Anaximenes of Miletus

Greek philosopher (fl. 546 bc)

Anaximenes was the last of the great Milesian philosophers. He was probably a pupil of Anaximander of Miletus and, like Thales before him, he identified one of the tangible elements as the primal substance. For Anaximenes this was air, which by processes of condensation and rarefaction could produce every other kind of matter. He used the rather mystical argument that since air is the breath of life for man it must also be the main principle of the universe.

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Anaximenēs, of Miletus (flourished c.546 BC), Ionian philosopher and younger contemporary of Anaximander. His writings are lost and our knowledge of them depends on the statements of later writers. For Anaximenes the originative principle (archē) of the cosmos was air; when air was rarified as fire or condensed as water or earth these elements compounded together could make up the wide diversity of the natural world. Furthermore air was the actual breath of the cosmos and so its ever-living and therefore divine source. Anaximenes thought that the earth was flat and shallow—‘table-like’—and supported by air. His theory of condensation and rarefaction as observable means of change from the basic form of matter to the diversity of natural substances was his important contribution to the thought of his time.

(fl. c. 546 BC) The junior member of the Miletian school, and probably a pupil of Anaximander. His astronomy was relatively unsophisticated, but he is remembered for the doctrine that one primary substance, aer, produces all others either by being rarefied into fire or condensed into wind, cloud, water, earth, and stone. This is the first physical account in the western tradition of different substances as modifications of one primary stuff. The phenomenon that impressed Anaximenes was that breath can blow warm (when it is rarefied, i.e. the mouth is open) or cold (when it is compressed, or hissed out). See also atomism, materia prima.

Anaximenes of Miletus

Anaximenes (Greek: Άναξιμένης) of Miletus (c. 585 BC–c. 525 BC) was a Greek philosopher from the latter half of the 6th century, probably a younger contemporary of Anaximander, whose pupil or friend he is said to have been.

He held that the air, with its variety of contents, its universal presence, its vague associations in popular fancy with the phenomena of life and growth, is the source of all that exists. Everything is air at different degrees of density, and under the influence of heat, which expands, and of cold, which contracts its volume, it gives rise to the several phases of existence. The process is gradual, and takes place in two directions, as heat or cold predominates. In this way was formed a broad disk of earth, floating on the circumambient air. Similar condensations produced the sun and stars; and the flaming state of these bodies is due to the velocity of their motions. He states:

"Just as our soul, being air, holds us together, so do breath and air encompass the whole world."

What makes the three Milesian philosophers, Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, stand out is that the theoretical human has become a reality. The way of thinking has in its basic form moved away from the mythological thinking (or mythos) and into the domain of the theoretical thinking (or logos). From now on it is about explaining the universal and the general. Everything in the universe can now be approached by the thoughts of humans. This notably influenced the Pythagoreans.

It was actually "aer" which he believed to be the common characteristic between all things. "Aer" is the Greek word for a mist rather than just pure air.

See also

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Anaximenes

• The Anaximenes crater on the Moon was named in his honour.
• Philosophy

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Further reading

• Taran, L. (1970). "Anaximenes of Miletus". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 151-152. ISBN 0684101149. 

Pre-Socratic philosophers

Milesian School: Thales • Anaximander • Anaximenes of Miletus Pythagoreans: Pythagoras • Philolaus • Alcmaeon • Archytas • Timaeus Ephesian School: Heraclitus — Eleatic School: Xenophanes • Parmenides • Zeno of Elea • Melissus of Samos Pluralist School: Anaxagoras • Empedocles — Atomist School: Leucippus • Democritus Sophism: Protagoras • Gorgias • Prodicus • Hippias Diogenes of Apollonia • Pherecydes

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