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Anaxagoras

5th-century BC Greek philosopher · Turkey · Academics · Lived 500 BC to 428 BC · aged 72

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He said the sun was a burning rock bigger than the Peloponnese - and got charged with impiety for it. Anaxagoras brought natural philosophy to Athens, then paid the price when reason crossed ritual.

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

In their own words 4

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Anaxagoras
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4 statements, newest first
  1. All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness; for the small too was infinite.

    Frag. B 1, quoted in John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy, (1920), Chapter 6., Own words

  2. Mind is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing, but is alone itself by itself.

    Frag. B 12, quoted in John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy, (1920), Chapter 6., Own words

  3. Thought is something limitless and independent, and has been mixed with no thing but is alone by itself. ...

    Frag. B12, in Jonathan Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy (1984), p. 190., Own words

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About this person

Born around 500 BC in Clazomenae under Persian rule, Anaxagoras made his way to Athens and planted the seeds of materialist thought in the city's intellectual soil. Responding to Parmenides' denial of change, he proposed Nous - Cosmic Mind - as the force ordering all things. He worked out a correct mechanism for eclipses, floated the idea that life might exist throughout the universe (panspermia), and suggested the sun could be just another star. His claim that the sun was a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese landed him in court on charges of impiety. He left Athens and spent his final years in exile at Lampsacus, dying around 428 BC.

Country
Turkey
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 500 BC to 428 BC · aged 72

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