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Artificial intelligence | Evaluating approaches to AI | Evaluating approaches to AI
No established unifying theory or paradigm has guided AI research for most of its history. The unprecedented success of statistical machine learning in the 2010s eclipsed all other approaches (so much so that some sources, especially in the business world, use the term "artificial intelligence" to mean "machine learning with neural networks"). This approach is mostly sub-symbolic, soft and narrow. Critics argue that these questions may have to be revisited by future generations of AI researchers. |
Artificial intelligence | Symbolic AI and its limits | Symbolic AI and its limits
Symbolic AI (or "GOFAI") simulated the high-level conscious reasoning that people use when they solve puzzles, express legal reasoning and do mathematics. They were highly successful at "intelligent" tasks such as algebra or IQ tests. In the 1960s, Newell and Simon proposed the physical symbol systems hypothesis: "A physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means of general intelligent action."Physical symbol system hypothesis:
Historical significance: ,
However, the symbolic approach failed on many tasks that humans solve easily, such as learning, recognizing an object or commonsense reasoning. Moravec's paradox is the discovery that high-level "intelligent" tasks were easy for AI, but low level "instinctive" tasks were extremely difficult.Moravec's paradox: , , Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus had argued since the 1960s that human expertise depends on unconscious instinct rather than conscious symbol manipulation, and on having a "feel" for the situation, rather than explicit symbolic knowledge.Dreyfus' critique of AI: ,
Historical significance and philosophical implications: , , , Although his arguments had been ridiculed and ignored when they were first presented, eventually, AI research came to agree with him.
The issue is not resolved: sub-symbolic reasoning can make many of the same inscrutable mistakes that human intuition does, such as algorithmic bias. Critics such as Noam Chomsky argue continuing research into symbolic AI will still be necessary to attain general intelligence, in part because sub-symbolic AI is a move away from explainable AI: it can be difficult or impossible to understand why a modern statistical AI program made a particular decision. The emerging field of neuro-symbolic artificial intelligence attempts to bridge the two approaches. |
Artificial intelligence | Neat vs. scruffy | Neat vs. scruffy
"Neats" hope that intelligent behavior is described using simple, elegant principles (such as logic, optimization, or neural networks). "Scruffies" expect that it necessarily requires solving a large number of unrelated problems. Neats defend their programs with theoretical rigor, scruffies rely mainly on incremental testing to see if they work. This issue was actively discussed in the 1970s and 1980s,Neats vs. scruffies, the historic debate: , , ,
A classic example of the "scruffy" approach to intelligence:
A modern example of neat AI and its aspirations in the 21st century: but eventually was seen as irrelevant. Modern AI has elements of both. |
Artificial intelligence | Soft vs. hard computing | Soft vs. hard computing
Finding a provably correct or optimal solution is intractable for many important problems. Soft computing is a set of techniques, including genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic and neural networks, that are tolerant of imprecision, uncertainty, partial truth and approximation. Soft computing was introduced in the late 1980s and most successful AI programs in the 21st century are examples of soft computing with neural networks. |
Artificial intelligence | Narrow vs. general AI | Narrow vs. general AI
AI researchers are divided as to whether to pursue the goals of artificial general intelligence and superintelligence directly or to solve as many specific problems as possible (narrow AI) in hopes these solutions will lead indirectly to the field's long-term goals. General intelligence is difficult to define and difficult to measure, and modern AI has had more verifiable successes by focusing on specific problems with specific solutions. The sub-field of artificial general intelligence studies this area exclusively. |
Artificial intelligence | Machine consciousness, sentience, and mind | Machine consciousness, sentience, and mind
The philosophy of mind does not know whether a machine can have a mind, consciousness and mental states, in the same sense that human beings do. This issue considers the internal experiences of the machine, rather than its external behavior. Mainstream AI research considers this issue irrelevant because it does not affect the goals of the field: to build machines that can solve problems using intelligence. Russell and Norvig add that "[t]he additional project of making a machine conscious in exactly the way humans are is not one that we are equipped to take on." However, the question has become central to the philosophy of mind. It is also typically the central question at issue in artificial intelligence in fiction. |
Artificial intelligence | Consciousness | Consciousness
David Chalmers identified two problems in understanding the mind, which he named the "hard" and "easy" problems of consciousness. The easy problem is understanding how the brain processes signals, makes plans and controls behavior. The hard problem is explaining how this feels or why it should feel like anything at all, assuming we are right in thinking that it truly does feel like something (Dennett's consciousness illusionism says this is an illusion). While human information processing is easy to explain, human subjective experience is difficult to explain. For example, it is easy to imagine a color-blind person who has learned to identify which objects in their field of view are red, but it is not clear what would be required for the person to know what red looks like. |
Artificial intelligence | Computationalism and functionalism | Computationalism and functionalism
Computationalism is the position in the philosophy of mind that the human mind is an information processing system and that thinking is a form of computing. Computationalism argues that the relationship between mind and body is similar or identical to the relationship between software and hardware and thus may be a solution to the mind–body problem. This philosophical position was inspired by the work of AI researchers and cognitive scientists in the 1960s and was originally proposed by philosophers Jerry Fodor and Hilary Putnam.
Philosopher John Searle characterized this position as "strong AI": "The appropriately programmed computer with the right inputs and outputs would thereby have a mind in exactly the same sense human beings have minds." Searle challenges this claim with his Chinese room argument, which attempts to show that even a computer capable of perfectly simulating human behavior would not have a mind.Searle's Chinese room argument: . Searle's original presentation of the thought experiment., .
Discussion: , , |
Artificial intelligence | AI welfare and rights | AI welfare and rights
It is difficult or impossible to reliably evaluate whether an advanced AI is sentient (has the ability to feel), and if so, to what degree. But if there is a significant chance that a given machine can feel and suffer, then it may be entitled to certain rights or welfare protection measures, similarly to animals. Sapience (a set of capacities related to high intelligence, such as discernment or self-awareness) may provide another moral basis for AI rights. Robot rights are also sometimes proposed as a practical way to integrate autonomous agents into society.
In 2017, the European Union considered granting "electronic personhood" to some of the most capable AI systems. Similarly to the legal status of companies, it would have conferred rights but also responsibilities. Critics argued in 2018 that granting rights to AI systems would downplay the importance of human rights, and that legislation should focus on user needs rather than speculative futuristic scenarios. They also noted that robots lacked the autonomy to take part to society on their own.
Progress in AI increased interest in the topic. Proponents of AI welfare and rights often argue that AI sentience, if it emerges, would be particularly easy to deny. They warn that this may be a moral blind spot analogous to slavery or factory farming, which could lead to large-scale suffering if sentient AI is created and carelessly exploited. |
Artificial intelligence | Future | Future |
Artificial intelligence | Superintelligence and the singularity | Superintelligence and the singularity
A superintelligence is a hypothetical agent that would possess intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest and most gifted human mind. If research into artificial general intelligence produced sufficiently intelligent software, it might be able to reprogram and improve itself. The improved software would be even better at improving itself, leading to what I. J. Good called an "intelligence explosion" and Vernor Vinge called a "singularity".The Intelligence explosion and technological singularity: , ,
I. J. Good's "intelligence explosion":
Vernor Vinge's "singularity":
However, technologies cannot improve exponentially indefinitely, and typically follow an S-shaped curve, slowing when they reach the physical limits of what the technology can do. |
Artificial intelligence | Transhumanism | Transhumanism
Robot designer Hans Moravec, cyberneticist Kevin Warwick and inventor Ray Kurzweil have predicted that humans and machines may merge in the future into cyborgs that are more capable and powerful than either. This idea, called transhumanism, has roots in the writings of Aldous Huxley and Robert Ettinger.Transhumanism: , ,
Edward Fredkin argues that "artificial intelligence is the next step in evolution", an idea first proposed by Samuel Butler's "Darwin among the Machines" as far back as 1863, and expanded upon by George Dyson in his 1998 book Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence.AI as evolution: Edward Fredkin is quoted in , , |
Artificial intelligence | Decomputing | Decomputing
Arguments for decomputing have been raised by Dan McQuillan (Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence, 2022), meaning an opposition to the sweeping application and expansion of artificial intelligence. Similar to degrowth, the approach criticizes AI as an outgrowth of the systemic issues and capitalist world we live in. It argues that a different future is possible, in which distance between people is reduced rather than increased through AI intermediaries. |
Artificial intelligence | In fiction | In fiction
thumb|upright=1.2|The word "robot" itself was coined by Karel Čapek in his 1921 play R.U.R., the title standing for "Rossum's Universal Robots".
Thought-capable artificial beings have appeared as storytelling devices since antiquity,AI in myth: and have been a persistent theme in science fiction.
A common trope in these works began with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where a human creation becomes a threat to its masters. This includes such works as Arthur C. Clarke's and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (both 1968), with HAL 9000, the murderous computer in charge of the Discovery One spaceship, as well as The Terminator (1984) and The Matrix (1999). In contrast, the rare loyal robots such as Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Bishop from Aliens (1986) are less prominent in popular culture.
Isaac Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics in many stories, most notably with the "Multivac" super-intelligent computer. Asimov's laws are often brought up during lay discussions of machine ethics; while almost all artificial intelligence researchers are familiar with Asimov's laws through popular culture, they generally consider the laws useless for many reasons, one of which is their ambiguity.
Several works use AI to force us to confront the fundamental question of what makes us human, showing us artificial beings that have the ability to feel, and thus to suffer. This appears in Karel Čapek's R.U.R., the films A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Ex Machina, as well as the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick. Dick considers the idea that our understanding of human subjectivity is altered by technology created with artificial intelligence. |
Artificial intelligence | See also | See also
Organoid intelligence – Use of brain cells and brain organoids for intelligent computing
DARWIN EU - A European Union initiative coordinated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to generate and utilize real-world evidence (RWE) to support the evaluation and supervision of medicines across the EU. |
Artificial intelligence | Explanatory notes | Explanatory notes |
Artificial intelligence | References | References |
Artificial intelligence | AI textbooks | AI textbooks
The two most widely used textbooks in 2023 (see the Open Syllabus):
The four most widely used AI textbooks in 2008:
.
Later edition:
Other textbooks:
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Artificial intelligence | History of AI | History of AI
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Artificial intelligence | Other sources | Other sources
AI & ML in Fusion
AI & ML in Fusion, video lecture
Presidential Address to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
Later published as
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Artificial intelligence | Further reading | Further reading
Autor, David H., "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation" (2015) 29(3) Journal of Economic Perspectives 3.
