Anaximandros was a pioneer of naturalistic explanations. Although he seems to have
ascribed divine properties to the boundless stuff from which the elements originate, he gave
purely natural explanations to the events of the world, including the creation of the world
itself, and what had seemed to be miraculous events, such as lightning (traditionally
explained by Zeus throwing thunderbolts). He also drew the first Greek map of the world.
His conception of the world as a product of natural forces acting in a law-like way inspired
all later Greek science.
DK 12; C. H. Kahn, Anaximander and the Origins of Greek Cosmology (1960); KRS 100–142.
Daniel W. Graham
Anaximene ̄s of Mile ̄tos (ca 555 – 535 BCE)
The student of A, Anaximene ̄s developed a cosmological theory like his
teacher. He said that the world arose out of air, which by condensation or rarefaction
changes into other things. When air is somewhat rarefied it becomes fire; when it is some-
what condensed it becomes wind; when it is more condensed it becomes cloud; when still
more, water, then earth, then stones. Thus Anaximene ̄s posited a mechanism which by
acting on air or its successor substances produces other substances, providing the first
systematic theory of change. According to this theory, variations in pressure produced
different states of air (on the standard account) or perhaps even completely different
substances.
In the beginning, according to Anaximene ̄s, there was only air. As air was condensed, the
earth – a flat, thin disk – arose, and then the heavenly bodies from terrestrial evaporations.
The earth floats on a cushion of air, and the heavenly bodies – or probably just the sun,
moon and planets – also float on the air like leaves; the fixed stars are attached to a dome
like a felt cap, which circles around the earth. The heavenly bodies do not go under the
earth, but are hidden behind an elevated region in the north. Anaximene ̄s explained
meteorological phenomena such as rain, hail, and lightning on the basis of his physical
theory. He also explained earthquakes as resulting from the drying out and cracking of the
earth.
Anaximene ̄s’ physical theory and meteorology influenced a number of later cosmologists
including X, H and A; moreover, P seems
to have refuted his theory of change. By positing a mechanism of change, Anaximene ̄s
made the change of elemental bodies subject to determinate physical laws for the first time.
DK 13; KRS 143–162; G. Wöhrle, Anaximenes aus Milet (1993); Daniel W. Graham, “A New Look at
Anaximenes,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 20 (2003) 1–20.
Daniel W. Graham
Anaxipolis of Thasos (325 – 90 BCE)
Authored a work on agriculture which may have treated cereals, livestock, poultry, viti-
culture, and arboriculture (cf. P, 1.ind.8, 10, 14–15, 17–18), and was excerpted by
C D (V, RR 1.1.8–10, cf. C, 1.1.9).
RE 1.2 (1894) 2098, M. Wellmann.
Philip Thibodeau
ANAXIMENE ̄S OF MILE ̄TOS