Presocratic Philosophers and the Arche
The Pre-Socratics
The Presocratics sought the arche—the essence of reality, the unchanging principle of permanence.
Thales of Miletus (7th-6th Century BC)
We know this author through the writings of later philosophers like Aristotle. For Thales, the arche is water (physically). This has two meanings:
- A mythological sense (the gods of the sea)
- A metaphysical sense where water is the source of being, an indispensable source of life present in every object and animal.
For him, reason was not a concept but a physical reality. A keen observer of nature, he even predicted an eclipse.
Anaximander (7th-6th Century BC)
Influenced by Babylonian astronomy, Anaximander believed the universe was infinite. He posited the arche as apeiron (the indeterminate), the essence of reality. He believed everything in life has a function and is alive, but is destined to die. Birth and death are cyclical necessities imposed by nature. Using mathematics, he theorized a flat earth held by a column and covered by a celestial vault—a geometric, not mythical, explanation.
Anaximenes (6th-5th Century BC)
For Anaximenes, the arche is air. All natural phenomena and beings derive from processes of condensation and rarefaction of this material principle. Beings are born not from separation, but from the dispersion of air’s essential components.
Heraclitus (6th-5th Century BC)
Heraclitus’s arche is fire—not literal fire, but a metaphor for constant motion and change. Fire represents the Logos, a reason governing all things. This Logos dictates an order of change, leading ultimately to death. Reality is created through contrast (good/bad), and all change, whether for better or worse, is part of the Logos’s design.
Pythagoreans
Understanding the universe as heliocentric, they used the metaphor of Jupiter for the sun. They believed in a mathematical harmony, with number as the arche of reality. Number represents order and harmony. Humans are primarily soul; the body is a prison. The immortal soul is reincarnated, requiring education through will, discipline, and purpose. Politically, they favored aristocracy—rule by the most intelligent.
Parmenides
Parmenides’ arche is being itself. Everything exists, therefore all things are arche. He saw man as a two-headed monster: truth versus senses. Many things appear different, but ultimately, through reason, they are the same. Being is singular, eternal, unchanging, and the foundation of all reality. Plato’s theory of Forms draws heavily from this.
Empedocles
Empedocles identified four arche, or roots: water, fire, earth, and air. These are simple, indivisible, eternal, and generative. They combine in different proportions to create diverse creatures. Two opposing forces—positive (unity) and negative (conflict)—govern the combination and separation of these elements.
Anaxagoras
Building on Empedocles, Anaxagoras believed that the composition of beings is not random or necessary, but guided by intelligence (nous). The arche are homeomerias—indestructible, unchanging, invisible, and infinitely divisible particles. These combine in various proportions to create beings, a process guided by nous, a kind of natural intelligence or law of nature.
Democritus
Democritus pioneered atomism. For him, the arche is the atom, believed at the time to be indivisible. All beings are composed of atoms separated by void. Movement requires these spaces. Creation is random, not governed by law. Reality is subjective, perceived through senses that create an individual’s reality. True reality, composed of atoms and void, is different from our perceived reality. Democritus held a materialistic view.