Is Homer pre-Socratic?

The mythologoi, Homer and Hesiod, along with other poets, centuries before the pre-Socratics, thought that true knowledge was exclusive to the divine. But starting with Xenophanes, the pre-Socratics moved towards a more secular approach to knowledge.

What makes a philosopher a pre-Socratic?

The Pre-Socratic Philosophers are defined as the Greek thinkers who developed independent and original schools of thought from the time of Thales of Miletus (l. c. 546 BCE) to that of Socrates of Athens (470/469-399 BCE). They are known as Pre-Socratics because they pre-date Socrates.

What does Socrates say about Homer?

In short, Socrates acknowledges that Homer was the subject of his admiration, affection, and respect, from his earliest youth, but he subordinates this evaluation to his search for the truth.

What is meant by pre-Socratic?

The Pre-Socratic period of the Ancient era of philosophy refers to Greek philosophers active before Socrates, or contemporaries of Socrates who expounded on earlier knowledge.

What are some of the big questions of the pre-Socratic philosophers?

Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic who asked two simple questions: What is the nature of the world and what is its basic substance? To the first he answered with “change” or “flux”. To the second he answered with “fire”. Other pre-Socratics would answer these questions differently.

What is the difference between the ideas of anaximander and Pythagoras?

Pythagoras was one of his later students. Pythagoras was also taught by Anaximander. Thales’ core belief, which he passed to Anaximander, was that rational explanations rather than the Ancient Greek gods should be used to account for natural phenomena. His overriding goal was to understand and explain the universe.

How was the approach of the early Greek philosophers Presocratics different from the approach of myth writers like Hesiod?

Pre-Socratics looked for principles or other natural explanations. Myths allow a multiplicity of explanations. Pre-Socratics were looking for the single principle behind the cosmos. Myths are conservative, slow to change.

What was unique about the works pre-Socratic philosophers What were they searching for and what did they base their thinking on explain?

They were looking for a cosmology (an explanation for the order of the universe) that did not rely on the gods. They did not base their thinking on belief but on reason.

Why does Socrates see Homer and Hesiod as competition for the PK?

Socrates sees Homer and Hesiod as competition for the philosopher-king in the Republic because they offer a rival version of truth in their poetry. In particular, they present a picture of the gods that Socrates regards as dangerously false and which diverts man from the path of truth.

Which pre-Socratic philosopher believed that the body was the source of evil and that the purpose of life was to purify the soul of the influence of the body?