Arche and Apeiron in Early Presocratic Philosophy

Arche and Apeiron in Early Presocratic Philosophy

Samantha Laster

February 24, 2016

PHI 105

UPOX

Stephen Jones

Metaphysical speculation began, long before it was so named, among the presocratic Greeks as an enquiry into cosmology and first principles from two utterly disparate perspectives. The first of these, propounded by Herakleitos, noted the incessant flux (panta rhei) which characterises phenomena; the second, advanced by his contemporary Parmenides, taught the doctrine of a single immutable substance. These rivalling perspectives endure to this day: they announce one of the basic themes on which metaphysics since then has strung up an immense set of variations.

Behind both stands the concept of arche, a term introduced into philosophical discourse by Anaximandros, rendered into English via Latin as ‘principle’ and bearing the meaning of the ‘first-begotten or underlying substance’ of all things. Historically this might be called the first brick to leave the kiln in which the metaphysical fire was burning. Moreover, where Thales’ teachings were apparently still subject to aural dispersion, Anaximandros, not content with the word of mouth, becomes the first philosopher among the still relatively small band of logographoi to publish his theories in a formal text. His book at once set out to encompass what was known and to be known and thereby furnished a role model (presumably peri physeos) for a dozen generations to come, carrying echoes down as far as the Romans (De rerum natura). It gave a comprehensive depiction of cosmogony and cosmology, astronomy and geography, meteorology and biology and down to a phylogeny of the human species. For Anaximandros, Barnes writes [19], “Nature embraces every object of experience and every subject of rational enquiry except the productions of human contrivance.”

Meaning of ‘Apeiron’

His own contribution to the more stringently philosophical debate on archaeai was the startling concept of the apeiron, which leaps...