CRI Philosophy   

The history of Western philosophy begins with the Presocratics. The name suggests this set of thinkers came before Socrates, but some were his contemporaries. The label once marked a difference in the kinds of inquiry the Presocratics and Socrates pursued, but scholarship now suggests such differences are inaccurate or misleading. While they would not have called themselves philosophers, these thinkers set themselves apart from their predecessors by seeking naturalistic explanations for the world rather than explanations based on the rule of gods. Some of their views included a world that was fundamentally water, cyclical change, air, fiery logos, or an unchanging, motionless substance. We’ll explore the views of these early Greek thinkers (including Pythagoras, of the famed theorem), whose shift in methods of inquiry set in motion the Western tradition of philosophy.