Origins of Philosophy: From Myth to Logos and Pre-Socratic Physis
The Origin of Philosophy: From Myth to Logos
1. The Transition from Myth to Logos
Philosophy originated as a transition from mythos to logos. To understand this shift, we must first define these two concepts and compare them. The circumstances surrounding this pivotal event in intellectual history are crucial to grasping its significance.
Initially, the term mythos meant “word” or “discourse” used for explanation. Later, it evolved to signify a fantasized or fabled story, often intertwined with religious and moral aspects. These stories formed a set of collective beliefs and opinions, transmitted orally through traditions. They offered collective views on human forces, often hidden and sacred, featuring fabulous heroes, gods, and demons. Myth legitimized norms and values, shaping human destiny and the meaning of existence within the community. Mythical explanations were accepted uncritically.
In contrast, the term logos initially meant “word” or “speech.” It was later understood as “reason” or “ratio,” something that connects events, activities, and realities. In the Greek colonies of Miletus, Ephesus, Abdera, Elea, and Crotona, among others, during the 7th century BCE, a unique human cognitive activity emerged: philosophy. This activity aimed to understand and explain the world and humans in various dimensions. This beginning is known as the “step from myth to logos.”
Importantly, this transition was not a complete break from myth. In 6th century BCE Greece, entrepreneurial men, the early philosophers, began to question the answers provided by myths and the behavioral patterns they offered. They were driven by a desire to question, noticing inconsistencies in the mythical tales prevalent in their environment, which varied across different towns. These men, characterized by a plural curiosity and a critical attitude, initiated what is called the “Greek miracle”: the transition from myth to logos.
For them, this step involved distrusting imaginative and popular narratives. They adopted a new perspective, observing and analyzing nature to discover the causes of events. Instead of relying on gods, they began to invent concepts. While myths portrayed the world as chaotic and arbitrary, devoid of fixed natural laws, the rational view saw the world as ordered and governed by stable, discoverable laws.
Understanding Pre-Socratic Physis
2. The Concept of Physis
We need to introduce the concept of physis in a general sense and then systematically present the various responses that pre-Socratic philosophers gave to this topic.
Physis (Nature) presupposes a unifying principle, organizing the chaos of sensory experience. It is the source from which everything emerges, the common element or substrate of all things. It is the cause that produces them and defines their essence. In essence, the Greek term eidos, or “idea,” originally meant the appearance something has when we see it. It later came to mean the unchanging aspect that provides unity to plurality. This marks the beginning of the path to definition.
The arche is the common physis of things, the unifying foundation of everything that exists. Discovering the physis was the primary task of these pre-Socratic philosophers. They sought to understand, explain, and comprehend natural processes as an ordered whole, a cosmos, and thus, to some extent, gain control or adapt better to it. This led to a key question: