Ancient Greek Philosophy, Philosophy, Videos

Introduction to Anaxagoras

The following is a transcript of this video.

In this lecture we discuss Anaxagoras. Specifically, we will investigate his interesting theory of matter which claimed that ‘everything is in everything’, and introduce him as the first philosopher to divide the universe into mind and matter. To conclude we will look at the difference between a teleological and mechanistic view of the universe, and see how Anaxagoras combined these two views in a unique manner.

Further Resources

Good Places to Start One’s Study of the Presocratics
A History of Greek Philosophy Volume I (1979) – W.K.C Guthrie
A History of Greek Philosophy Volume II (1979) – W.K.C Guthrie
Retrieving the Ancients: An Introduction to Greek Philosophy (2004) – David Roochnik
Presocratics (2007) – James Warren
Greek Philosophers: From Thales to Aristotle (1960) – W.K.C Guthrie

Works on Individual Presocratics
The Art and Thought of Heraclitus (1981) – Charles Kahn
Heraclitus (1999) – Philip Wheelwright
Remembering Heraclitus (2000) – Richard Geldard
Parmenides and the Way of Truth (2007) – Richard Geldard
The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus (2010) – C.C.W. Taylor

Further Readings