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4 The Historia Peri Phuseos from Xenophanes to the Atomists
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PROLOGUE In this chapter, I will attempt to show that most of the pre-Socratics not only wrote works of the Peri phuseo\s type, but that their respective works followed a scheme somewhat similar to Anaximander’s. This does not mean that every pre-Socratic was preoccupied with exactly the same content. For example, heroic genealogies are found in some pre-Socratics but not in others. I will argue, however, that all pre-Socratics attempted to account for the origin and development of the present order of things and their respective accounts were comprised in the scheme of three elements: a cosmogony, a zoogony, and a politogony. Of course, an investigation into the origin and evolution of the present state of things, that is, an historia peri phuseo\s, obviously implies a reflection on the accounts of the predecessors. This reflection often gave rise to a very different system (or conclusions) such that it may appear we are dealing with a different topic or subject matter. But this is only an appearance. For example, even if Pythagoras is much more preoccupied with the meaning of life and death, all this is inherent to his system. Even if Parmenides seems to have abandoned an inquiry of the peri phuseo\s type in order to pursue an exhaustive study of what it means for something to exist, this only follows from his penetrating analysis of his Milesian predecessors reflections on phusis as principle (phusis as arche\). Thus, after completing his exposé on being/existence, Parmenides turns to a cosmogony and an anthropogony that is based, at least in part, on his previous analysis of being/existence. Furthermore , by attempting to show that all pre-Socratics wrote a work of the peri phuseo\s type, I concur with Aristotle (On the Heavens 279b12), the first to postulate that the universe did not have a beginning in time. 113 4 The Historia Peri Phuseo\s from Xenophanes to the Atomists In what follows, I will examine each pre-Socratic individually in the chronological order that most scholars would concur with. It is important to be cognizant of the fact that the idea of phusis, and the tripartite schema that presupposes the notion, is invariably in the background. Given the importance of the political context, I begin each pre-Socratic with a brief analysis of their respective historical milieu. XENOPHANES OF COLOPHON There is consensus among modern scholars that Xenophanes lived an exceptionally long life from around 575 to 475 BCE (KRS 1983, 164–65; Guthrie 1962, 362–64; and Lesher 1992, 3; and above chap. 3). In fact, by his own account, Xenophanes was alive and writing at the age of ninety-two (DK21B8). Xenophanes was born in Colophon, in Ionia. There is a report that Xenophanes was an auditor of Anaximander. Given the dates, the proximity of Colophon to Miletus, and the fact that Miletus was the intellectual and economic center of Ionia at the time, there is no good reason to doubt this. Moreover, Colophon was a member of the famous Panionian League (Gorman 2001, 124–27). This is the same League that Thales was purported to have addressed around 545 BCE, suggesting that they form a common, centrally located government to counter the Persian threat (Herodotus 1.142–52). Colophon was conquered by Harpagus the Mede in 546 BCE, and Xenophanes states he fled his native city—probably not without a good fight—following its conquest around the age of twenty-five (DK21B22). Miletus, for its part, was able to form a special pact (xenia) with Cyrus (as with Croseus and Alyattes before him) and thus avoid destruction. This may have prompted Xenophanes to spend some time there before continuing his errant life. He eventually migrated to Western Greece, where he is connected with several cities including Zancle, Catana (home of the first written lawcodes), and Elea (Diogenes Laertius 9.18 = DK21A1; Guthrie 1962, 363–64) and where he eventually died around 470 BCE. Socially, Xenophanes was an aristocrat like his Milesian counterparts. And he had similar social and political views. He solemnly condemns the excessively luxurious display of his countrymen before the fall of Colophon (DK21B3) and believes that contributions to good government (eunomie\) and the material prosperity of a city are far more important than physical feats (DK21B2). Indeed, Xenophanes argues that his own wisdom (sophie\) is superior because it has public value rather than just a personal one (DK21B2.11–14). We have here reflections of a...