Boyle, James, The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood, MIT Press, 2024.
Cukier, Kenneth, "Ready for Robots? How to Think about the Future of AI", Foreign Affairs, vol. 98, no. 4 (July/August 2019), pp. 192–198. George Dyson, historian of computing, writes (in what might be called "Dyson's Law") that "Any system simple enough to be understandable will not be complicated enough to behave intelligently, while any system complicated enough to behave intelligently will be too complicated to understand." (p. 197.) Computer scientist Alex Pentland writes: "Current AI machine-learning algorithms are, at their core, dead simple stupid. They work, but they work by brute force." (p. 198.)
Gertner, Jon. (2023) "Wikipedia's Moment of Truth: Can the online encyclopedia help teach A.I. chatbots to get their facts right — without destroying itself in the process?" New York Times Magazine (July 18, 2023) online
Gleick, James, "The Fate of Free Will" (review of Kevin J. Mitchell, Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will, Princeton University Press, 2023, 333 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXXI, no. 1 (18 January 2024), pp. 27–28, 30. "Agency is what distinguishes us from machines. For biological creatures, reason and purpose come from acting in the world and experiencing the consequences. Artificial intelligences – disembodied, strangers to blood, sweat, and tears – have no occasion for that." (p. 30.)
Halpern, Sue, "The Coming Tech Autocracy" (review of Verity Harding, AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI's Future and Save Our Own, Princeton University Press, 274 pp.; Gary Marcus, Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure That AI Works for Us, MIT Press, 235 pp.; Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone, The Mind's Mirror: Risk and Reward in the Age of AI, Norton, 280 pp.; Madhumita Murgia, Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI, Henry Holt, 311 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXXI, no. 17 (7 November 2024), pp. 44–46. "'We can't realistically expect that those who hope to get rich from AI are going to have the interests of the rest of us close at heart,' ... writes [Gary Marcus]. 'We can't count on governments driven by campaign finance contributions [from tech companies] to push back.'... Marcus details the demands that citizens should make of their governments and the tech companies. They include transparency on how AI systems work; compensation for individuals if their data [are] used to train LLMs (large language model)s and the right to consent to this use; and the ability to hold tech companies liable for the harms they cause by eliminating Section 230, imposing cash penalties, and passing stricter product liability laws... Marcus also suggests... that a new, AI-specific federal agency, akin to the FDA, the FCC, or the FTC, might provide the most robust oversight.... [T]he Fordham law professor Chinmayi Sharma... suggests... establish[ing] a professional licensing regime for engineers that would function in a similar way to medical licenses, malpractice suits, and the Hippocratic oath in medicine. 'What if, like doctors,' she asks..., 'AI engineers also vowed to do no harm?'" (p. 46.)
Hughes-Castleberry, Kenna, "A Murder Mystery Puzzle: The literary puzzle Cain's Jawbone, which has stumped humans for decades, reveals the limitations of natural-language-processing algorithms", Scientific American, vol. 329, no. 4 (November 2023), pp. 81–82. "This murder mystery competition has revealed that although NLP (natural-language processing) models are capable of incredible feats, their abilities are very much limited by the amount of context they receive. This [...] could cause [difficulties] for researchers who hope to use them to do things such as analyze ancient languages. In some cases, there are few historical records on long-gone civilizations to serve as training data for such a purpose." (p. 82.)
Immerwahr, Daniel, "Your Lying Eyes: People now use A.I. to generate fake videos indistinguishable from real ones. How much does it matter?", The New Yorker, 20 November 2023, pp. 54–59. "If by 'deepfakes' we mean realistic videos produced using artificial intelligence that actually deceive people, then they barely exist. The fakes aren't deep, and the deeps aren't fake. [...] A.I.-generated videos are not, in general, operating in our media as counterfeited evidence. Their role better resembles that of cartoons, especially smutty ones." (p. 59.)
Johnston, John (2008) The Allure of Machinic Life: Cybernetics, Artificial Life, and the New AI, MIT Press.
Leffer, Lauren, "The Risks of Trusting AI: We must avoid humanizing machine-learning models used in scientific research", Scientific American, vol. 330, no. 6 (June 2024), pp. 80–81.
Lepore, Jill, "The Chit-Chatbot: Is talking with a machine a conversation?", The New Yorker, 7 October 2024, pp. 12–16.
Marcus, Gary, "Artificial Confidence: Even the newest, buzziest systems of artificial general intelligence are stymmied by the same old problems", Scientific American, vol. 327, no. 4 (October 2022), pp. 42–45.
Introduced DQN, which produced human-level performance on some Atari games.
Press, Eyal, "In Front of Their Faces: Does facial-recognition technology lead police to ignore contradictory evidence?", The New Yorker, 20 November 2023, pp. 20–26.
Roivainen, Eka, "AI's IQ: ChatGPT aced a [standard intelligence] test but showed that intelligence cannot be measured by IQ alone", Scientific American, vol. 329, no. 1 (July/August 2023), p. 7. "Despite its high IQ, ChatGPT fails at tasks that require real humanlike reasoning or an understanding of the physical and social world.... ChatGPT seemed unable to reason logically and tried to rely on its vast database of... facts derived from online texts."
Scharre, Paul, "Killer Apps: The Real Dangers of an AI Arms Race", Foreign Affairs, vol. 98, no. 3 (May/June 2019), pp. 135–144. "Today's AI technologies are powerful but unreliable. Rules-based systems cannot deal with circumstances their programmers did not anticipate. Learning systems are limited by the data on which they were trained. AI failures have already led to tragedy. Advanced autopilot features in cars, although they perform well in some circumstances, have driven cars without warning into trucks, concrete barriers, and parked cars. In the wrong situation, AI systems go from supersmart to superdumb in an instant. When an enemy is trying to manipulate and hack an AI system, the risks are even greater." (p. 140.)
Tarnoff, Ben, "The Labor Theory of AI" (review of Matteo Pasquinelli, The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence, Verso, 2024, 264 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXXII, no. 5 (27 March 2025), pp. 30–32. The reviewer, Ben Tarnoff, writes: "The strangeness at the heart of the generative AI boom is that nobody really knows how the technology works. We know how the large language models within ChatGPT and its counterparts are trained, even if we don't always know which data they're being trained on: they are asked to predict the next string of characters in a sequence. But exactly how they arrive at any given prediction is a mystery. The computations that occur inside the model are simply too intricate for any human to comprehend." (p. 32.)
Vaswani, Ashish, Noam Shazeer, Niki Parmar et al. "Attention is all you need." Advances in neural information processing systems 30 (2017). Seminal paper on transformers.
Vincent, James, "Horny Robot Baby Voice: James Vincent on AI chatbots", London Review of Books, vol. 46, no. 19 (10 October 2024), pp. 29–32. "[AI chatbot] programs are made possible by new technologies but rely on the timelelss human tendency to anthropomorphise." (p. 29.)
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Artificial intelligence | External links | External links
*
Category:Computational fields of study
Category:Computational neuroscience
Category:Cybernetics
Category:Data science
Category:Formal sciences
Category:Intelligence by type |
Artificial intelligence | Table of Content | Short description, Goals, Reasoning and problem-solving, Knowledge representation, Planning and decision-making, Learning, Natural language processing, Perception, Social intelligence, General intelligence, Techniques, Search and optimization, State space search, Local search, Logic, Probabilistic methods for uncertain reasoning, Classifiers and statistical learning methods, Artificial neural networks, Deep learning, GPT, Hardware and software, Applications, Health and medicine, Games, Mathematics, Finance, Military, Generative AI, Agents, Sexuality, Other industry-specific tasks, Ethics, Risks and harm, Privacy and copyright, Dominance by tech giants, Power needs and environmental impacts, Misinformation, Algorithmic bias and fairness, Lack of transparency, Bad actors and weaponized AI, Technological unemployment, Existential risk, Ethical machines and alignment, Open source, Frameworks, Regulation, History, Philosophy, Defining artificial intelligence, Evaluating approaches to AI, Symbolic AI and its limits, Neat vs. scruffy, Soft vs. hard computing, Narrow vs. general AI, Machine consciousness, sentience, and mind, Consciousness, Computationalism and functionalism, AI welfare and rights, Future, Superintelligence and the singularity, Transhumanism, Decomputing, In fiction, See also, Explanatory notes, References, AI textbooks, History of AI, Other sources, Further reading, External links |
Afro Celt Sound System | short description | Afro Celt Sound System are a European and African group who fuse electronic music with traditional Gaelic and West African music. Afro Celt Sound System was formed in 1995 by producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson, and feature a wide range of guest artists. In 2003, they temporarily changed their name to Afrocelts before reverting to their original name.
Their albums have been released through Peter Gabriel's Real World Records, and they have frequently performed at WOMAD festivals worldwide. Their sales on the label are exceeded only by Gabriel himself. Their recording contract with Real World was for five albums, of which Volume 5: Anatomic was the last.
After a number of festival dates in 2007, the band went on hiatus. In 2010, they regrouped to play a number of shows (including a return to WOMAD), and released a remastered retrospective titled Capture.
On 20 May 2014, Afro Celt Sound System announced the release of the album Born. In January 2016, a posting on their website revealed that due to a dispute with Emmerson, who announced his departure from the band in 2015, there were two active versions of the band, one led by Emmerson and another with a separate line-up headed by James McNally and Martin Russell. Emmerson's version of the band released the album The Source in 2016. The dispute ended on 21 December 2016, with an announcement on social media.
The band released their seventh studio album, Flight, on 23 November 2018. |
Afro Celt Sound System | Formation | Formation
The inspiration behind the project dates back to 1991, when Simon Emmerson, a Grammy Award-nominated British producer and guitarist, collaborated with Afro-pop star Baaba Maal. While making an album with Maal in Senegal, Emmerson was struck by the similarity between one African melody and a traditional Irish air. Back in London, Irish musician Davy Spillane told Emmerson about a belief that nomadic Celts lived in Africa or India before they migrated to Western Europe. Whether or not the theory was true, Emmerson was intrigued by the two regions' musical affinities.
