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Anaximenes
1. Introduction
2. Philosophical Views
2.1. Air as Archê
2.2. Nature and Origin of the Basic Elements
2.3. Empirical Evidence for Air as the Archê
2.4. The Archê as God
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Anaximenes, a native of Miletus, was a younger
contemporary and pupil of Anaximander and
possibly of Thales. He continues their philosophical
inquiries into the first
(material) principle, but with different
results. From references in later sources,
it seems that Anaximenes wrote his philosophical
views in a book, which survived well into
the Hellenistic period (Diog. 2.2).
2. Philosophical Views
2.1. Air as Archê
Anaximenes takes exception to Anaximander's
teaching about the apeiron, reverting to
Thales' position that the first material
principle must be one of the basic elements.
Different from Thales, however, Anaximenes
chooses air as the archê. Simplicius, in
dependence on Theophrastus, explains Anaximenes'
position, "Anaximenes ... also says
that the underlying nature is one and infinite
like [Anaximander], but not undefined as
Anaximander said, but definite, for he identifies
it as air" (Phys. 24. 26). Similarly,
Hippolytus writes, "Anaximenes said
that infinite air was the principle, from
which things that are becoming, and that
are, and that shall be, and gods and things
divine, all come into being, and the rest
from its product.... It is always in motion:
for things that change do not change unless
there is movement" (Refut. 1. 6) (see
also Aristotle, Metaphysics 984a 5). For
Anaximenes, all things come from air and
ultimately are air. He says that air as the
archê is infinite by he seems to mean unlimited
or unconditioned and therefore unoriginate,
from which it follows that it is the source
of the other three elements and the things
composed of them. If it were from a source,
air would be finite, being limited or conditioned
by its source. Since air is infinite and
perpetually in motion it can produce all
things without being produced by anything.
Even the gods and other divine things derive
from air and ultimately are air. It would
seem that Anaximenes did not accept Anaximander's
view that the (first) principle (archê) of
all things could not be one of the elements
which arise from it.
2.2. Nature and Origin of the Basic Elements
If air is the archê, then how do the other
basic elements (earth, water and fire) and
the things composed of these elements come
into being? According to Anaximenes, the
mechanism whereby air was transformed into
all things was condensation and rarefaction.
When compressed, by itself presumably, air
becomes first water and then earth; when
rarefied, again under its own compunction,
it becomes fire. All other things are composites
of varying degrees of these four elements;
as such they are the effect of the varying
densities of air. Simplicius explains, "Being
made finer it [air] becomes fire, being made
thicker it become wind, then cloud, then
(when thicker still more) water, then earth,
then stones; and the rest come into being
through these" (Phys. 24. 26). Hippolytus
adds this interesting comment, "The
result is that the most influential components
of generation are opposites, hot and cold"
(Refut. 1. 6). What he means is that for
Anaximenes the hot and cold are not things
but qualities of the two extremes phases
of air, fire and stone. Air as perpetually
in motion condenses itself and rarefies itself
to produce the multitude of all other things.
2.3. Empirical Evidence for Air as the Archê
It is difficult to know why Anaximenes chooses
air as the archê; after all, one could just
easily say that all things are fire or earth
in different states of compression. There
is a hint, however, in Plutarch's comment
about him as to why he opts for air rather
than another element.
As Anaximenes thought of old, let us leave
neither the cold nor the hot as belonging
to substance, but as common dispositions
of matter that supervene on changes; for
he says that matter which is compressed is
cold, while that which is fine and 'relaxed'
(using this very word) is hot. Therefore,
he said, the dictum is not an unreasonable,
that man releases both warmth and cold from
his mouth: for the breath is chilled by being
compressed and condensed with the lips, but
when the mouth is loosened the breath escapes
and becomes warm through its rarity"
(De prim, frig. 7. 947-48). If Plutarch's
account is accurate, Anaximenes is the first
explicitly to use the experimental method
in order to find clues as to the identity
of the archê. He observes that when one exhales
with a compressed mouth (i. e., pursed lips)
the air feels cold on the skin and when one
exhales with an open mouth ("loosened")
the air feels warm. It follows that compressed
air becomes cold things, and, since cold
things are solid things, such as earth and
stones, compressed air becomes solid things.
Similarly, rarefied air becomes fire.
2.4. The Archê as God
According to Aetius, "Anaximenes says
that the air is god" (I. 7. 13). The
first material principle is equated with
the divine. Similarly, Cicero says, "Afterwards
Anaximenes said that air is god, [and that
it arose] and that it is boundless and infinite
and always in motion" (de nat. deor.
1. 25). As indicated, to say that air is
infinite seems to mean that it is unlimited
or unconditioned. To affirm that air is boundless
probably means that it is quantitatively
unlimited: it is contained by nothing but
contains all things. Since it is infinite,
air must be eternal, for otherwise it would
be limited or conditioned by what created
it or could destroy it. It further follows
that air is god or divine, since what is
eternal is (a) god. Thus, as with Thales
and Anaximander, the first material principle
is not merely inert matter. As god or the
divine, air is self-moving, and is the cause
of all other motion, to expand on Ciciero's
statement. The gods of the traditional Greek
pantheon, therefore, are not ultimate, but
derivative of the truly divine, air. In another
context, Aetius says about Anaximenes: "'Just
as our soul', he says, 'which is air, holds
us together, so breath and air surround the
whole cosmos'. Air and breath are used synonymously"
(I. 3. 4, B2). This seems to be an example
of an argument from the microcosm to the
macrocosm: air or spirit holds the body together,
so by extrapolation, air or the divine surrounds
the whole cosmos and holds it together. The
fact that, as Aetius points out, Anaximenes
uses air and breath interchangeable might
lead him to conclude that whatever had breath
had divinity, that one spirit or air gave
life to all sentient being.
Barry D. Smith
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