Anaximander facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anaximander
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Ancient Roman mosaic from Johannisstraße, Trier, dating to the early third century AD, showing Anaximander holding a sundial
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| Born | c. 610 BC |
| Died | c. 546 BC (aged c. 64) |
| Era | Pre-Socratic philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
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Main interests
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Metaphysics, astronomy, geometry, geography |
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Notable ideas
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The apeiron is the arche Evolutionary view of living things Earth floats unsupported Mechanical model of the sky Water of rain from evaporation World map |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Anaximander (born around 610 BC, died around 546 BC) was an important Greek philosopher. He lived in Miletus, a city in Ionia (which is now part of Turkey).
He was part of the Milesian school of thought and was a student of Thales, who is often called the "father of Western philosophy." Anaximander later became the leader of this school. Some famous thinkers, like Anaximenes and possibly Pythagoras, were his students.
We don't know much about Anaximander's life or what he wrote, because only a small piece of his work still exists today. However, he is known as the first philosopher to write down his ideas.
Anaximander was a pioneer in early science. He tried to understand and explain the universe, especially how it began. He believed that nature follows rules, much like human societies do. He thought that anything that upsets nature's balance wouldn't last long.
Like many thinkers of his time, Anaximander studied many different subjects. He tried to describe how planets and stars move around the Earth. He also suggested that everything comes from an endless, undefined substance called the apeiron. This idea was a big step in abstract thinking for Greek philosophy.
He used his knowledge of geometry to bring the gnomon (a tool for telling time) to Greece. He also created one of the first maps of the world, which helped a lot with geography. Anaximander was also involved in the politics of Miletus and even led a group of people to start a new colony.
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Who Was Anaximander?
Anaximander was the son of Praxiades. He was born around 610 BC. Ancient writers say he was about 64 years old when he died around 547–546 BC.
It's hard to know the exact order of his work because there are no clear dates. A writer from the 4th century AD, Themistius, said Anaximander was the first Greek to publish a written work about nature. This means his writings were among the earliest prose texts in the Western world.
By the time of Plato, Anaximander's ideas were almost forgotten. Most of what we know about him comes from later writers like Aristotle. We know that Anaximander was influenced by his teacher Thales, who believed that everything came from water. Anaximander was part of the Milesian school, which started with Thales and included Anaximenes.
An ancient Roman writer named Aelian said that Anaximander led a colony from Miletus to Apollonia, a city on the Black Sea. This suggests he was an important citizen. Philosophers sometimes helped with political matters, so it's likely he was sent there to help create laws or keep the colony loyal.
Anaximander spent his last years living under the rule of the Persian Empire.
What Were Anaximander's Main Ideas?
Anaximander's ideas were shaped by old Greek myths and the teachings of Thales. He also learned from observations made by older civilizations, especially Babylon. He used these ideas to develop his own rational theories.
He wanted to find a single, universal principle for everything. Like old religions, he believed in a cosmic order. He used mythical language to describe how divine control worked in different parts of reality. This was common for Greek philosophers, as gods were seen everywhere.
Some scholars believe there was a big change from mythical thinking to rational thought during this time in Greece. But Anaximander's ideas show that the change wasn't so sudden. The basic elements of nature (water, air, fire, earth) that early Greek philosophers believed made up the universe were actually like the powerful forces imagined in older myths.
Anaximander thought the universe was ordered geometrically, not like a kingdom ruled by one king. He believed this geometric balance kept the Earth stable in the center of the universe. This idea was like a new political order, where everyone had equal rights and power was balanced.
This rational way of thinking led him to introduce the idea of the apeiron. This abstract concept, meaning "indefinite" or "unlimited," was the origin of the universe. It was probably influenced by the idea of Chaos from Greek myths, a formless state from which everything appeared. He also noticed how the four elements change into each other. So, the origin had to be something unlimited that could create things forever without wearing out.
What is the Apeiron?