In an experiment that would prove successful, Emmerson brought two members of Baaba Maal's band together with traditional Irish musicians to see what kind of music the two groups would create. Adding a dash of modern sound, Emmerson also brought in English dance mixers for an electronic beat. "People thought I was mad when I touted the idea," Emmerson told Jim Carroll of The Irish Times. "At the time, I was out of favour with the London club scene. I was broke and on income support but the success was extraordinary". |
Afro Celt Sound System | Career | Career
Jamming in the studios at Real World, musician Peter Gabriel's recording facilities in Wiltshire, England, the group of musicians recorded the basis of their first album in one week. This album, Volume 1: Sound Magic, was released by Real World Records in 1996, and marked the debut of the Afro Celt Sound System.
"Prior to that first album being made, none of us knew if it would work," musician James McNally told Larry Katz of the Boston Herald. "We were strangers who didn't even speak the same language. But we were bowled over by this communication that took place beyond language." McNally, who grew up second-generation Irish in London, played whistles, keyboards, piano, bodhran, and bamboo flute.
Sound Magic has now sold over 300,000 copies. The band performed at festivals, raves, and dance clubs and regularly included two African musicians, Moussa Sissokho on talking drum and djembe and N'Faly Kouyate on vocals, kora and balafon.
Just as the second album was getting off the ground, one of the group's core musicians, 27-year-old keyboardist Jo Bruce, (son of Cream bass player Jack Bruce), died suddenly of an asthma attack. The band was devastated, and the album was put on hold. Sinéad O'Connor then collaborated with the band and helped them cope with their loss. "[O'Connor] blew into the studio on a windy November night and blew away again leaving us something incredibly emotional and powerful," McNally told Katz. "We had this track we didn't know what to do with. Sinéad scribbled a few lyrics and bang! She left us completely choked up." The band used the name of O'Connor's song, "Release", for the title of their album. Volume 2: Release was released in 1999, and by the spring of 2000 it had sold more than half a million copies worldwide. Release is also used as one of the GCSE music set works in the UK that students are required to study for their exam.
In 2000, the group was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best World Music category. The band, composed at the time of eight members from six countries (the UK, Senegal, Guinea, Ireland, France and Kenya), took pride in its ability to bring people together through music. "We can communicate anywhere at any corner of the planet and feel that we're at home," McNally told Patrick MacDonald of The Seattle Times. "We're breaking down categories of world music and rock music and black music. We leave a door open to communicate with each other's traditions. And it's changed our lives".
In 2001, the group released Volume 3: Further in Time, which climbed to number one on Billboards Top World Music Albums chart. Featuring guest spots by Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, the album also incorporated a heightened African sound. "On the first two records, the pendulum swung more toward the Celtic, London club side of the equation," Emmerson told The Irish Times Carroll. "For this one, we wanted to have more African vocals and input than we'd done before." Again the Afro Celt Sound System met with success. Chuck Taylor of Billboard praised the album as "a cultural phenomenon that bursts past the traditional boundaries of contemporary music." The single "When You're Falling", with vocals by Gabriel, became a radio hit in the United States.
In 2003, for the Seed album, they changed their name to Afrocelts. They reverted to the longer band name for their subsequent albums, Pod, a compilation of new mixes of songs from the first four albums, Volume 5: Anatomic (their fifth studio album), and Capture (1995–2010).
They played a number of shows to promote Volume 5: Anatomic in 2006 and summer 2007, ending with a gig in Korea, before taking an extended break to work on side projects, amongst them The Imagined Village featuring Simon Emmerson and Johnny Kalsi. Starting in the summer of 2010, the band performed a series of live shows to promote Capture (1995–2010), released on 6 September 2010 on Real World Records. Further performances continue to the present day, and a new album-in-progress titled Born was announced on their website in 2014. Following the split (see below), Emmerson's version of the band released the album The Source in 2016. |
Afro Celt Sound System | Split | Split
During 2015, the band had split into two formations, one of them including Simon Emmerson, N'Faly Kouyate and Johnny Kalsi, the other one James McNally and Martin Russell. The split was announced on the band's website in January 2016. The dispute officially ended with an announcement on social media on 21 December 2016. |
Afro Celt Sound System | Members | Members
When Afro Celt Sound System formed in the mid-1990s during the Real World Recording Week, the difference between a guest artist and a band member was virtually non-existent. However, over time, a combination of people became most often associated with the name Afro Celt Sound System (while Volume 5: Anatomic only lists Emmerson, McNally, Ó Lionáird and Russell as regulars). The divided grouping of the band into two versions, both operating under the name Afro Celt Sound System, began in January 2016 and was resolved in December 2016 after McNally and Russell agreed to work under a different name from Emmerson.
Simon Emmerson who died on 13 March 2023 after falling ill.
N'Faly Kouyate
Johnny Kalsi
Moussa Sissokho
Griogair Labhruidh
Ronan Browne
Emer Mayock
Davy Spillane
Russell/McNally version
Martin Russell
James McNally
Ian Markin
Tim Bradshaw
Babara Bangoura
Dorothee Munyaneza
Kadially Kouyaté
Dav Daheley
Other musicians who have performed or recorded with Afro Celt Sound System include: Jimmy Mahon, Demba Barry, Babara Bangoura, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Pete Lockett, Sinéad O'Connor, Pina Kollar, Dorothee Munyaneza, Sevara Nazarkhan, Simon Massey, Jesse Cook, Martin Hayes, Eileen Ivers, Mundy, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Ciarán Tourish of Altan, Ronan Browne, Michael McGoldrick, Steáfán Hannigan, Myrdhin, Shooglenifty, Mairead Nesbitt, Nigel Eaton, Davy Spillane, Jonas Bruce, Heather Nova, Julie Murphy, Ayub Ogada, Caroline Lavelle, and Ross Ainslie. |
Afro Celt Sound System | Discography | Discography |
Afro Celt Sound System | Studio albums | Studio albums
+ List of studio albums, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions UKPeaks in the UK:
All except noted:
"When You're Falling": AUS FRA IRE NZ US USWorld Volume 1: Sound Magic 1996 59 53 — — 32 — 15 Volume 2: Release 1999 38 93 63 — 42 — 6 Volume 3: Further in Time 2001 77 — — 33 — 176 1 Seed 2003 — — — — — — 5 Volume 5: Anatomic 2005 — — — — — — — The Source 2016 86 — — — — — — Flight 2018 — — — — — — — OVA 2024 — — — — — — — |
Afro Celt Sound System | Other albums | Other albums
Pod (remix album) (2004)
Capture (1995–2010) (2010) (compilation) No. 14 NZ
They also recorded the soundtrack for the PC game Magic and Mayhem, released in 1998. |
Afro Celt Sound System | Singles | Singles
+ List of commercial singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album UK NLD USDance "Sure-As-Not" 1996 — — —Volume 1: Sound Magic "Whirl-Y-Reel" 1997 91 — — "Release" 2000 71 — 3 Volume 2: Release "When You're Falling" 2001 139 86 — Volume 3: Further in Time |
Afro Celt Sound System | References | References |
Afro Celt Sound System | External links | External links
Category:Celtic fusion groups
Category:Worldbeat groups
Category:Real World Records artists
Category:British world music groups
Category:Musical groups established in 1995 |
Afro Celt Sound System | Table of Content | short description, Formation, Career, Split, Members, Discography, Studio albums, Other albums, Singles, References, External links |
Ancient philosophy | short description | This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). |
Ancient philosophy | Overview | Overview
Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures roughly contemporaneously. Karl Jaspers termed the intense period of philosophical development beginning around the 7th century BCE and concluding around the 3rd century BCE an Axial Age in human thought.
In Western philosophy, the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire marked the ending of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of medieval philosophy, whereas in the Middle East, the spread of Islam through the Arab Empire marked the end of Old Iranian philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of early Islamic philosophy. |
Ancient philosophy | Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy | Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
thumb|250px|right|Graphical relationship among the various pre-Socratic philosophers and thinkers; red arrows indicate a relationship of opposition.
thumb|250px|right|Raphael's School of Athens, depicting an array of ancient Greek philosophers engaged in discussion. |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophers | Philosophers |
Ancient philosophy | Pre-Socratic philosophers | Pre-Socratic philosophers
Milesian School
Thales (624 – c 546 BCE)
Anaximander (610 – 546 BCE)
Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585 – c. 525 BCE)
Pythagoreans
Pythagoras (582 – 496 BCE)
Philolaus (470 – 380 BCE)
Alcmaeon of Croton
Archytas (428 – 347 BCE)
Heraclitus (535 – 475 BCE)
Eleatic School
Xenophanes (570 – 470 BCE)
Parmenides (510 – 440 BCE)
Zeno of Elea (490 – 430 BCE)
Melissus of Samos (c. 470 BCE – ?)
Pluralists
Empedocles (490 – 430 BCE)
Anaxagoras (500 – 428 BCE)
Atomists
Leucippus (first half of 5th century BCE)
Democritus (460 – 370 BCE)
Metrodorus of Chios (4th century BCE)
Pherecydes of Syros (6th century BCE)
Sophists
Protagoras (490 – 420 BCE)
Gorgias (487 – 376 BCE)
Antiphon (480 – 411 BCE)
Prodicus (465/450 – after 399 BCE)
Hippias (middle of the 5th century BCE)
Thrasymachus (459 – 400 BCE)
Callicles
Critias
Lycophron
Diogenes of Apollonia ( – ?) |
Ancient philosophy | Classical Greek philosophers | Classical Greek philosophers
Socrates (469 – 399 BCE)
Euclid of Megara (450 – 380 BCE)
Antisthenes (445 – 360 BCE)
Aristippus (435 – 356 BCE)
Plato (428 – 347 BCE)
Speusippus (407 – 339 BCE)
Diogenes of Sinope (400 – 325 BCE)
Xenocrates (396 – 314 BCE)
Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE)
Stilpo (380 – 300 BCE)
Theophrastus (370 – 288 BCE) |
Ancient philosophy | Hellenistic philosophy | Hellenistic philosophy
Pyrrho (365 – 275 BCE)
Epicurus (341 – 270 BCE)
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger) (331 – 278 BCE)
Zeno of Citium (333 – 263 BCE)
Cleanthes ( – )
Timon (320 – 230 BCE)
Arcesilaus (316 – 232 BCE)
Menippus (3rd century BCE)
Archimedes ( – 212 BCE)
Chrysippus (280 – 207 BCE)
Carneades (214 – 129 BCE)
Clitomachus (187 – 109 BCE)
Metrodorus of Stratonicea (late 2nd century BCE)
Philo of Larissa (160 – 80 BCE)
Posidonius (135 – 51 BCE)
Antiochus of Ascalon (130 – 68 BCE)
Aenesidemus (1st century BCE)
Agrippa (1st century CE) |
Ancient philosophy | Hellenistic schools of thought | Hellenistic schools of thought
Academic skepticism
Cynicism
Cyrenaicism
Eclecticism
Epicureanism
Middle Platonism
Neo-Platonism
Neopythagoreanism
Peripatetic School
Pyrrhonism
Stoicism
Sophism |
Ancient philosophy | Early Roman and Christian philosophy | Early Roman and Christian philosophy
Neoplatonism in Christianity
School of the Sextii |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophers during Roman times | Philosophers during Roman times
thumb|150px|right|Plotinus
Cicero (106 – 43 BCE)
Lucretius (94 – 55 BCE)
Seneca (4 BCE – 65 CE)
Musonius Rufus (30 – 100 CE)
Plutarch (45 – 120 CE)
Epictetus (55 – 135 CE)
Favorinus ( – )
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 CE)
Clement of Alexandria (150 – 215 CE)
Alcinous (philosopher) (2nd century CE)
Sextus Empiricus (3rd century CE)
Alexander of Aphrodisias (3rd century CE)
Ammonius Saccas (3rd century CE)
Plotinus (205 – 270 CE)
Porphyry (232 – 304 CE)
Iamblichus (242 – 327 CE)
Themistius (317 – 388 CE)
Ambrose (340 – 397 CE)
Hypatia of Alexandria (350 – 415 CE)
Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 CE)
Proclus (411 – 485 CE)
Damascius (462 – 540 CE)
Boethius (472 – 524 CE)
Simplicius of Cilicia (490 – 560 CE)
John Philoponus (490 – 570 CE) |
Ancient philosophy | Ancient Iranian philosophy | Ancient Iranian philosophy
right|250px|thumb|Zarathustra as depicted in Raphael's The School of Athens beside Raphael who appears as the ancient painter Apelles of Kos.
