Students of philosophy have probably heard such a thing as “apeiron”. The meanings of words from philosophical science are far from clear to everyone. What is it? What is the origin of the term, what does it mean?
Definition
Apeiron in philosophy is a concept that was introduced by Anaximander. It means infinite, indefinite, limitless primary substance. According to this ancient Greek philosopher, apeiron is the foundation of the world that moves forever. This is matter which does not possess any qualities. He believed that everything appeared by separating opposites from this matter.
What is primordial matter?
Primary matter in a broad philosophical sense is the basis of everything that exists in the world. Often it is identified with a sub-page. Even in ancient times, philosophers thought that at the heart of everything that exists is one primary element. Most often, these were natural elements: fire, air, water and earth. Some have suggested that celestial substance is also primary.
Such a theory was in all philosophical teachings. The sages invariably believed that everything was based on some elements or elements.
Philosophical Steps
According to the order that is accepted in the history of philosophy, they speak of Anaximander after Thales. And only then we talk about Anaximenes. But if we mean the logic of ideas, then the second and third should be placed on the same level, since in the theoretical and logical sense, air is only a double of water. The thought of Anaximander should be raised to another level - to the most abstract appearance of the primal substance. This philosopher believed that apeiron is the beginning of all principles and the principle of all principles. This term is translated as "unlimited."
Anaximander
Before considering in more detail this most important and very promising idea of ​​Greek philosophy, a few words must be said about its author. With his life, as well as with the life of Thales, only one approximately exact date is associated - the second year of the 58th Olympic Games. According to some sources, it is believed that Anaximander was then at the age of 64, and that he died soon. This date is distinguished due to the fact that, according to an old legend, it was the year in which the philosophical work created by Anaximander appeared. Despite the fact that preference was given to it in a prosaic form, the ancients testify that it was written in a very elaborate and arrogant manner, which brought prose closer to epic poetry. What is this talking about? That the genre of essay, which was scientific and philosophical, quite strict and thorough, was born in a difficult search.
Respect among the people
The image of the philosopher fits perfectly into the type of the ancient sage. He, like Thales, is credited with many very important practical achievements. For example, evidence has survived to this day, which says that Anaximander led a colonial expedition. Such eviction to the colony was commonplace for that era. To do this, it was necessary to choose people, equip them. Everything was required to be done promptly and wisely. It is likely that the philosopher seemed to people to be just such a person who is suitable for this purpose.
Engineering and Geographical Achievements
Anaximander is credited with a large number of engineering inventions. It is believed that he built a universal sundial, which is called the “gnomon”. With their help, the Greeks calculated the equinox and solstice, as well as the time of day and seasons.
Also, the philosopher, according to doxographers, is famous for his geographical writings. It is believed that he was one of the first to try to depict a planet on a copper plate. How he did this is unknown, but the fact itself is important that the idea appeared to represent in the drawing what cannot be seen directly. It was a scheme and image that are very close to the world’s thought of philosophy.
Astronomical knowledge
Anaximander was passionate about the science of stars. He offered versions of the shape of the Earth and other planets. It is characteristic of the views on astronomy that he names a series of numbers that refer to the bodies, the magnitudes of the Earth, other planets and stars. There is evidence that the philosopher claimed: the sun and the earth are equal. In those days there was no way to verify and prove it. Today it is clear that all the figures he named turned out to be far from the truth, but, nevertheless, an attempt was made.
In the field of mathematics, he is credited with creating a sketch of geometry. He summed up all the knowledge of the ancients in this science. By the way, everything that he knew in this area has not reached our days.
Philosophical views
If over the next centuries the fame of Anaximander as a philosopher was debunked, then the step that he took on the path of changing the idea of ​​the original has preserved until now the status of a great and extremely promising intellectual achievement.
Simplicius testifies to the fact that Anaximander considered the beginning and the element of all things to be infinite matter - apeiron. He was the first to introduce this name. He considered the beginning not water or any other element, but some kind of infinite nature, which gives rise to the firmaments and the cosmos that are in them.
