Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras of Clazomenae was a Pre-Socratic philosopher who spent much of his career in Athens, reportedly the first philosopher to settle there. He held that everything contains a share of everything else and that the cosmos was set in rotation and ordered by Mind (nous). Ancient sources report that he was charged with impiety, partly for calling the sun a fiery stone, and withdrew to Lampsacus. His work survives only in fragments.

Key ideas

• Nothing comes into being or perishes; there is only mixture and separation.
• In everything there is a portion of everything, and things are named for what predominates.
• Mind (nous) is unmixed and initiated the cosmic rotation that separated things out.
• Heavenly bodies are natural objects, such as the sun as a hot stone, not gods.

Major works

• On Nature (surviving in fragments, chiefly through Simplicius)
• Testimony in Plato's Phaedo and Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book I (ancient reports of his views)

In the conversation

No topics yet. Start one about this thinker.