See also: Dualism, Dualism (philosophy of mind)
While there are ancient relations between the Indian Vedas and the Iranian Avesta, the two main families of the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences in their implications for the human being's position in society and their view of man's role in the universe. The first charter of human rights by Cyrus the Great as understood in the Cyrus cylinder is often seen as a reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed by Zarathustra and developed in Zoroastrian schools of thought of the Achaemenid Era of Iranian history.Philip G. Kreyenbroek: "Morals and Society in Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009.Mary Boyce: "The Origins of Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009. |
Ancient philosophy | Schools of thought | Schools of thought
Ideas and tenets of Zoroastrian schools of Early Persian philosophy are part of many works written in Middle Persian and of the extant scriptures of the Zoroastrian religion in Avestan language. Among these are treatises such as the Shikand-gumanic Vichar by Mardan-Farrux Ohrmazddadan, selections of Denkard, Wizidagīhā-ī Zātspram ("Selections of Zātspram") as well as older passages of the book Avesta, the Gathas which are attributed to Zarathustra himself and regarded as his "direct teachings".An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia. From Zoroaster to 'Umar Khayyam. S. H. Nasr & M. Aminrazavi. I. B. Tauris Publishers, London & New York, 2008. . |
Ancient philosophy | Zoroastrianism | Zoroastrianism
Zarathustra
Jamasp
Ostanes
Mardan-Farrux OhrmazddadanZurvan. A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Robert Charles Zaehner. Biblo and Tannen, 1972. .
Adurfarnbag FarroxzadanSasanian Iran - intellectual life. A. Tafazzoli and A. L. Khromov in: History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Crossroads of Civilization. B. A. Litvinsky, Zhang Guand-Da, R. Shabani Samghabadi. Unesco, 1996. .
Adurbad Emedan
Avesta
Gathas
Anacharsis |
Ancient philosophy | Pre-Manichaean thought | Pre-Manichaean thought
BardesanesMansour Shaki. Falsafa. Philosophy in the pre-Islamic period. Encyclopædia Iranica. Volume IX. 1999. .Prods Oktor Skjaervo. Bardesanes. Encyclopædia Iranica. Volume III. Fasc. 7–8. . |
Ancient philosophy | Manichaeism | Manichaeism
Mani ( – 276 CE)
AmmoDavid A. Scott. Manichaean Views of Buddhism in: History of Religions. Vol. 25, No. 2, Nov. 1985. University of Chicago Press. |
Ancient philosophy | Mazdakism | Mazdakism
Mazdak the ElderYarshater, Ehsan. 1983. The Cambridge history of Iran, volume 2. pp. 995–997
Mazdak (died c. 524 or 528 CE) |
Ancient philosophy | Zurvanism | Zurvanism
Aesthetic Zurvanism
Materialist Zurvanism
Fatalistic Zurvanism |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophy and the Empire | Philosophy and the Empire
Political philosophy
Tansar
University of Gundishapur
Borzouye
Bakhtshooa Gondishapuri
Emperor Khosrau's philosophical discourses
Paul the Persian |
Ancient philosophy | Literature | Literature
Pahlavi literature |
Ancient philosophy | Ancient Jewish philosophy | Ancient Jewish philosophy
Qohelet ()
Pseudo-Aristeas ()
Ben Sira (fl. 180–175 BCE)
Aristobulus of Alexandria (181–124 BCE)
Philo of Alexandria (30 BCE – 45 CE)
Wisdom of Solomon ()
4 Maccabees ()
Rabbi Akiva ( – ) |
Ancient philosophy | Ancient Indian philosophy<!--'Ancient Indian philosophy' redirects here--> | Ancient Indian philosophy
The ancient Indian philosophy is a fusion of two ancient traditions: the Vedic tradition and the śramaṇa tradition. |
Ancient philosophy | Vedic philosophy | Vedic philosophy
Indian philosophy begins with the Vedas wherein questions pertaining to laws of nature, the origin of the universe, and the place of man in it are asked. In the famous Rigvedic Hymn of Creation (Nasadiya Sukta) the poet asks:
"Whence all creation had its origin,
he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows—or maybe even he does not know."
In the Vedic view, creation is ascribed to the self-consciousness of the primeval being (Purusha). This leads to the inquiry into the one being that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomena and the origin of all things. Cosmic order is termed rta and causal law by karma. Nature (prakriti) is taken to have three qualities (sattva, rajas, and tamas).
Vedas
Upanishads
Hindu philosophy |
Ancient philosophy | Sramana philosophy | Sramana philosophy
Jainism and Buddhism are a continuation of the Sramana school of thought. The Sramanas cultivated a pessimistic worldview of the samsara as full of suffering and advocated renunciation and austerities. They laid stress on philosophical concepts like Ahimsa, Karma, Jnana, Samsara and Moksa. Cārvāka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक) (atheist) philosophy, also known as Lokāyata, it is a system of Hindu philosophy that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism and religious indifference. It is named after its founder, Cārvāka, author of the Bārhaspatya-sūtras. |
Ancient philosophy | Classical Indian philosophy | Classical Indian philosophy
In classical times, these inquiries were systematized in six schools of philosophy. Some of the questions asked were:
What is the ontological nature of consciousness?
How is cognition itself experienced?
Is mind (chit) intentional or not?
Does cognition have its own structure?
The six schools of Indian philosophy are:
Nyaya
Vaisheshika
Samkhya
Yoga
Mimamsa (Purva Mimamsa)
Vedanta (Uttara Mimamsa) |
Ancient philosophy | Ancient Indian philosophers | Ancient Indian philosophers |
Ancient philosophy | 1st millennium BCE | 1st millennium BCE
Parashara – writer of Viṣṇu Purāṇa. |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophers of Vedic Age (c. 1500 – c. 600 BCE) | Philosophers of Vedic Age (c. 1500 – c. 600 BCE)
Rishi Narayana – seer of the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda.The significance of Purusha Sukta in Daily Invocations by Swami Krishnananda
Seven Rishis – Atri, Bharadwaja, Gautama, Jamadagni, Kasyapa, Vasishtha, Viswamitra.P. 285 Indian sociology through Ghurye, a dictionary By S. Devadas Pillai
Other Vedic Rishis – Gritsamada, Sandilya, Kanva etc.
Rishaba – Rishi mentioned in Rig Veda and later in several Puranas, and believed by Jains to be the first official religious guru of Jainism, as accredited by later followers.
Yajnavalkya – one of the Vedic sages, greatly influenced Buddhistic thought.
Lopamudra
Gargi Vachaknavi
Maitreyi
Parshvanatha
Ghosha
Angiras – one of the seers of the Atharva Veda and author of Mundaka Upanishad.
Uddalaka Aruni – an Upanishadic sage who authored major portions of Chāndogya Upaniṣad.
Ashvapati – a King in the Later Vedic age who authored Vaishvanara Vidya of Chāndogya Upaniṣad.
Ashtavakra – an Upanishadic Sage mentioned in the Mahabharata, who authored Ashtavakra Gita. |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophers of Axial Age (600–185 BCE) | Philosophers of Axial Age (600–185 BCE)
Gotama (), logician, author of Nyaya Sutra
Kanada (), founded the philosophical school of Vaisheshika, gave theory of atomism
Mahavira (599–527 BCE) – heavily influenced Jainism, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism.
Purana Kassapa
Ajita Kesakambali
Payasi
Makkhali Gośāla
Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta
Mahavira
Dandamis
Nagasena
Lakulisha
150px|thumb|right|Buddha.
Pakudha Kaccayana
Pāṇini (520–460 BCE), grammarian, author of Ashtadhyayi
Kapila (), proponent of the Samkhya system of philosophy.
Badarayana (lived between 500 BCE and 400 BCE) – Author of Brahma Sutras.
Jaimini (), author of Purva Mimamsa Sutras.
Pingala (), author of the Chandas shastra
Gautama Buddha ( – ), founder of Buddhist school of thought
Śāriputra
Chanakya ( – ), author of Arthashastra, professor (acharya) of political science at the Takshashila University
Patañjali (), developed the philosophy of Raja Yoga in his Yoga Sutras.