At that time, it seemed unusual to say that the beginning was not defined qualitatively. Other philosophers claimed that he was mistaken, because he did not say what the infinite was: air, water or earth. After all, at that time it was customary to choose a certain specific material embodiment of the source. So, Thales chose water, and Anaximenes chose air. Anaximander wedged between these two philosophers who give the beginning a certain character. And he claimed that the beginning does not have qualities. No particular element can be it: neither earth, nor water, nor air. Determining the meaning and interpretation of the term “apeiron” was not easy then. Aristotle himself could not accurately interpret its essence. He was surprised that the infinite is immaterial.
Anaximander's idea of ​​the beginning
What is apeiron? The definition of the concept that Anaximander first spoke of can be conveyed in this way: the beginning is material, but at the same time uncertain. This idea was the result of the expansion of internal mental logic about the beginning: if there are different elements, and if someone each of them successively raises to the beginning, then the elements are equalized. But, on the other hand, always preference is unreasonably given to one of them. Why, for example, is water not chosen? Or why not fire? Maybe it is worth playing the role of primary matter not of any particular element, but of all at once. When comparing all such options, each of which has a sufficiently solid foundation, it turns out that nevertheless not one of them has sufficient credibility to the others.
Does not such a conclusion come from all this that it is impossible to put forward any of the elements on the role of the element, as well as all of them combined? Despite such a “heroic” breakthrough in philosophy, many scientists will return for centuries to the idea of ​​what apeiron means.
Close to the truth
Anaximander made a very bold step towards understanding the indefinitely low-quality material. Apeiron is such a material one and is, if you look at its substantial philosophical meaning.
It is for this reason that the uncertainty in the quality of the characteristics of the beginning was a major step forward in philosophical thought in comparison with the pulling of only one material principle into the first roles. Apeiron is not yet the concept of matter. But this is the closest stop philosophizing in front of him. That is why the great Aristotle, evaluating the attempts of Anaximander, tried to bring them closer to his time, saying that he, perhaps, spoke about matter.
Total
So now it’s clear what kind of word is apejron. Its meaning is the following: “unlimited”, “unlimited”. The adjective itself is close to the noun “limit” and the particle meaning negation. In this case, it is a denial of boundaries or limits.
Thus, this Greek word is formed in exactly the same way as the new concept of the beginning: through the denial of qualitative and other limits. Anaximander, most likely, did not realize the origins of his greatest invention, but was able to show that the beginning is not some special reality of a material type. These are specific thoughts about the material. For this reason, each subsequent stage of thinking about the beginning, which is logically necessary, is formed from philosophical thought by philosophical thought itself. The initial step is to abstract the material. The term “apeiron” most accurately conveys the origin of the philosophical concept of the infinite. And it does not matter if it was created by the philosopher himself or borrowed from the ancient Greek dictionary.
This concept includes an attempt to answer another question. After all, the primary principle was to explain how everything is born and perishes. It turns out that there must be something from which everything emerges, and into what then collapses. In other words, the root cause of birth and death, life and nonexistence, appearance and destruction must be constant and indestructible, and also infinite with respect to time.
Ancient philosophy clearly distinguishes two opposing states. What exists now, once appeared and someday disappears, is transient. These are every person and every thing. These are all the conditions that people observe. The transitory is manifold. Therefore, there is the plural, which is also transient. According to the logic of this reasoning, the beginning cannot be what is transient, since in this case it would not be the beginning for another transient.
Differing from people, bodies, states, worlds, the principle never collapses, as other things do. Thus, the idea of ​​infinity was born and became one of the most important for world philosophy, which is composed of the idea of ​​the absence of boundaries in space and of the idea of ​​the eternal, eternal.
There is a hypothesis among historians that the concept of “apeiron” was introduced into philosophical science not by Anaximander, but by Aristotle or Plato, who retold this teaching. There is no documentary evidence of this, but this is not the most important thing. The main thing is that the idea has reached our times.