• Our mother is more obviously our source than our father

Why must the beginning of all things be formless rather than having specific qualities? #

• If the beginning had a specific quality (like redness or sweetness), all things made from it would have that quality
• But we observe contrary qualities in the world (red and not-red, sweet and bitter)
• A beginning with any specific quality cannot produce its opposite
• Therefore, the beginning must be entirely formless—unlimited in quality

How does reason move from water (Thales) to the unlimited (Anaximander)? #

• Water is formless compared to other specific substances like wine or sugar
• But water still has limiting qualities: it is wet and cool
• If everything comes from wet and cool matter, how do we get dry and hot things?
• Therefore, reason must move beyond water to something entirely unlimited in quality

What is the logical status of Anaximander’s claim about the unlimited? #

• It is not a claim about something sensible (we don’t directly sense the unlimited)
• But it is derived through reasonable inference from what we do sense
• The endless generation of new things suggests an unlimited source
• The principle that things return to their source suggests an unchanging, indestructible source
• Therefore, the claim is reasonable even though it transcends sensation

Why does Anaximander say things are corrupted “by necessity”? #

• It is necessary that things which come into being must also pass away
• What comes from something must return to that something when corrupted
• This is not contingent or accidental; it is the logical consequence of the principle that the beginning and end are the same