The early Greek philosophers, thinkers like Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Zeno, Empedocles, Leucippus, are foundational for the Western intellectual tradition. I couldn’t imagine a better introductory book then this one on the subject. Below are a few quotes from Jonathan Barnes’s excellent 40 page introduction along with my brief comments:

“First and most simply, the Presocratics invented the very idea of science and philosophy. They hit upon that special way of looking at the world which is the scientific and rational way. They saw the world as something ordered and intelligible, its history following an explicable course and its different parts arranged in a comprehensible system. The world was not a random collection of bits, its history was not an arbitrary jumble of events.” ---------- This is central to their spirit of inquiry, an approach compatible with a modern physicist or chemist.

“Nor was the world a series of events determined by the will or the caprice of the gods. The Presocratics were not atheists: they allowed the god into their brave new world, and some of them attempted to produce an improved and rationalized theology in place of the anthropomorphic divinities of the Olympian pantheon. But their theology had little to do with religion, and they removed most of the traditional functions of the gods. Their thunder was no longer the growling of a minatory Zeus.” ----------- Again, the Presocratics have kindred spirits in the science departments at modern universities.

Jonathan Barnes goes on to write how the Presocratics explained the world in ways that were systematic and economical, that is, these early philosophers wanted to “explain as much as possible in terms of as little as possible.” Some of their key concepts were order (kosmos), nature (phusis), origins (arche) , and reason (logos). --------- These Greek words are supercharged with meaning. I use one English word for simplicity sake. How supercharged? The author does a fine job elaborating.

The actual words of the Presocratics have come down to us as fragments. Here are several of my favorites:

Xenophanes
“But if cows and horses or lions had hands and drew with their hands or made the things men make, then horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, cows like cows, and each would make their bodies similar in shape to their own.”

Heraclitus
“The uncomprehending, when they hear, are like the deaf. To them applies the saying: though present they are absent.”

Democritus
“To a wise man the whole earth is accessible; for the country of a great soul is the whole world.”

“The desire for more destroys what is present – like Aesop’s dog.”

“One should tell the truth, not speak at length.”