Shvetashvatara – Author of earliest textual exposition of a systematic philosophy of Shaivism. |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophers of Golden Age (184 BCE – 600 CE) | Philosophers of Golden Age (184 BCE – 600 CE)
Aśvaghoṣa, believed to have been the first Sanskrit dramatist, and is considered the greatest Indian poet before Kālidāsa
Vatsyana, known for "Kama Sutra"
Samantabhadra, a proponent of the Jaina doctrine of Anekantavada
Isvarakrsna
Aryadeva, a student of Nagarjuna and contributed significantly to the Madhyamaka
Dharmakirti
Haribhadra
Pujyapada
Buddhaghosa
Kamandaka
Maticandra
Prashastapada
Bhāviveka
Dharmapala
Udyotakara
Gaudapada
Valluvar (), wrote the Kural text, a Tamil-language treatise on morality and secular ethics
Dignāga (), one of the founders of Buddhist school of Indian logic
Asanga (), exponent of the Yogacara
Bhartrihari (–510 CE), early figure in Indic linguistic theory
Bodhidharma (–528 CE), founder of the Zen school of Buddhism
Siddhasenadivākarasuri (5th century CE), Jain logician and author of important works in Sanskrit and Prakrit, such as Nyāyāvatāra (on logic) and Sanmatisūtra (dealing with the seven Jaina standpoints, knowledge and the objects of knowledge)
Vasubandhu (), one of the main founders of the Indian Yogacara school
Kundakunda (2nd century CE), exponent of Jain mysticism and Jain nayas dealing with the nature of the soul and its contamination by matter, author of Pañcāstikāyasāra (Essence of the Five Existents), the Pravacanasāra (Essence of the Scripture) and the Samayasāra (Essence of the Doctrine)
Nagarjuna ( – 250 CE), the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism
Umāsvāti or Umasvami (2nd century CE), author of first Jain work in Sanskrit, Tattvārthasūtra, expounding the Jain philosophy in a most systematized form acceptable to all sects of Jainism
Adi Shankara – philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy |
Ancient philosophy | Ancient Chinese philosophy | Ancient Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy is the dominant philosophical thought in China and other countries within the East Asian cultural sphere that share a common language, including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. |
Ancient philosophy | Schools of thought | Schools of thought |
Ancient philosophy | Hundred Schools of Thought | Hundred Schools of Thought
The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BCE,"Chinese philosophy", Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 4/6/2014 an era of significant cultural and intellectual expansion in China. Even though this period – known in its earlier part as the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period – in its latter part was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it is also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy. This period ended with the rise of the Qin dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent. The Book of Han lists ten major schools, they are:
Confucianism, which teaches that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavors, especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. The main idea of Confucianism is the cultivation of virtue and the development of moral perfection. Confucianism holds that one should give up one's life, if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values of ren and yi.
Legalism. Often compared with Machiavelli, and foundational for the traditional Chinese bureaucratic empire, the Legalists examined administrative methods, emphasizing a realistic consolidation of the wealth and power of autocrat and state.
Taoism (also called Daoism), a philosophy which emphasizes the Three Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility, while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos; health and longevity; and wu wei (action through inaction). Harmony with the Universe, or the source thereof (Tao), is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices.
Mohism, which advocated the idea of universal love: Mozi believed that "everyone is equal before heaven" and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of collective love. His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialist empiricism; he believed that human cognition ought to be based on one's perceptions – one's sensory experiences, such as sight and hearing – instead of imagination or internal logic, elements founded on the human capacity for abstraction. Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, which he denounced as extravagant.
Naturalism, the School of Naturalists or the Yin-yang school, which synthesized the concepts of yin and yang and the Five Elements; Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school.
Agrarianism, or the School of Agrarianism, which advocated peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism. The Agrarians believed that Chinese society should be modeled around that of the early sage king Shen Nong, a folk hero which was portrayed in Chinese literature as "working in the fields, along with everyone else, and consulting with everyone else when any decision had to be reached."
The Logicians or the School of Names, which focused on definition and logic. It is said to have parallels with that of the Ancient Greek sophists or dialecticians. The most notable Logician was Gongsun Longzi.
The School of Diplomacy or School of Vertical and Horizontal [Alliances], which focused on practical matters instead of any moral principle, stressed political and diplomatic tactics, debate, and lobbying skills. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters, and tacticians.
The Miscellaneous School, which integrated teachings from different schools; for instance, Lü Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book called Lüshi Chunqiu cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws.
The School of "Minor-talks" was not a unique school of thought but a philosophy constructed of all the thoughts discussed by and originated from ordinary people on the street.
Another group is the School of the Military that studied strategy and the philosophy of war; Sunzi and Sun Bin were influential leaders. However, this school was not one of the "Ten Schools" defined by Hanshu. |
Ancient philosophy | Early Imperial China | Early Imperial China
The founder of the Qin dynasty, who implemented Legalism as the official philosophy, quashed Mohist and Confucianist schools. Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine. These latter two became the determining forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism.
Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han dynasty, whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements. He also was a promoter of the New Text school, which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China, who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace. In contrast, there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language (from this comes the denomination Old Text) that were so much more reliable. In particular, they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage, but simply a human and mortal.
The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of the Xuanxue (mysterious learning), also called Neo-Taoism. The most influential philosophers of this movement were Wang Bi, Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang. The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being (in Chinese, ming and wuming). A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers, like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, was the concept of feng liu (lit. wind and flow), a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse.
Buddhism arrived in China around the 1st century AD, but it was not until the Northern and Southern, Sui and Tang dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement. In the beginning, it was considered a sort of Taoist sect, and there was even a theory about Laozi, founder of Taoism, who went to India and taught his philosophy to Buddha. Mahayana Buddhism was far more successful in China than its rival Hinayana, and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century. Two chiefly important monk philosophers were Sengzhao and Daosheng. But probably the most influential and original of these schools was the Chan sect, which had an even stronger impact in Japan as the Zen sect. |
Ancient philosophy | Philosophers | Philosophers
Taoism
Laozi (5th–4th century BCE)
Zhuangzi (4th century BCE)
Zhang Daoling
Zhang Jue (died 184 CE)
Ge Hong (283 – 343 CE)
Confucianism
Confucius
Mencius
Xun Zi ( – 230 BCE)
Legalism
Li Si
Li Kui
Han Fei
Mi Su Yu
Shang Yang
Shen Buhai
Shen Dao
Mohism
Mozi
Song Xing
Logicians
Deng Xi
Hui Shi (380–305 BCE)
Gongsun Long ( – )
Agrarianism
Xu Xing
Naturalism
Zou Yan (305 – 240 BCE)
Neotaoism
Wang Bi
Guo Xiang
Xiang Xiu
School of Diplomacy
Guiguzi
Su Qin (380 – 284 BCE)
Zhang Yi (bef. 329 – 309 BCE)
Yue Yi
Li Yiji (268 – 204 BCE)
Military strategy
Sunzi ()
Sun Bin (died 316 BCE) |
Ancient philosophy | See also | See also
Index of ancient philosophy articles
Wisdom literature |
Ancient philosophy | References | References |
Ancient philosophy | Further reading | Further reading
Luchte, James, Early Greek Thought: Before the Dawn, in series Bloomsbury Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2011. |
Ancient philosophy | External links | External links
|
Ancient philosophy | Table of Content | short description, Overview, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Philosophers, Pre-Socratic philosophers, Classical Greek philosophers, Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic schools of thought, Early Roman and Christian philosophy, Philosophers during Roman times, Ancient Iranian philosophy, Schools of thought, Zoroastrianism, Pre-Manichaean thought, Manichaeism, Mazdakism, Zurvanism, Philosophy and the Empire, Literature, Ancient Jewish philosophy, Ancient Indian philosophy<!--'Ancient Indian philosophy' redirects here-->, Vedic philosophy, Sramana philosophy, Classical Indian philosophy, Ancient Indian philosophers, 1st millennium BCE, Philosophers of Vedic Age (c. 1500 – c. 600 BCE), Philosophers of Axial Age (600–185 BCE), Philosophers of Golden Age (184 BCE – 600 CE), Ancient Chinese philosophy, Schools of thought, Hundred Schools of Thought, Early Imperial China, Philosophers, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Anaximander | Short description | Anaximander ( ; Anaximandros; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus,"Anaximander" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 403. a city of Ionia (in modern-day Turkey). He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils.
Little of his life and work is known today. According to available historical documents, he is the first philosopher known to have written down his studies,Themistius, Oratio 26, §317 although only one fragment of his work remains. Fragmentary testimonies found in documents after his death provide a portrait of the man.
Anaximander was an early proponent of science and tried to observe and explain different aspects of the universe, with a particular interest in its origins, claiming that nature is ruled by laws, just like human societies, and anything that disturbs the balance of nature does not last long.Park, David (2005) The Grand Contraption, Princeton University Press Like many thinkers of his time, Anaximander's philosophy included contributions to many disciplines. In astronomy, he attempted to describe the mechanics of celestial bodies in relation to the Earth. In physics, his postulation that the indefinite (or apeiron) was the source of all things, led Greek philosophy to a new level of conceptual abstraction. His knowledge of geometry allowed him to introduce the gnomon in Greece. He created a map of the world that contributed greatly to the advancement of geography. Anaximander was involved in the politics of Miletus and was sent as a leader to one of its colonies. |
Anaximander | Biography | Biography
thumb|left|Ancient Roman mosaic from Johannisstraße, Trier, dating to the early third century AD, showing Anaximander holding a sundial
Anaximander, son of Praxiades, was born in the third year of the 42nd Olympiad (610 BC).Hippolytus (?), Refutation of All Heresies (I, 5) According to Apollodorus of Athens, Greek grammarian of the 2nd century BC, he was sixty-four years old during the second year of the 58th Olympiad (547–546 BC) and died shortly afterwards.In his Chronicles, as reported by Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (II, 2).
Establishing a timeline of his work is impossible, since no document provides chronological references. Themistius, a 4th-century Byzantine rhetorician, mentions that he was the "first of the known Greeks to publish a written document on nature." Therefore, his texts would be amongst the earliest written in prose, at least in the Western world. By the time of Plato, his philosophy was almost forgotten, and Aristotle, his successor Theophrastus, and a few doxographers provide us with the little information that remains. However, we know from Aristotle that Thales, also from Miletus, precedes Anaximander. It is debatable whether Thales actually was the teacher of Anaximander, but there is no doubt that Anaximander was influenced by Thales' theory that everything is derived from water. One thing that is not debatable is that even the ancient Greeks considered Anaximander to be from the Monist school which began in Miletus, with Thales followed by Anaximander and which ended with Anaximenes. 3rd-century Roman rhetorician Aelian depicts Anaximander as leader of the Milesian colony to Apollonia on the Black Sea coast, and hence some have inferred that he was a prominent citizen. Indeed, Various History (III, 17) explains that philosophers sometimes also dealt with political matters. It is very likely that leaders of Miletus sent him there as a legislator to create a constitution or simply to maintain the colony's allegiance.
