(Originally Written February 12, 2014 on scrap paper now lost)
Snow in Georgia, maybe two inches. Of course, everything is shut down. The power is out.
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Book I
Chapter VIII - Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras introduced philosophy to Athens around 412 BC - 432 BC.
Anaxagoras taught that mind was the source of all motion.
Anaxagoras rejected the notions of necessity and chance. But he also did not believe in providence.
Anaxagoras was very much scientifically inclined and explained things as mechanically as often as he could.
Chapter IX - The Atomists
The Atomist movement was founded by Leucippus and Democritus. Leucippus is older and much less well known (legendary/mythical). Democritus was a contemporary of Socrates (5th century BC).
Atomists believed that everything was comprised of infinite atoms that were indivisible and in constant motion.
Atomists were strict determinists. Everything happened according to natural laws.
Atomists explained the universe in terms that do not need a final cause or purpose. There is no teleology.
"All causal explanations, therefore, must have an arbitrary beginning" (Russell, 67).
"There was no very sharp distinction, in ancient times, between empirical observation and logical argument" (Russell, 68)
The Atomists, like their contemporaries were concerned with Parmenides' denial of change and the obvious fact that change happens.
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