.
Archelaus (/ɑːrkɪˈleɪəs/; Greek: Ἀρχέλαος; fl. 5th century BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher, a pupil of Anaxagoras, and may have been a teacher of Socrates. He asserted that the principle of motion was the separation of hot from cold, from which he endeavoured to explain the formation of the Earth and the creation of animals and humans.
Archelaus was a Greek philosopher of the 5th century BC, born probably in Athens, though Diogenes Laërtius (ii. 16) says in Miletus. He was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and is said by Ion of Chios (Diogenes Laërtius, ii. 23) to have been the teacher of Socrates. Some argue that this is probably only an attempt to connect Socrates with the Ionian School; others (e.g. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers) uphold the story. There is similar difference of opinion as regards the statement that Archelaus formulated certain ethical doctrines. In general, he followed Anaxagoras, but in his cosmology he went back to the earlier Ionians.
Life
Archelaus was a philosopher of the Ionian School, called Physicus from having been the first to teach natural philosophy at Athens. This statement of Diogenes Laërtius,[1] is contradicted by Clement of Alexandria,[2] but the two may be reconciled by supposing that Archelaus was the first Athenian who did so. According to Simplicius,[3] who probably got his information from Theophrastus, Archelaus was a native of Athens, even though Diogenes Laërtius [1] says it is unclear if he was born in Athens or Miletus. He was the son of Apollodorus, or as some say, of Mydon, Midon,[4] or Myson; was a pupil of Anaxagoras; and is said to have taught at Lampsacus before he established himself at Athens. He is commonly reported to have taught Socrates and Euripides. If he was the instructor of Socrates, he is never mentioned by Xenophon, Plato, or Aristotle, and this story may have been an attempt to connect Socrates with the Ionian School.[5] However, Diogenes Laërtius does report, on the authority of Ion of Chios , a contemporary of Socrates, that Socrates went with Archelaus on a trip to Samos.[6] Also, some scholars have seen in Socrates' "autobiographical" sketch in Plato's Phaedo[7] a reference to Archelaus' theory about the generation and nourishment of the first animals.[8] The tradition which connects Archelaus with Euripides may have arisen from a confusion with Euripides' patron, Archelaus I, king of Macedonia.
Philosophy
No fragments of Archelaus have survived; his doctrines have to be extracted from Diogenes Laërtius, Simplicius, Pseudo-Plutarch, and Hippolytus.[5]
Archelaus held that air and infinity are the principle of all things, by which Pseudo-Plutarch[9] supposes that he meant infinite air; and we are told, that by this statement he intended to exclude Mind from the creation of the world.[10] If so, he abandoned the doctrine of Anaxagoras at its most important point; and it seems safer to conclude that while he wished to teach the materialist notion that the mind is formed of air, he still held infinite Mind to be the cause of all things. This explanation has the advantage of agreeing with Simplicius.[3]
Beginning with primitive Matter, (identical with air mingled with Mind), by a process of thickening and thinning, arose cold and warmth, or water and fire, the one passive, the other active.[5] Archelaus deduced motion from the opposition of heat and cold, caused by the will of the material Mind. This opposition separated fire and water, and produced a slimy mass of earth. While the earth was hardening, the action of heat upon its moisture gave birth to animals, which at first were nourished by the mud from which they sprang, and gradually acquired the power of propagating their species. Humans also appear, at first in lower forms. All these animals were endowed with mind, but humans separated from the others, and established laws and societies. It was just from this point of his physical theory that he seems to have passed into ethical speculation, by the proposition, that right and wrong are "not by nature but by custom" (Greek: οὐ φύσει ἀλλὰ νόμῳ)[1]—dogma possibly suggested to him by the contemporary Sophists.
Of the other doctrines of Archelaus, he asserted that the Earth was flat, but that the surface must be depressed towards the centre; for if it were absolutely level, the sun would rise and set everywhere at the same time.[11] He also said that the Sun was the largest of the stars. He accounted for speech by the motion of the air; for this, he seems to have adopted the views of Anaxagoras.[12]
Notes
Laërtius 1925, § 16
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, i.
Simplicius, in Phys. Aristot. fol. 6, b.
Suda, Archelaos
Chisholm 1911.
