Pre-Socratic Philosophers Life Sciences Essay Paper

Pre-Socratic Philosophers
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Pre-Socratic Philosophers
Pythagoras
Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, was born in the Samos Island in the Mediterranean Sea. Not much is known of his childhood life. After schooling in Greece, Pythagoras fled to Italy escaping from the Polycrate’s harsh regime.
Pythagoras is probably the best known pre-Socratic philosopher. Together with his followers, Pythagoras made some major contributions to religion and science. Pythagoras’s religious teachings were founded on the doctrine of metempsychosis which presents the idea that the soul does not die and is destined to undergo a series of rebirths until it can free itself from the series through the pureness of its life. In Mathematics, Pythagoras and his followers developed the dualism between Limited and Unlimited (that there exist opposing forces which control life) as fact. Pythagoras has also been said to be the one who affirmed that that numbers could be used to understand find and understand some of the secrets of the world. While studying musical intervals, Pythagoras discovered that musical intervals could be expressed as numbered ratios between the first four integers (1+2+3+4) which also led him to the hypothesis that the number ten (1+2+3+4), encompassed the entire nature of numbers. Although the evidence is thin, Pythagoras is also credited with developing the theorem which still has his name, the Pythagorean Theorem.. Influenced, by their religion and deep understanding of Mathematics, Pythagoreans developed a cosmology (about the structures of the universe) which varied in some crucial aspects from the views of the time, the best example being their idea that the earth is a sphere circling the center of the universe.[Christoph Riedweg. Pythagoras: His life, teaching, and influence (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008), 3.]
Democritus
Born in Abdera (or Miletus according to some sources), Democritus (460 – 370 BCE) was the younger modern Socrate. Democritus was commonly known as the ‘laughing philosopher’, as a result of the importance he put on cheerfulness. In Science, Democritus is among the most successful Pre-Socratic Philosophers. Together with his instructor, Leucippus, Democritus was the first person to suggest the universe is atomic. Democritus was also the first philosopher to postulate that what we know as the ‘Milky Way’ was the light of stars reaching our insight and that the universe might be a multi-verse with numerous planets supporting life (a theory which contemporary Physicists are increasingly finding mathematically possible). While responding to Parmenides, Democritus and Leucippus argued that the world, human beings included, is consists of very small particles which he called ‘atomos’ (Greek for uncuttable) and that the atoms make everything in the world including humans. According to some materialists, Demo...