Anaximander of Miletus (jun 30, 610 BC – oct 31, 546 BC)
Description:
Anaximander was a contemporary of Thales and succeeded him in mastery over the school of Miletus. He counted Anaximenes and possibly Pythagoras amongst his pupils. Key notions:1. First map of the world.
2. The Boundless (possibly a divinity), the source of all things.
3. Balance of physical forces (hot and cold) and cosmic justice.
3.1. Constant cycle of flooding and drying out of the world.
4. Cosmological theory of the world being shaped like a drum and being suspended in harmonies balance 'as it has nowhere else to go.'
4.1. Solar theory that the earth was surrounded by burning orbs (stars), then the moon, then the sun.
5. Theory which has elements of evolution, the people in their present form could not have survived in their current state (do to his theory of the flooding and drying cycle) so must have evolved or developed from lower forms of life.
Added to timeline:
Date:
jun 30, 610 BC
oct 31, 546 BC
~ 63 years