Anaximander was the first to use the word apeiron (meaning "infinite" or "limitless") to describe the original principle of everything. He also used the term archē (meaning "beginning" or "origin") in a philosophical way.
For Anaximander, the archē was not just a point in time, but a source that could always create new things. The idea of "indefiniteness" was also used to describe space, like the "indefinite sea" in ancient poems.
Aristotle wrote that early philosophers looked for the basic element that makes up all things. While Thales said it was water and Anaximenes said it was air, Anaximander believed the first principle was an endless, unlimited, original mass called the apeiron. This apeiron never gets old or decays, and it constantly produces the materials for everything we see.
He suggested the apeiron because he thought water couldn't explain all the opposites in nature (like wet and dry). The apeiron was a substance that we can't directly see, but it could explain all the different things around us.
Anaximander explained how the four elements (air, earth, water, and fire) are formed and how Earth and living things come from their interactions. He didn't define the apeiron precisely, so it's often seen as a kind of original chaos. He believed the universe began when opposites separated from this original matter. It contains hot and cold, wet and dry, and it guides the movement of everything.
Anaximander thought that all dying things return to the apeiron, the element they came from. The only surviving piece of his writing talks about this, describing the balanced changes of the elements. He used "poetic terms," meaning he used old mythical language. He believed that the goddess Justice (Dike) kept the cosmic order. This idea of returning to the origin was later explored by other philosophers like Aristotle.
How Did Anaximander See the Universe?
Anaximander's ideas about the universe were very different from traditional Greek myths. He tried to explain physical processes without relying on gods. He wrote the oldest known prose document about the universe and how life began. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Cosmology" and the founder of astronomy.
Anaximander was the first to imagine a mechanical model of the world. In his model, the Earth floats still in the center of the infinite space, without needing anything to support it. He believed it stayed in place because it was "indifferent" to moving in any direction. Aristotle found this idea clever, even if he didn't agree with it.
He thought the Earth was shaped like a cylinder, with its height being one-third of its diameter. The flat top was where people lived, and it was surrounded by a circular ocean.
Anaximander's idea that the Earth floats freely was a huge step forward in scientific thinking. Many people call it the first major change in how we understand the universe. This model allowed for the idea that stars and planets could pass under the Earth, which opened the door for Greek astronomy.
He believed that after hot and cold separated, a ball of fire formed around the Earth, like bark on a tree. This fiery ball then broke apart to create the rest of the universe. He imagined it as a system of hollow, fiery wheels, with holes like a flute.
So, the Sun was the fire seen through a hole on the farthest wheel, and an eclipse happened when that hole was blocked. The Sun's wheel was about 27 or 28 times the Earth's size, and the Moon's wheel was 18 or 19 times. The Moon's hole could change shape, explaining the different phases of the Moon. Stars and planets followed a similar model.
Anaximander was the first astronomer to think the Sun was a huge object and to realize how far away it might be. He was also the first to suggest a system where celestial bodies orbit at different distances. He even built a celestial sphere, which helped him understand the tilt of the Zodiac. This knowledge helped explain the seasons.
Did Anaximander Believe in Multiple Worlds?
Anaximander thought there might be many worlds, not just one. He believed these worlds would appear and disappear over time, with some being born as others ended. He said this movement was eternal, because "without movement, there can be no creation, no destruction."
Other ancient writers also mentioned Anaximander's idea of many worlds, often saying there were countless ones. Some even said he believed different gods ruled these different worlds.
This idea connects Anaximander to later philosophers like the Atomists, who also believed in an infinite number of worlds appearing and disappearing. In Greek thought, some philosophers believed in a single world (like Plato and Aristotle), while others thought there were many worlds (like Anaximenes and Heraclitus).
How Did Anaximander Explain Weather?
Anaximander explained things like thunder and lightning as natural events, not as actions of the gods. He thought thunder happened when clouds crashed into each other, and the louder the crash, the louder the thunder. Thunder without lightning meant the wind wasn't strong enough to make a flame, but still strong enough to make a sound. Lightning without thunder was a quick burst of air that let fire escape. Thunderbolts were caused by a thicker, more violent airflow.
