Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

THE PROLOGUE

...and Aristagoras relate. They also established laws regarding justice, which they attributed to Hermes original: "Ἑρμῆν" — the Greek messenger god, whom the Greeks often identified with the Egyptian god Thoth, the bringer of laws and writing, and they honored useful animals as being divine. They also claim that they themselves discovered geometry, astrology, and arithmetic. These are the various accounts regarding the discovery of these arts.

Pythagoras original: "Πυθαγόρας" was the first to use the term philosophy Philosophy: literally "love of wisdom" and to call himself a philosopher Philosopher: "one who seeks or loves wisdom". This took place in Sicyon while he was conversing with Leon, the tyrant of the Sicyonians (or the Phliasians), according to Heraclides Ponticus A student of Plato known for his historical and scientific dialogues in his book On the Woman Who Ceased to Breathe original: "περὶ τῆς ἄπνου". Pythagoras argued that no human is truly "wise," for that is a title for God alone. Previously, the discipline was called wisdom original: "σοφία" and the man who practiced it was called a "wise man" original: "σοφὸς"—implying he had reached the very peak of mental perfection—whereas a "philosopher" is simply one who embraces and seeks out wisdom.

In those early times, the "wise" were also called Sophists Sophists: in this early context, the term meant "experts" or "learned men" rather than its later negative meaning of "deceptive reasoners". And not only they, but the poets were called sophists as well; for instance, Cratinus, in his play Archilochus, calls the followers of Homer and Hesiod by this name when he praises them.

The following men were specifically named as the "Wise Men": Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, Bias, and Pittacus. To these, some writers add Anacharsis the Scythian, Myson of Chen, Pherecydes of Syros, and Epimenides the Cretan; some even include the tyrant Pisistratus. These, then, were the "Wise Men."

Furthermore, there were two original starting points for philosophy: one beginning with Anaximander, and the other with Pythagoras. Anaximander was a student of Thales, while Pherecydes was the teacher of Pythagoras. The first was called the Ionian School, because Thales, who was an Ionian Ionia was the Greek-settled coast of modern-day Turkey from Miletus, was the teacher of Anaximander. The second was called the Italian School, named after Pythagoras, because he spent most of his life in Italy.

The Ionian lineage ends with Cleitomachus, Chrysippus, and Theophrastus; the Italian school ends with Epicurus.

The succession of the Ionian school is as follows: Thales was followed by Anaximander, then Anaximenes, then Anaxagoras, then Archelaus, and then Socrates, who introduced the study of ethics the branch of philosophy dealing with moral principles. Socrates was followed by the other "Socratics" and by Plato, the founder of the Ancient Academy. Plato was followed by Speusippus and Xenocrates, then Polemon, then Crantor and Crates, then Arcesilaus, who established the Middle Academy...