Diogenes Laërtius, ii. 23 Archived 2010-03-02 at the Wayback Machine
Plato, Phaedo, 96b
John Burnet 1911, Plato: Phaedo, p. 100.
Pseudo-Plutarch, Plac. Phil. i. 3.
Stobaeus, Ecl. Phys. i. 1, 2.
Hippolytus 1886, Chapter 8.
Pseudo-Plutarch, Plac. Phil. iv. 19.
Sources
Hippolytus (1886). "Chapter 8. Archelaus; System Akin to that of Anaxagoras; His Origin of the Earth and of Animals; Other Systems". Refutation of All Heresies (Book I). Translated by John Henry MacMahon. — From Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; Coxe, A. Cleveland, eds. (1886). Ante-Nicene Fathers. 5. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Company.
Wikisource-logo.svg Laërtius, Diogenes (1925). "Socrates, with predecessors and followers: Archelaus" . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. 1:2. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 16.
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Archelaus of Miletus". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 362.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Archelaus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
External links
Archelaus: Fragments
vte
Ancient Greek schools of philosophy
Pre-Socratic
Ionian
Epimenides of Knossos Pherecydes of Syros Diogenes Metrodorus of Lampsacus Xenophanes Xeniades Theodorus of Cyrene Anacharsis
Milesian
Thales Anaximander Anaximenes
Ephesian
Heraclitus Cratylus Antisthenes
Atomist
Leucippus Democritus
Italian
Hippo Musaeus of Athens Themistoclea
Pythagorean
Pythagoras Hippasus Philolaus Archytas Alcmaeon Brontinus Theano Arignote Myia Damo Calliphon Hermotimus Metrodorus of Cos Eurytus
Eleatic
Parmenides Zeno Melissus
Pluralist
Anaxagoras Archelaus Empedocles
Sophist
Protagoras Gorgias Prodicus Hippias Antiphon Lycophron Damon Callicles Thrasymachus Euthydemus Dionysodorus Euenus Critias
Socratic
Socrates Xenophon Cebes of Thebes Simmias of Thebes
Cynic
Antisthenes Diogenes Diodorus Zoilus Onesicritus Philiscus Crates Hipparchia Metrocles Monimus Cleomenes Bion Sotades Menippus Menedemus Cercidas Teles Meleager Favonius Demetrius Dio Chrysostom Agathobulus Secundus Demonax Peregrinus Proteus Theagenes Oenomaus Pancrates Crescens Heraclius Horus Asclepiades Sallustius
Cyrenaic
Aristippus Arete of Cyrene Aristippus the Younger Theodorus the Atheist Antipater of Cyrene Aristotle of Cyrene Hegesias of Cyrene Anniceris Dionysius the Renegade Euhemerus
Eretrian
Phaedo of Elis Menedemus Asclepiades of Phlius
Megarian
Euclid of Megara Ichthyas Thrasymachus Eubulides Stilpo Nicarete Pasicles Bryson
Dialectical
Clinomachus Apollonius Cronus Euphantus Dionysius Diodorus Cronus Philo Alexinus Panthoides
Peripatetic
Aristotle Aristoxenus Clearchus of Soli Dicaearchus Eudemus of Rhodes Theophrastus Strato of Lampsacus Lyco of Troas Aristo of Ceos Critolaus Diodorus of Tyre Erymneus Andronicus of Rhodes Cratippus Andronicus of Rhodes Boethus of Sidon Aristocles of Messene Aspasius Adrastus Alexander of Aphrodisias Themistius Olympiodorus the Elder
Platonic
Plato Eudoxus Philip of Opus Aristonymus Coriscus Erastus of Scepsis Demetrius of Amphipolis Euaeon of Lampsacus Heraclides Python of Aenus Hestiaeus of Perinthus Lastheneia of Mantinea Timolaus of Cyzicus Speusippus Axiothea of Phlius Heraclides Ponticus Menedemus of Pyrrha Xenocrates Crantor Polemon Crates of Athens
Hellenistic
Academic Skeptic
Middle