Anaximander lived the final few years of his life as a subject of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. |
Anaximander | Theories | Theories
thumb|upright|Detail of Raphael's painting The School of Athens, 1510–1511. This could be a representation of Anaximander leaning towards Pythagoras on his left.This character is traditionally associated with Boethius, however his face offering similarities with the relief of Anaximander (image in the box above), it could be a representation of the philosopher. See for a description of the characters in this painting.
Anaximander's theories were influenced by the Greek mythical tradition, and by some ideas of Thales – the father of Western philosophy – as well as by observations made by older civilizations in the Near East, especially Babylon.C. Mosse (1984) La Grèce archaïque d'Homère à Eschyle. Édition du Seuil. p236 All these were developed rationally. In his desire to find some universal principle, he assumed, like traditional religion, the existence of a cosmic order; and his ideas on this used the old language of myths which ascribed divine control to various spheres of reality. This was a common practice for the Greek philosophers in a society which saw gods everywhere, and therefore could fit their ideas into a tolerably elastic system.C. M. Bowra (1957) The Greek experience. World publishing Company. Cleveland and New York. p168,169.
Some scholars see a gap between the existing mythical and the new rational way of thought which is the main characteristic of the archaic period (8th to 6th century BC) in the Greek city-states.Herbert Ernest Cushman claims Anaximander has "the first European philosophical conception of god", A beginner's history of philosophy, Volume 1 pg. 24 This has given rise to the phrase "Greek miracle". But there may not have been such an abrupt break as initially appears. The basic elements of nature (water, air, fire, earth) which the first Greek philosophers believed made up the universe in fact represent the primordial forces imagined in earlier ways of thinking. Their collision produced what the mythical tradition had called cosmic harmony. In the old cosmogonies – Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) and Pherecydes (6th century BC) – Zeus establishes his order in the world by destroying the powers which were threatening this harmony (the Titans). Anaximander claimed that the cosmic order is not monarchic but geometric, and that this causes the equilibrium of the Earth, which is lying in the centre of the universe. This is the projection on nature of a new political order and a new space organized around a centre which is the static point of the system in the society as in nature.C. Mosse (1984) La Grece archaique d'Homere a Eschyle. Edition du Seuil. p 235 In this space there is isonomy (equal rights) and all the forces are symmetrical and transferable. The decisions are now taken by the assembly of demos in the agora which is lying in the middle of the city.J. P. Vernart (1982) Les origins de la pensee grecque. PUF Pariw. p 128, J. P. Vernart (1982) The origins of the Greek thought. Cornell University Press.
The same rational way of thought led him to introduce the abstract apeiron (indefinite, infinite, boundless, unlimitedἀπείρων, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus) as an origin of the universe, a concept that is probably influenced by the original Chaos (gaping void, abyss, formless state) from which everything else appeared in the mythical Greek cosmogony.The Theogony of Hesiod, Transl. H. G. Evelyn White, 736–740 It also takes notice of the mutual changes between the four elements. Origin, then, must be something else unlimited in its source, that could create without experiencing decay, so that genesis would never stop.Aetios, I 3,3 [ Pseudo-Plutarch; DK 12 A 14.]; Aristotle, Phys. Γ5,204b 23sq. [DK 12 A 16.] |
Anaximander | Apeiron | Apeiron
The Refutation attributed to Hippolytus of Rome (I, 5), and the later 6th century Byzantine philosopher Simplicius of Cilicia, attribute to Anaximander the earliest use of the word apeiron ( "infinite" or "limitless") to designate the original principle. He was the first philosopher to employ, in a philosophical context, the term archē (), which until then had meant beginning or origin.
"That Anaximander called this something by the name of is the natural interpretation of what Theophrastos says; the current statement that the term was introduced by him appears to be due to a misunderstanding."
And "Hippolytos, however, is not an independent authority, and the only question is what Theophrastos wrote."
For him, it became no longer a mere point in time, but a source that could perpetually give birth to whatever will be. The indefiniteness is spatial in early usages as in Homer (indefinite sea) and as in Xenophanes (6th century BC) who said that the Earth went down indefinitely (to apeiron) i.e. beyond the imagination or concept of men.
Burnet (1930) in Early Greek Philosophy says:
"Nearly all we know of Anaximander's system is derived in the last resort from Theophrastos, who certainly knew his book. He seems once at least to have quoted Anaximander's own words, and he criticised his style. Here are the remains of what he said of him in the First Book:
"Anaximander of Miletos, son of Praxiades, a fellow-citizen and associate of Thales, said that the material cause and first element of things was the Infinite, he being the first to introduce this name of the material cause. He says it is neither water nor any other of the so-called elements, but a substance different from them which is infinite" [apeiron, or ] "from which arise all the heavens and the worlds within them.—Phys, Op. fr. 2 (Dox. p. 476; R. P. 16)."
Burnet's quote from the "First Book" is his translation of Theophrastos' Physic Opinion fragment 2 as it appears in p. 476 of Historia Philosophiae Graecae (1898) by Ritter and Preller and section 16 of Doxographi Graeci (1879) by Diels.
By ascribing the "Infinite" with a "material cause", Theophrastos is following the Aristotelian tradition of "nearly always discussing the facts from the point of view of his own system".
Aristotle writes (Metaphysics, I.III 3–4) that the Pre-Socratics were searching for the element that constitutes all things. While each pre-Socratic philosopher gave a different answer as to the identity of this element (water for Thales and air for Anaximenes), Anaximander understood the beginning or first principle to be an endless, unlimited primordial mass (apeiron), subject to neither old age nor decay, that perpetually yielded fresh materials from which everything we perceive is derived.Pseudo-Plutarch, The Doctrines of the Philosophers (I, 3). He proposed the theory of the apeiron in direct response to the earlier theory of his teacher, Thales, who had claimed that the primary substance was water. The notion of temporal infinity was familiar to the Greek mind from remote antiquity in the religious concept of immortality, and Anaximander's description was in terms appropriate to this conception. This archē is called "eternal and ageless". (Hippolytus (?), Refutation, I,6,I;DK B2)
"Aristotle puts things in his own way regardless of historical considerations, and it is difficult to see that it is more of an anachronism to call the Boundless " intermediate between the elements " than to say that it is " distinct from the elements." Indeed, if once we introduce the elements at all, the former description is the more adequate of the two. At any rate, if we refuse to understand these passages as referring to Anaximander, we shall have to say that Aristotle paid a great deal of attention to some one whose very name has been lost, and who not only agreed with some of Anaximander's views, but also used some of his most characteristic expressions. We may add that in one or two places Aristotle certainly seems to identify the " intermediate " with the something " distinct from " the elements."
"It is certain that he [Anaximander] cannot have said anything about elements, which no one thought of before Empedokles, and no one could think of before Parmenides. The question has only been mentioned because it has given rise to a lengthy controversy, and because it throws light on the historical value of Aristotle's statements. From the point of view of his own system, these may be justified; but we shall have to remember in other cases that, when he seems to attribute an idea to some earlier thinker, we are not bound to take what he says in an historical sense."
For Anaximander, the principle of things, the constituent of all substances, is nothing determined and not an element such as water in Thales' view. Neither is it something halfway between air and water, or between air and fire, thicker than air and fire, or more subtle than water and earth.Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption (II, 5) Anaximander argues that water cannot embrace all of the opposites found in nature – for example, water can only be wet, never dry – and therefore cannot be the one primary substance; nor could any of the other candidates. He postulated the apeiron as a substance that, although not directly perceptible to us, could explain the opposites he saw around him.
"If Thales had been right in saying that water was the fundamental reality, it would not be easy to see how anything else could ever have existed. One side of the opposition, the cold and moist, would have had its way unchecked, and the warm and dry would have been driven from the field long ago. We must, then, have something not itself one of the warring opposites, something more primitive, out of which they arise, and into which they once more pass away."
Anaximander explains how the four elements of ancient physics (air, earth, water and fire) are formed, and how Earth and terrestrial beings are formed through their interactions. Unlike other Pre-Socratics, he never defines this principle precisely, and it has generally been understood (e.g., by Aristotle and by Saint Augustine) as a sort of primal chaos. According to him, the Universe originates in the separation of opposites in the primordial matter. It embraces the opposites of hot and cold, wet and dry, and directs the movement of things; an entire host of shapes and differences then grow that are found in "all the worlds" (for he believed there were many).
"Anaximander taught, then, that there was an eternal. The indestructible something out of which everything arises, and into which everything returns; a boundless stock from which the waste of existence is continually made good, "elements.". That is only the natural development of the thought we have ascribed to Thales, and there can be no doubt that Anaximander at least formulated it distinctly. Indeed, we can still follow to some extent the reasoning which led him to do so. Thales had regarded water as the most likely thing to be that of which all others are forms; Anaximander appears to have asked how the primary substance could be one of these particular things. His argument seems to be preserved by Aristotle, who has the following passage in his discussion of the Infinite: "Further, there cannot be a single, simple body which is infinite, either, as some hold, one distinct from the elements, which they then derive from it, or without this qualification. For there are some who make this. (i.e. a body distinct from the elements). the infinite, and not air or water, in order that the other things may not be destroyed by their infinity. They are in opposition one to another. air is cold, water moist, and fire hot. and therefore, if any one of them were infinite, the rest would have ceased to be by this time. Accordingly they say that what is infinite is something other than the elements, and from it the elements arise.'—Aristotle Physics. F, 5 204 b 22 (Ritter and Preller (1898) Historia Philosophiae Graecae, section 16 b)."
Anaximander maintains that all dying things are returning to the element from which they came (apeiron). The one surviving fragment of Anaximander's writing deals with this matter. Simplicius transmitted it as a quotation, which describes the balanced and mutual changes of the elements:Simplicius, Comments on Aristotle's Physics (24, 13):
""
In Ancient Greek quotes usually blend with surrounding text. Consequently, it is uncertain how much is Anaximander's text and what is by Simplicius.
Whence things have their origin,
Thence also their destruction happens,
According to necessity;
For they give to each other justice and recompense
For their injustice
In conformity with the ordinance of Time.
