Ancient Greek Philosopher-Scientists

The Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, that is, the philosopher-scientists who lived before or contemporaneously to Socrates, were the first men in the Western world to establish a line of inquiry regarding the natural phenomena that rejected the traditional religious explanations and searched for rational explanations. Even though they do not form a school of thought, they can be considered the fathers of philosophy and many other sciences as we have them now. None of their works is extant, so, in this collection, we present the textual fragments, when existing, of ten Pre-Socratic philosopher-scientists, and quotations and testimonials about them left by later authors.

01 - Anaxagoras of Klazomenai 02 - Anaximander of Miletos 03 - Anaximenes of Miletos 04 - Empedocles of Agrigentum 05 - Heraclitus of Ephesos 06 - Parmenides of Elea 07 - Pythagoras of Samos and the pythagoreans 08 - Thales of Miletos 09 - Xenophanes of Kolophon 10 - Zeno of Elea