Arcesilaus Diocles of Cnidus Lacydes Telecles Evander Hegesinus
New
Carneades Hagnon of Tarsus Metrodorus of Stratonicea Clitomachus Charmadas Aeschines of Neapolis Philo of Larissa Cicero Dio of Alexandria
Epicurean
Epicurus Polyaenus Metrodorus Batis Leontion Carneiscus Idomeneus Hermarchus Colotes Themista Leonteus Polystratus Dionysius of Lamptrai Basilides Philonides Diogenes of Tarsus Alcaeus and Philiscus Apollodorus Demetrius Lacon Zeno of Sidon Amafinius Rabirius Titus Albucius Phaedrus Philodemus Lucretius Patro Catius Siro Diogenes of Oenoanda
Middle Platonic
Antiochus Philo of Alexandria Plutarch Justin Martyr Gaius Albinus Alcinous Apuleius Atticus Maximus of Tyre Numenius of Apamea Longinus Clement of Alexandria Origen the Pagan Calcidius
Neoplatonist
Ammonius Saccas Plotinus Disciples Origen Amelius Porphyry Iamblichus Sopater Eustathius of Cappadocia Sosipatra Aedesius Dexippus Chrysanthius Theodorus of Asine Julian Sallustius Maximus of Ephesus Eusebius of Myndus Priscus of Epirus Antoninus Gregory of Nyssa Hypatia Augustine Macrobius Plutarch of Athens Hierius Asclepigenia Hierocles Syrianus Hermias Aedesia Proclus Ammonius Hermiae Asclepiodotus Hegias Zenodotus Marinus Agapius Isidore Damascius Simplicius Priscian
Neopythagorean
Nigidius Figulus Apollonius of Tyana Moderatus of Gades Nicomachus Alexicrates Anaxilaus Bolus of Mendes Cronius Damis Numenius of Apamea Secundus the Silent Quintus Sextius Sotion Theon of Smyrna
Pyrrhonist
Pyrrho Aenesidemus Agrippa the Skeptic Arcesilaus Hecataeus of Abdera Heraclides of Tarentum Herodotus of Tarsus Menodotus of Nicomedia Nausiphanes Sextus Empiricus Theodas of Laodicea Timon of Phlius
Stoic
Greek
Zeno of Citium Persaeus Aratus of Soli Athenodorus of Soli Aristo of Chios Apollophanes of Antioch Dionysius the Renegade Sphaerus Herillus of Carthage Cleanthes Eratosthenes Hermagoras of Amphipolis Chrysippus Dioscorides Aristocreon Zeno of Tarsus Eudromus Crates of Mallus Diogenes of Babylon Zenodotus Apollodorus of Seleucia Basilides Antipater of Tarsus Apollodorus of Athens Archedemus of Tarsus Panaetius of Rhodes Boethus of Sidon Polemon of Athens Marcus Vigellius Heraclides of Tarsus Dardanus Mnesarchus Publius Rutilius Rufus Stilo Dionysius of Cyrene Quintus Lucilius Balbus Hecato of Rhodes Diotimus the Stoic Posidonius Crinis Proclus of Mallus Diodotus the Stoic Geminus of Rhodes Athenodoros Cordylion Apollonius of Tyre Cato the Younger Antipater of Tyre Porcia Catonis Apollonides Jason of Nysa Athenodoros Cananites Quintus Sextius Arius Didymus
Roman
Attalus Papirius Fabianus Seneca Thrasea Paetus Lucius Annaeus Cornutus Chaeremon of Alexandria Paconius Agrippinus Publius Egnatius Celer Persius Helvidius Priscus Arulenus Rusticus Musonius Rufus Fannia Euphrates the Stoic Cleomedes Epictetus Hierocles Flavius Arrianus Basilides Apollonius of Chalcedon Claudius Maximus Junius Rusticus Marcus Aurelius
| Ancient Greece
Science, Technology , Medicine , Warfare, , Biographies , Life , Cities/Places/Maps , Arts , Literature , Philosophy ,Olympics, Mythology , History , Images Medieval Greece / Byzantine Empire Science, Technology, Arts, , Warfare , Literature, Biographies, Icons, History Modern Greece Cities, Islands, Regions, Fauna/Flora ,Biographies , History , Warfare, Science/Technology, Literature, Music , Arts , Film/Actors , Sport , Fashion --- |
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
