In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Democritus of Abdera. He is one of my favorite early Greek philosophers, mainly because of his wisdom/ethical sayings. He barely made the Presocratic cut, being just 1 - 10 years before Socrates. However, his ideas, way ahead of their time, were picked up by Aristotle and Epicurus and have influenced humankind to our time. A true Renaissance Man before it was popular 😉, Democritus is worthy of study. His First Principle(s) of Atoms and the Void are revolutionary and are great responses to the ideas of earlier philosophers.

Books Referenced:

* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics

* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics

* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library

In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. His first principle, the thing that organized everything else, was the nous or the mind. He thought that in the beginning, there was an original mixture of unchanging seeds that a mind set in motion and began to organize. Anaxagoras was born in Asia Minor and moved to Athens, becoming one of the first philosophers to establish Athens as a hub of philosophy. In fact, Anaxagoras is a philosophical grandfather to Socrates through his student Archelaus. Socrates learned from Archelaus who learned from Anaxagoras.

Books Referenced:

* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics

* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics

* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library

In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Empedocles of Acragas. He lived from 495 - 435 BC before dramatically diving into the volcano at Mt. Etna to prove he was immortal. As we find out in this episode, the accounts of the life and death of Empedocles are varied and contradictory and contain an element of myth, which is appropriate given his use of epic poetry to present his ideas. With Empedocles, we have the largest stash of fragments of any of the early Greek Philosophers.

Books Referenced:

* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics

* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics

* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library