pre-Socratic
Early Greek thinkers
Pre-Socratic describes the Greek philosophers who preceded or were contemporary with Socrates but worked independently of his influence—roughly the sixth and fifth centuries BCE.
These thinkers (Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and others) focused on cosmology and the nature of reality rather than ethics and human conduct.
Pre-Socratic fragments survive only in quotations by later writers.
First Western philosopher
- PythagorasAncient Greek mathematician
- HeraclitusPre-Socratic philosopher of flux
- DemocritusAncient atomism's founder
- ZenoGreek paradox thinker
Brand identification symbols
- nousFaculty of rational thought
- atomismDiscrete particles compose everything
- monismSingle-substance metaphysics
- fluxContinuous change or flow
permanence · cosmogony · cosmology · elements · opposites · substance · essence · causality
Great age, ancient era
- HellenicOf Greek origin
- polisGreek sovereign urban center
- mythologyBody of traditional tales
- HomerAncient Greek epic composer
oracle · Delphi · agora · symposium · Mediterranean · colonization · fragments
First to explore territory
- formativeInfluencing development or growth
- seminalFoundational and influential
- precursorSomething that comes first
- groundbreakingIntroducing radical new ideas
inaugural · archetypal · rudimentary · speculative · rationalist · naturalistic · systematic · theoretical
Eastern Mediterranean region
- PythagoreanOf ancient Greek mathematics
- EphesianFrom an Ionian city
- ItalianOf or from Rome's country
- naturalistStudent of nature
Thales
First Western philosopher
- PythagorasAncient Greek mathematician
- HeraclitusPre-Socratic philosopher of flux
- DemocritusAncient atomism's founder
Zeno · Diogenes · Hippolytus
logos
Brand identification symbols
- nousFaculty of rational thought
- atomismDiscrete particles compose everything
- monismSingle-substance metaphysics
flux · permanence · cosmogony · cosmology · elements · opposites · substance · essence · causality · change
antiquity
Great age, ancient era
Homer · oracle · Delphi · agora · symposium · Mediterranean · colonization · fragments
pioneering
First to explore territory
- formativeInfluencing development or growth
- seminalFoundational and influential
- precursorSomething that comes first
groundbreaking · inaugural · archetypal · rudimentary · speculative · rationalist · naturalistic · systematic · theoretical
Ionian
Eastern Mediterranean region
- PythagoreanOf ancient Greek mathematics
- EphesianFrom an Ionian city
- ItalianOf or from Rome's country
pre-SocraticSocratic
Relating to elenctic inquiry
Platonic · Aristotelian · Hellenistic · Stoic · medieval
pre-Socraticdialectical
Relating to logical debate
Socratic method · analytic · syllogistic · analytical · systematic