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2/10/2016 11:57 pm  #1


History of Philosophy Series 1: Anaximander Fragment

Text (Greek with context):

 Simplicius Physics 24.13-25» Theophrastus fr. 226A Fortenbaugh (A9) Bi)

τών δέ εν καί κινούμενον καί άπειρον λεγόντων Αναξίμανδρος μέν Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος Θαλοΰ γενόμενος διάδοχος καί μαθητής άρχήν τε καί στοιχείου εϊρηκβ τών δντων τό άπειρον, πρώτος τούτο τούνομα κομίσας τής άρχής. λέγει 6’ αυτήν μήτε ύδωρ μήτε άλλο τι τών καλουμένων είναι στοιχείων, άλλ' έτέραν τινά φύσιν άπειρον, έξ ής άπαντας γίνεσθαι τούς ουρανούς καί τούς έν αύτοΐς κόσμους·

[ F1 ] έξ ών δέ ή γένεσίς έστι τοΐς ούσι, καί τήν φθοράν είς ταϋτα γίνεσθαι κατά τό χρεών· διδόναι γάρ αύτά δίκην καί τίσιν άλλήλοις τής άδικίας κατά τήν τού χρόνου τάξιν, ποιητικωτέροις ούτως όνόμασιν αύτά λέγων.

δήλον δέ ότι τήν εΐς άλληλα μεταβολήν τών τεττάρων στοιχείων ούτος θεασάμενος ούκ ήξίωσεν έν τι τούτων ύποκείμενον ποιήσαι, άλλά τι άλλο παρά ταϋτα· ούτος δέ ούκ άλλοιουμένου τού στοιχείου τήν γένεσιν ποιεί, άλλ’ άποκρινομένων τών εναντίων διά τής άιδίου κινήσεως. διό καί τοΐς περί Αναξαγόραν τούτον ό Αριστοτέλης συνέταξεν.

Text (English with context):

[report of the interpretation of Theophrastus:] Of those who say the source is one and in motion and boundless, Anaximander, the son of Praxiades, of Miletus, the successor and student of Thales, said the source and element of existing things was the boundless, being the first one to apply this term to the source. And he says it is neither water nor any other of the so-called elements, but some other boundless nature, from which come to be all the heavens and the world-orders in them:

[F1] From what things existing objects come to be, into them too does their destruction take place, according to what must be: for they give recompense and pay restitution to each other for their injustice according to the ordering of time, expressing it in these rather poetic terms.

[comment by Simplicius:] It is clear that, observing the change of the four elements into each other, he did not think it appropriate to make one of them 'he substratum of the others, but something else besides them. And he did not derive generation from the alteration of some element, but from the separation of contraries due to everlasting motion. That is why Aristotle classified him with the followers of Anaxagoras.

Text (Fragment only English Alt 1):

Whence things have their origin,
Thence also their destruction happens,
As is the order of things;
For they execute the sentence upon one another
- The condemnation for the crime -
In conformity with the ordinance of Time.

Text (Fragment only English Alt 2):

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.

Text (Fragment only English with some Greek Alt 3):

from which there is coming-to-be for the things that are, are also those into which is their passing-away, in accordance with what must be. For they give penalty (dikê) and recompense to one another for their injustice (adikia) in accordance with the ordering of time

References:

Couprie, Dirk, "Anaximander", Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2016 <http://www.iep.utm.edu/anaximan/> [accessed 11 February 2016]

Curd, Patricia, "Presocratic Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/presocratics/>.

Wikipedia contributors, 'Anaximander', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 January 2016, 01:30 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anaximander&oldid=700856298> [accessed 11 February 2016]

Everyone feel free to look this over until Monday 2/15, when I should make some remarks unless I don't feel well, in which case I'll babble about it in my free time.


Fighting to the death "the noonday demon" of Acedia.
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It is precisely “values” that are the powerless and threadbare mask of the objectification of beings, an objectification that has become flat and devoid of background. No one dies for mere values.
~Martin Heidegger
 

2/10/2016 11:59 pm  #2


Re: History of Philosophy Series 1: Anaximander Fragment

Also, for those who care, the only thing Feser says about Anaximander is the following:

In the work of the Pre-Socratics we find precursors of some of the key elements of the classical theism of Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas. In Anaximander’s notion of the apeiron or “unbounded” we have an anticipation of the insight that that which ultimately explains the diverse phenomena of the world cannot itself be characterized in terms that apply to that world (or at least not univocally, as the Thomist would add).

See:

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2008/09/pre-socratic-natural-theology.html


Fighting to the death "the noonday demon" of Acedia.
My Books
It is precisely “values” that are the powerless and threadbare mask of the objectification of beings, an objectification that has become flat and devoid of background. No one dies for mere values.
~Martin Heidegger
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