The developments described here cover a period of time that extends from about 650 until 350 BC. I am covering them within the context of the 5th Century because that is when the achievements themselves were most dramatic and when the connections to political and cultural changes are most noticeable. It is important to bear in mind (by way of context) the following:

The Intellectual Revolution: The Problem... During the 6th century BC and in the intellectual environment fostered by the polis an alternate view of nature developed. This new interpretation of natural events did not deny the existence to the gods, but stressed rather a perception of nature that resembles our own understanding of science. We need to define the characteristics of this new perception and to explain why such thinking became socially acceptable. Bear in mind that though much of science focuses on the explanation of routine natural events, the real test comes when one must confront and explain the unexpected. The critical characteristics are list in section I, B below

  1. Concepts:
    1. Myth and the pre-scientific mind --by way of review
      1. The purpose of myth: to relieve anxiety about the unknown; to give the illusion of control over the forces of nature; to locate human beings in the cosmos.
      2. It is not devoid of truth, but rather appeals to a different level of truth.
      3. The subject of myth is the supernatural, the magical.
    2. Assumptions / Characteristics of Scientific Mind. Evidence and examples of this kind of thinking follow below and in the next lecture.
      1. Universe is natural whole
      2. Natural forces are subject to unchanging patterns or laws.
      3. Humans can ascertain those laws; and do so in a public context.
    3. Comparing and contrasting the logic of Myth and of Science
      1. In myth, there is no separation of subject and object; external world seen as sympathetic or hostile; possessing will; in science the forces of nature are viewed as neutral in respect to human behavior, but knowable.
      2. Reason (in myth) serves purpose of immediate action; utilitarian. Science speculates about everything. Objects of interest (in myth) only in so far as they affect immediate human need; no knowledge for its own sake or to understand underlying cause; revelation.
      3. Each event is unique ... Ap...
  2. The evidence for the change
    1. The Pre-Socratic Philosophers (actually more physicists than philosophers). In a context of the polis: sustained, public and rational and critical discussion of all questions: political issues [laws, to go to war, etc.], the meaning of natural events and ethics. Basic questions: What do we know? how do we know it to be true? What is the underlying structure of the material world? What does it mean when we say something has changed?
      1. The definition of the First Principle / element: "Most of the first philosophers thought that primary elements in the form of matter were the only elements of all things: for the original source of all existing things, that from which a thing first comes-into-being and into which it is finally destroyed, the elementary substance persisting but changing in its qualities, this they declare is the element and first principle of existing things, and for this reason they consider that there is no absolute coming-to-be or passing away, on the grounds that substance is always preserved [conservation of matter]…for there must be some natural substance, either one or more than one, from which the other things come-into-being, while it is preserved. Over the number [of these elements], however, and their form they do not all agree; but Thales, the founder of this type of philosophy, says that it is water (and therefore declared that the earth is on water), perhaps taking this supposition from seeing the nurture of all things to be moist...that water is the first and primary element " [explanation of transformation and change; solidification, rarification, condensation]. ... e.g.: e=mc2.
      2. Cosmology another view
      3. Theory of knowledge/skepticism: senses, panta rei ('everything flows'): Heraclitus says that all things are in process and nothing stays still, and likening existing things to the stream of a river he says that you would not step twice into the same river.
    2. Instruments / Characteristics of Pre-Socratic Science: How do we explain the concepts outlined above in section I B (above). First two found in ANE. (For evidence consider the passage in Herodotus linked below)
      1. Classification
      2. Accurate observation
      3. Analogy: heaven like an oven surrounded by fire ; the structure of the atom is like that of the solar system
      4. Law of contradiction: water vs. fire; motion; lightening ; Aristophanes.
      5. Verification: autopsy (=eye witness)
    3. Example of non-theological / naturalistic thinking: Herodotus on the Nile.
  3. The Revolution in Ionia: Some factors in the transformation of thinking.
      1. Extensive contact with East: data, material prosperity, leisure
      2. A human centered universe (humans make law; not given by gods)
      3. No priestly caste with vested interests in preserving the status quo. Breakdown of traditional religion?? Gods too human."A wise and clever man invented fear of the gods that there might be some means of frightening the wicked"; but be careful, also temple building
      4. Polis/Colonization: the "open society"
      5. High level of cultural achievement in a public dimension.
      6. Self confidence in polis and its values.
  4. The consequences of subjecting all issues to sustained, self-conscious, rational criticism are significant. Indeed, the process threatened the establishment.