Simplicius mentions that Anaximander said all these "in poetic terms", meaning that he used the old mythical language. The goddess Justice (Dike) keeps the cosmic order. This concept of returning to the element of origin was often revisited afterwards, notably by Aristotle,Aristotle, Metaphysics, I, 3, 983 b 8–11; Physics, III, 5, 204 b 33–34 and by the Greek tragedian Euripides: "what comes from earth must return to earth."EuripidesSupplices, v. 532 Friedrich Nietzsche, in his Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, stated that Anaximander viewed "... all coming-to-be as though it were an illegitimate emancipation from eternal being, a wrong for which destruction is the only penance."Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks (1873) § 4. Physicist Max Born, in commenting upon Werner Heisenberg's arriving at the idea that the elementary particles of quantum mechanics are to be seen as different manifestations, different quantum states, of one and the same "primordial substance,"' proposed that this primordial substance be called apeiron. |
Anaximander | A free-floating Earth | A free-floating Earth
Anaximander was the first to conceive a mechanical model of the world. In his model, the Earth floats very still in the centre of the infinite, not supported by anything. It remains "in the same place because of its indifference", a point of view that Aristotle considered ingenious, in On the Heavens.Aristotle, On the Heavens, ii, 13 Its curious shape is that of a cylinder"A column of stone", Aetius reports in De Fide (III, 7, 1), or "similar to a pillar-shaped stone", pseudo-Plutarch (III, 10). with a height one-third of its diameter. The flat top forms the inhabited world.
Carlo Rovelli suggests that Anaximander took the idea of the Earth's shape as a floating disk from Thales, who had imagined the Earth floating in water, the "immense ocean from which everything is born and upon which the Earth floats." Anaximander was then able to envisage the Earth at the centre of an infinite space, in which case it required no support as there was nowhere "down" to fall. In Rovelli's view, the shape – a cylinder or a sphere – is unimportant compared to the appreciation of a "finite body that floats free in space."
thumb|upright=1.75|center|Whereas Thales thought the Earth floated in the great Ocean, Anaximander saw the Earth as floating in the infinite. Where Thales conceived of things falling down to Earth, and Earth being above the Ocean, Anaximander saw the Earth as the centre, and that things could fall from any direction. This has been thought a large conceptual advance in cosmology.
Anaximander's realization that the Earth floats free without falling and does not need to be resting on something has been indicated by many as the first cosmological revolution and the starting point of scientific thinking. Karl Popper calls this idea "one of the boldest, most revolutionary, and most portentous ideas in the whole history of human thinking."Karl Popper, "Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge" (New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 186. Such a model allowed the concept that celestial bodies could pass under the Earth, opening the way to Greek astronomy. Rovelli suggests that seeing the stars circling the Pole star, and both vanishing below the horizon on one side and reappearing above it on the other, would suggest to the astronomer that there was a void both above and below the Earth.
thumb|upright=1.75|center|The sight of stars circling the Pole star and vanishing and reappearing at the horizon could have suggested to Anaximander that the Earth was surrounded above and below by a void. |
Anaximander | Cosmology | Cosmology
thumb|left|280px|Map of Anaximander's universe
Anaximander's bold use of non-mythological explanatory hypotheses considerably distinguishes him from previous cosmology writers such as Hesiod. It indicates a pre-Socratic effort to demystify physical processes. His major contribution to history was writing the oldest prose document about the Universe and the origins of life; for this he is often called the "Father of Cosmology" and founder of astronomy. However, pseudo-Plutarch states that he still viewed celestial bodies as deities.Pseudo-Plutarch, Doctrines of the Philosophers, i. 7 He placed the celestial bodies in the wrong order. He thought that the stars were nearest to the Earth, then the Moon, and the Sun farthest away. His scheme is compatible with the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions contained in the Iranian Avesta and the Indian Upanishads.
thumb|right|350px|Illustration of Anaximander's models of the universe. On the left, daytime in summer; on the right, nighttime in winter. Note the sphere represents the combined rings of all of the stars about the very small inner cylinder which represents the Earth.
At the origin, after the separation of hot and cold, a ball of flame appeared that surrounded Earth like bark on a tree. This ball broke apart to form the rest of the Universe. It resembled a system of hollow concentric wheels, filled with fire, with the rims pierced by holes like those of a flute. Consequently, the Sun was the fire that one could see through a hole the same size as the Earth on the farthest wheel, and an eclipse corresponded with the occlusion of that hole. The diameter of the solar wheel was twenty-seven times that of the Earth (or twenty-eight, depending on the sources)In Refutation, it is reported that the circle of the Sun is twenty-seven times bigger than the Moon. and the lunar wheel, whose fire was less intense, eighteen (or nineteen) times. Its hole could change shape, thus explaining lunar phases. The stars and the planets, located closer,Aetius, De Fide (II, 15, 6) followed the same model.Most of Anaximander's model of the Universe comes from pseudo-Plutarch (II, 20–28):
"[The Sun] is a circle twenty-eight times as big as the Earth, with the outline similar to that of a fire-filled chariot wheel, on which appears a mouth in certain places and through which it exposes its fire, as through the hole on a flute. [...] the Sun is equal to the Earth, but the circle on which it breathes and on which it's borne is twenty-seven times as big as the whole earth. [...] [The eclipse] is when the mouth from which comes the fire heat is closed. [...] [The Moon] is a circle nineteen times as big as the whole earth, all filled with fire, like that of the Sun".
Anaximander was the first astronomer to consider the Sun as a huge mass, and consequently, to realize how far from Earth it might be, and the first to present a system where the celestial bodies turned at different distances. Furthermore, according to Diogenes Laertius (II, 2), he built a celestial sphere. This invention undoubtedly made him the first to realize the obliquity of the Zodiac as the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder reports in Natural History (II, 8). It is a little early to use the term ecliptic, but his knowledge and work on astronomy confirm that he must have observed the inclination of the celestial sphere in relation to the plane of the Earth to explain the seasons. The doxographer and theologian Aetius attributes to Pythagoras the exact measurement of the obliquity. |
Anaximander | Multiple worlds | Multiple worlds
According to Simplicius, Anaximander already speculated on the plurality of worlds, similar to atomists Leucippus and Democritus, and later philosopher Epicurus. These thinkers supposed that worlds appeared and disappeared for a while, and that some were born when others perished. They claimed that this movement was eternal, "for without movement, there can be no generation, no destruction".Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle's Physics, 1121, 5–9
In addition to Simplicius, HippolytusHippolytus (?), Refutation I, 6 reports Anaximander's claim that from the infinite comes the principle of beings, which themselves come from the heavens and the worlds (several doxographers use the plural when this philosopher is referring to the worlds within,Notably pseudo-Plutarch (III, 2) and Aetius, (I, 3, 3; I, 7, 12; II, 1, 3; II, 1, 8). which are often infinite in quantity). Cicero writes that he attributes different gods to the countless worlds.On the Nature of the Gods (I, 10, 25):
"Anaximandri autem opinio est nativos esse deos longis intervallis orientis occidentisque, eosque innumerabiles esse mundos."
"For Anaximander, gods were born, but the time is long between their birth and their death; and the worlds are countless."
This theory places Anaximander close to the Atomists and the Epicureans who, more than a century later, also claimed that an infinity of worlds appeared and disappeared. In the timeline of the Greek history of thought, some thinkers conceptualized a single world (Plato, Aristotle, Anaxagoras and Archelaus), while others instead speculated on the existence of a series of worlds, continuous or non-continuous (Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Empedocles and Diogenes). |
Anaximander | Meteorological phenomena | Meteorological phenomena
Anaximander attributed some phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, to the intervention of elements, rather than to divine causes.Pseudo-Plutarch (III, 3):
"Anaximander claims that all this is done by the wind, for when it happens to be enclosed in a thick cloud, then by its subtlety and lightness, the rupture produces the sound; and the scattering, because of the darkness of the cloud, creates the light." In his system, thunder results from the shock of clouds hitting each other; the loudness of the sound is proportionate with that of the shock. Thunder without lightning is the result of the wind being too weak to emit any flame, but strong enough to produce a sound. A flash of lightning without thunder is a jolt of the air that disperses and falls, allowing a less active fire to break free. Thunderbolts are the result of a thicker and more violent air flow.According to Seneca, Naturales quaestiones (II, 18).
He saw the sea as a remnant of the mass of humidity that once surrounded Earth.Pseudo-Plutarch (III, 16) A part of that mass evaporated under the Sun's action, thus causing the winds and even the rotation of the celestial bodies, which he believed were attracted to places where water is more abundant.It is then very likely that by observing the Moon and the tides, Anaximander thought the latter were the cause, and not the effect of the satellite's movement. He explained rain as a product of the humidity pumped up from Earth by the sun. For him, the Earth was slowly drying up and water only remained in the deepest regions, which someday would go dry as well. According to Aristotle's Meteorology (II, 3), Democritus also shared this opinion. |
Anaximander | Origin of mankind | Origin of mankind
Anaximander speculated about the beginnings and origin of animal life, and that humans came from other animals in waters.Anaximander, frag. A30 According to his evolutionary theory, animals sprang out of the sea long ago, born trapped in a spiny bark, but as they got older, the bark would dry up and animals would be able to break it.Aetius, Opinions, V, XIX, 4. The 3rd century Roman writer Censorinus reports:
Anaximander put forward the idea that humans had to spend part of this transition inside the mouths of big fish to protect themselves from the Earth's climate until they could come out in open air and lose their scales.Plutarch also mentions Anaximander's theory that humans were born inside fish, feeding like sharks, and that when they could defend themselves, they were thrown ashore to live on dry land. He thought that, considering humans' extended infancy, we could not have survived in the primeval world in the same manner we do presently. |
Anaximander | Other accomplishments | Other accomplishments |
Anaximander | Cartography | Cartography
thumb|right|280px|Possible rendering of Anaximander's world mapAccording to John Mansley Robinson, An Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy, Houghton and Mifflin, 1968.
Both Strabo and Agathemerus (later Greek geographers) claim that, according to the geographer Eratosthenes, Anaximander was the first to publish a map of the world. The map probably inspired the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus to draw a more accurate version. Strabo viewed both as the first geographers after Homer.
Maps were produced in ancient times, also notably in Egypt, Lydia, the Middle East, and Babylon. Only some small examples survived until today. The unique example of a world map comes from the late Babylonian Map of the World later than 9th century BC but is based probably on a much older map. These maps indicated directions, roads, towns, borders, and geological features. Anaximander's innovation was to represent the entire inhabited land known to the ancient Greeks.