He believed the sea was what was left of a huge amount of water that once covered the Earth. Part of this water evaporated because of the sun, which caused winds and even the movement of celestial bodies. He thought these bodies were attracted to places with more water. He explained rain as humidity pulled up from the Earth by the sun. He thought the Earth was slowly drying up, and eventually, all the water would disappear.
What Were Anaximander's Ideas on Human Origin?
Anaximander thought about how animal life and humans first appeared. He believed that humans came from other animals that lived in water. According to his early evolutionary theory, animals first came out of the sea, covered in a spiny bark. As they grew older, the bark would dry up, and they could break free. As the Earth dried, land appeared, and humans had to adapt.
A Roman writer named Censorinus reported that Anaximander suggested that humans had to spend part of this change inside the mouths of large fish. This protected them from the Earth's climate until they could come out into the open air and lose their scales. He thought that because human babies need so much care, we couldn't have survived in the very first world in the same way we do now.
Other Accomplishments
Mapping the World
Ancient Greek geographers like Strabo and Agathemerus said that Anaximander was the first to publish a map of the world. This map likely inspired another Greek historian, Hecataeus of Miletus, to draw a more accurate version. These writers saw Anaximander and Hecataeus as the first geographers after Homer.
Maps existed in ancient times in places like Egypt and Babylon. Anaximander's map was special because it tried to show all the known inhabited land to the ancient Greeks.
This was a very important achievement. Anaximander probably drew this map for a few reasons. First, it could help improve navigation and trade between Miletus's colonies and other places around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Second, it might have helped Thales convince the Greek city-states to unite against the Median threat. Finally, the idea of mapping the whole world just for knowledge was a good enough reason.
He probably knew the sea was curved, so he might have drawn his map on a slightly rounded metal surface. The center of the world on his map might have been Delphi, but it was more likely near Miletus. The Aegean Sea was near the map's center, surrounded by three continents. These continents were like islands, separated by seas and rivers. Europe was bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and separated from Asia by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The Nile River flowed south into the ocean, separating Libya (which was the name for the known part of Africa) from Asia.
Introducing the Gnomon
The Suda, an ancient encyclopedia, says that Anaximander explained basic ideas of geometry. It also mentions his interest in measuring time and connects him to bringing the gnomon to Greece. In Sparta, he helped build or adjust sundials to show the solstices (longest/shortest days) and equinoxes (equal day/night). A gnomon needed to be adjusted for different locations because of changes in latitude.
In Anaximander's time, a gnomon was a simple vertical pillar or rod on a flat surface. The position of its shadow showed the time of day. As the sun moved, the shadow's tip drew a curve. The shadow was shortest at noon, pointing south. The change in the shadow's noon position showed the time of year and seasons; it was longest on the winter solstice and shortest on the summer solstice.
Anaximander didn't invent the gnomon itself, as its use came from the Babylonians. They also divided days into twelve parts. The Greek historian Herodotus said that the Babylonians taught the Greeks how to measure time. It's likely Anaximander wasn't the first to find the solstices, as no complex math is needed for that. However, equinoxes don't happen exactly halfway between the solstices, as the Babylonians thought. The Suda suggests that with his geometry knowledge, Anaximander was probably the first Greek to accurately figure out the equinoxes.
Predicting an Earthquake
The Roman philosopher Cicero wrote that Anaximander once convinced the people of Sparta to leave their city and spend the night in the countryside with their weapons because an earthquake was coming. The city then collapsed. Pliny the Elder also mentioned this story, calling it an "admirable inspiration."
Works
According to the Suda, Anaximander wrote these works:
- On Nature (Περὶ φύσεως)
- Rotation of the Earth (Γῆς περίοδος)
- On Fixed stars (Περὶ τῶν ἀπλανῶν)
- The [Celestial] Sphere (Σφαῖρα)
See Also
In Spanish: Anaximandro para niños
- Material monism
- Indefinite monism