Such an accomplishment is more significant than it at first appears. Anaximander most likely drew this map for three reasons.As established by Marcel Conche, Anaximandre. Fragments et témoignages, introduction (p. 43–47). First, it could be used to improve navigation and trade between Miletus's colonies and other colonies around the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Second, Thales would probably have found it easier to convince the Ionian city-states to join in a federation in order to push the Median threat away if he possessed such a tool. Finally, the philosophical idea of a global representation of the world simply for the sake of knowledge was reason enough to design one.
Surely aware of the sea's convexity, he may have designed his map on a slightly rounded metal surface. The centre or "navel" of the world ( omphalós gẽs) could have been Delphi, but is more likely in Anaximander's time to have been located near Miletus. The Aegean Sea was near the map's centre and enclosed by three continents, themselves located in the middle of the ocean and isolated like islands by sea and rivers. Europe was bordered on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and was separated from Asia by the Black Sea, the Lake Maeotis, and, further east, either by the Phasis River (now called the Rioni in Georgia) or the Tanais. The Nile flowed south into the ocean, separating Libya (which was the name for the part of the then-known African continent) from Asia. |
Anaximander | Gnomon | Gnomon
The Suda relates that Anaximander explained some basic notions of geometry. It also mentions his interest in the measurement of time and associates him with the introduction in Greece of the gnomon. In Lacedaemon, he participated in the construction, or at least in the adjustment, of sundials to indicate solstices and equinoxes.These accomplishments are often attributed to him, notably by Diogenes Laertius (II, 1) and by the Roman historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Preparation for the Gospel (X, 14, 11). Indeed, a gnomon required adjustments from a place to another because of the difference in latitude.
In his time, the gnomon was simply a vertical pillar or rod mounted on a horizontal plane. The position of its shadow on the plane indicated the time of day. As it moves through its apparent course, the Sun draws a curve with the tip of the projected shadow, which is shortest at noon, when pointing due south. The variation in the tip's position at noon indicates the solar time and the seasons; the shadow is longest on the winter solstice and shortest on the summer solstice.
The invention of the gnomon itself cannot be attributed to Anaximander because its use, as well as the division of days into twelve parts, came from the Babylonians. It is they, according to Herodotus' Histories (II, 109), who gave the Greeks the art of time measurement. It is likely that he was not the first to determine the solstices, because no calculation is necessary. On the other hand, equinoxes do not correspond to the middle point between the positions during solstices, as the Babylonians thought. As the Suda seems to suggest, it is very likely that with his knowledge of geometry, he became the first Greek to determine accurately the equinoxes. |
Anaximander | Prediction of an earthquake | Prediction of an earthquake
In his philosophical work De Divinatione (I, 50, 112), Cicero states that Anaximander convinced the inhabitants of Lacedaemon to abandon their city and spend the night in the country with their weapons because an earthquake was near.Da Divinatione (in Latin) The city collapsed when the top of the Taygetus split like the stern of a ship. Pliny the Elder also mentions this anecdote (II, 81), suggesting that it came from an "admirable inspiration", as opposed to Cicero, who did not associate the prediction with divination. |
Anaximander | Scientific method | Scientific method
Rovelli credits Anaximander with pioneering the "first great scientific revolution in history" by introducing the naturalistic approach to understanding the universe, according to which the universe operates by inviolable laws, without recourse to supernatural explanations. According to Rovelli, Anaximander not only paved the way for modern science, but revolutionized the process for how we form our worldview, by constantly questioning and rejecting certainty. Rovelli further states that Anaximander has not been given his due credit, largely because his naturalistic approach was strongly opposed in antiquity (among others by Aristotle) and had yet to yield the tangible benefits it has today.
+ Anaximander's transformation of method Situation Practice Earlier methodDifferent school Unqualified criticism Earlier methodSame school Unqualified acceptance Anaximander's method Detailed appreciation of teachingThen, teaching is questioned and improved Example Thales: "World is made of water" – Anaximander: "Not so"Thales: "Earth floats on water" – Anaximander: "Earth floats in the infinite"Thales: "Earthquakes due to wobbles in Ocean" – Anaximander: "No, due to Earth splitting open" |
Anaximander | Legacy | Legacy
Bertrand Russell in the History of Western Philosophy interprets Anaximander's theories as an assertion of the necessity of an appropriate balance between earth, fire, and water, all of which may be independently seeking to aggrandize their proportions relative to the others. Anaximander seems to express his belief that a natural order ensures balance among these elements, that where there was fire, ashes (earth) now exist.Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy and Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946). His Greek peers echoed this sentiment with their belief in natural boundaries beyond which not even the gods could operate.
Friedrich Nietzsche, in Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, claimed that Anaximander was a pessimist who asserted that the primal being of the world was a state of indefiniteness. In accordance with this, anything definite has to eventually pass back into indefiniteness. In other words, Anaximander viewed "...all coming-to-be as though it were an illegitimate emancipation from eternal being, a wrong for which destruction is the only penance". (Ibid., § 4) The world of individual objects, in this way of thinking, has no worth and should perish.Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1962).
Martin Heidegger lectured extensively on Anaximander, and delivered a lecture entitled "Anaximander's Saying" which was subsequently included in Off the Beaten Track. The lecture examines the ontological difference and the oblivion of Being or Dasein in the context of the Anaximander fragment.Martin Heidegger, Off the Beaten Track (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002). Heidegger's lecture is, in turn, an important influence on the French philosopher Jacques Derrida.Cf. Jacques Derrida, Margins of Philosophy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), pp. 66–7; Derrida, "Geschlecht II: Heidegger's Hand," in John Sallis (ed.), Deconstruction and Philosophy (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1987), pp. 181–2; Derrida, Given Time: I. Counterfeit Money (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 159, n. 28.
In the 2017 essay collection Anaximander in Context: New Studies on the Origins of Greek Philosophy, Dirk Couprie, Robert Hahn and Gerald Naddaf describe Anaximander as "one of the greatest minds in history", but one that has not been given his due. Couprie goes to state that he considers him on par with Newton. Similar sentiments are expressed in Carlo Rovelli's 2011 book The First Scientist: Anaximander and His Legacy.
The Anaximander (31st) High School of Thessaloniki, Greece is named after Anaximander. |
Anaximander | Works | Works
According to the Suda:Themistius and Simplicius also mention some work "on nature". The list could refer to book titles or simply their topics. Again, no one can tell because there is no punctuation sign in Ancient Greek. Furthermore, this list is incomplete since the Suda ends it with , thus implying "other works".
On Nature ( / Perì phúseôs)
Rotation of the Earth ( / Gễs períodos)
On Fixed stars ( / Perì tỗn aplanỗn)
The [Celestial] Sphere ( / Sphaĩra) |
Anaximander | See also | See also
Indefinite monism |
Anaximander | References | References |
Anaximander | Sources | Sources |
Anaximander | Primary | Primary
Aelian: Various History (III, 17)
Aëtius: De Fide (I-III; V)
Agathemerus: A Sketch of Geography in Epitome (I, 1)
Aristotle: Meteorology (II, 3) Translated by E. W. Webster
Aristotle: On Generation and Corruption (II, 5) Translated by H. H. Joachim
Aristotle: On the Heavens (II, 13) Translated by J. L. Stocks
(III, 5, 204 b 33–34)
Censorinus: De Die Natali (IV, 7) See original text at LacusCurtius
(I, 50, 112)
Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods (I, 10, 25)
Euripides: The Suppliants (532) Translated by E. P. Coleridge
Eusebius of Caesarea: Preparation for the Gospel (X, 14, 11) Translated by E.H. Gifford
Heidel, W.A. Anaximander's Book: PAAAS, vol. 56, n.7, 1921, pp. 239–288.
Herodotus: Histories (II, 109) See original text in Perseus project
Hippolytus (?): Refutation of All Heresies (I, 5) Translated by Roberts and Donaldson
Pliny the Elder: Natural History (II, 8) See original text in Perseus project
Pseudo-Plutarch: The Doctrines of the Philosophers (I, 3; I, 7; II, 20–28; III, 2–16; V, 19)
Seneca the Younger: Natural Questions (II, 18)
Simplicius: Comments on Aristotle's Physics (24, 13–25; 1121, 5–9)
Strabo: Geography (I, 1) Books 1‑7, 15‑17 translated by H. L. Jones
Themistius: Oratio (36, 317)
The Suda (Suda On Line) |
Anaximander | Secondary | Secondary
The default source; anything not otherwise attributed should be in Conche.
|
Anaximander | External links | External links
Philoctete – Anaximandre: Fragments ((Grk icon))
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Anaximander
Extensive bibliography by Dirk Couprie
Anaximander of Miletus Life and Work – Fragments and Testimonies by Giannis Stamatellos
Category:6th-century BC Greek philosophers
Category:610s BC births
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:540s BC deaths
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Ancient Greek astronomers
Category:Ancient Greek cartographers
Category:Ancient Greek metaphysicians
Category:Ancient Greek physicists
Category:Ancient Greeks from the Achaemenid Empire
Category:Ancient Milesians
Category:Natural philosophers
Category:Philosophers of ancient Ionia
Category:Presocratic philosophers
Category:6th-century BC geographers
Category:6th-century BC astronomers |
Anaximander | Table of Content | Short description, Biography, Theories, Apeiron, A free-floating Earth, Cosmology, Multiple worlds, Meteorological phenomena, Origin of mankind, Other accomplishments, Cartography, Gnomon, Prediction of an earthquake, Scientific method, Legacy, Works, See also, References, Sources, Primary, Secondary, External links |
APL | wiktionary | APL is an abbreviation, acronym, or initialism that may refer to: |
APL | Science and technology | Science and technology
132524 APL, an asteroid
Abductor pollicis longus muscle, in the human hand
Acute promyelocytic leukemia, a subtype of acute myelogenous leukemia
Applied Physics Letters, a physics journal
Nampula Airport (IATA airport code: APL), in Mozambique |
APL | Computers | Computers
.apl, the file extension of the Monkey's Audio metadata file
AMD Performance Library, renamed Framewave, a computer compiler library
APL (programming language), an array-based programming language
APL (codepage), the character set for programming in APL
Address Prefix List, a DNS record type
Address (programming language), an early high-level programming language developed in the Soviet Union
Advanced Physical Layer, an extension of Ethernet 10BASE-T1L for field devices
Alexa Presentation Language, a language for developing Amazon Alexa skills
Associative Programming Language, a database query language |
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