Greek Philosophers as Theologians

The Divine Arche

Adam Drozdek

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781138376205
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317124689
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Concepts of God presented by Greek philosophers were significantly different from the image of the divine of popular religion and indicate a fairly sophisticated theological reflection from the very inception of Greek philosophy. This book presents a comprehensive history of theological thought of Greek philosophers from the Presocratics to the early Hellenistic period. Concentrating on views concerning the attributes of God and their impact on eschatological and ethical thought, Drozdek explains that theology was of paramount importance for all Greek philosophers even in the absence of purely theological or religious language.

Chapter 1

The Milesians

It is not very often that the Ionian thinkers are considered to be theologians. An exception might be made for Xenophanes and Heraclitus, but the first three Ionians, the Milesians, are perceived as philosophers who were primarily interested in cosmogony, cosmology, physics, and biology rather than in theology. Nevertheless, the meaning of the ideas put forth by the Milesians is drastically impoverished if the religious aspect is not taken into account or is treated as a negligible element. Their theology should, however, be set against the background of religious views of the epic poets.

Epic gods

Homer and Hesiod “provided the Greeks with the account of the origins of the gods and gave the gods their names and defined their honors and skills and indicated their shapes” (Herodotus 2.53), but Homer transmitted religious tradition as much as he created it. Not always is it possible to separate the old from the new. It is assumed here that the tremendous importance of Homer for the Greeks is due in no small measure to his theology.1

The most pronounced attribute of Greek gods is their immortality. The gods are immortal (ἀθάνατοι, Il. 19.2, Th. 21, 105), they live forever (αἰὲν ἐóντες, Il. 1.290, Th. 33, ἀειγενέαι, Il. 6.527). There were times when gods did not exist. There were times when inanimate matter had the potential to generate them through an inscrutable mechanism of theogony. Other attributes included in divinity of immortal gods is their intelligence and, consequently, being alive; next, their superhuman knowledge, superhuman powers, and an ability to appear in any form.

There is also unrelenting fate, moira. To see the meaning of moira, it is helpful to consider the phrase κατὰ μοĩραν. Someone can speak kata moiran, according to right or order, as is suitable (Il. 1.286, 8.146); an action can be undertaken kata moiran, in good order, for example, a trench is crossed by Trojans in disorderly fashion (Il. 16.367), the Greeks sit in an assembly in order (Il. 19.256), or a heifer is cut up for a feast in due order (Od. 3.457). It seems that “the underlying idea of the phrase is that of order, which may find expression in different ramifications of life.”2 In at least one case, there is a strong ethical coloring of the phrase as when Odysseus rebukes Polyphemus that what he did was not right, ou kata moiran (Od. 9.352). The phrase refers to social order which may have moral overtones, but the important thing is that orderliness is meant by fate.3 Something is fateful not because it is unexpected, irregular, random, but, on the contrary, because it is expected, normally done, regular.

Ontologically, this idea of social order as expressed in the phrase kata moiran can be extended to the cosmic dimension. There is an orderliness of nature that can be seen by everyone: change of season, regular change of the duration of night and day, regular motions of celestial bodies, expected and thus regular tendency of bodies to fall or to rise, depending on their weight.4 So it may be said that a stone released from the hand was fated to fall to the ground since this is what stones normally do.

By positing fate as reality higher than the reality of the gods, the reality preceding the existence of the gods, fate, that is, orderliness of cosmos, is made in one respect more divine than the gods. The gods are created beings, fate is not. Fate always existed and always will exist. It is thus characterized by full, unlimited eternity as opposed to the semi-eternity of the gods.5 If eternity is considered a primary attribute of divinity, then fate certainly is a divine entity.

Fate is an embodiment of the orderliness of the universe, an expression of natural and social order. As such, fate has an ethical component. Both immortals and mortals should act morally and justly, and rules of morality and justice are known, or felt, by all. The role of the gods is to be guardians of justice and morality (Od. 14.83–84).6 However, the gods very often, all too often, not only disappoint but also display “a comprehensive activity for the ruin of the mankind.”7 They are deceitful, touchy, unreliable, meddlesome, jealous, vengeful, and so on. Hence, there are infrequent expressions of pessimism of Homeric heroes and this pessimism deepens in later centuries in the lyric age.8 This pessimistic sentiment is strongly expressed by Mimnermus of Colophon, Semonides of Amorgos, Theognis of Megara. The traditional religion was thus profoundly unfulfilling, disappointing, almost irrelevant. One way of dealing with the disenchantment caused by popular religion is to perform an intellectual work on the concept of divinity. All in traditional religion is not to be discarded. What was positive in it and what caused disappointment? What is unacceptable, what is just imperfect in the traditional image of the gods? What are the gods, what is the divine and what should it be? With such questions a way to theology and philosophy is opened, and philosophical thought in Greece makes its arrival.

Thales

Very little is known about Thales. He was considered to be one of the Seven Sages, which by itself is a testimony of his acumen. On the one hand, although many scientific achievements are attributed to him, such as discovering the cause of a solar eclipse, or proving some geometrical theorems, these achievements were reported 700 to 1000 years after his death. Early sources, on the other hand, supposedly indicate that he was primarily a practical man “with a bent towards natural science.”9 Although the doubts about Thales’ contribution to geometry and astronomy are justified, his theoretical bent is nevertheless very strong, which is manifested in his philosophy. Aristotle says that Thales is among “the wise (σoφoί) but not practically wise (φρóνιμοι)” (EN 1141b4–5 = 59A30), but, when pressed, Thales can show practical applications of his theoretical pursuits as exemplified in the story of the olive-press scheme (Pol. 1259a6–23 = 11A10).

Aristotle is the authority on Thales’ most famous statement that water is the arche of the universe where arche is “that of which all existing things are and from which they first come to be and into which they are finally destroyed, its substance remaining, but changing in its properties” (Met. 983b6–11,17–27 = A12).10 Whether Thales himself would agree with such an absolutist understanding of the arche remains uncertain, but because Anaximander is credited with the first use of arche and because such an absolutist understanding of the arche fits in with what we know about Anaximander and Anaximenes, it seems reasonable that Thales understood it similarly. That is, everything that exists, according to this understanding of the arche, is but a manifestation of the eternal watery substrate and if everything perishes, one thing remains, namely water.11

Why did Thales choose water as the arche? Many answers have been conjectured. The reasons were already obscure for Aristotle, who says that Thales got the notion “perhaps from seeing that the nourishment of everything is moist” (A12). That is, one ingredient is present in all foods, namely water, and thus water must be a factor that makes nourishment nourishing. The argument is rather weak. Even if we agree that water is always present in nourishment and there are no completely dry foods (a cracker may have some particles of water from the air or from the mouth), this may only mean that water is needed as a lubricant to the intake of food. In the context of discussing “cruder thinkers,” like Hippon, who thought that the soul is water, Aristotle modifies the argument by saying that the choice of water “seems” to have been determined by the idea that “the seed of everything is moist” (De anima 405b2–3 = 31A4), which does not considerably strengthen the argument. A stronger argument is given by Theophrastus who says that the choice of water was caused by the observation that corpses dry up (ap. Simplicius, In Phys. 23.21–29 = A13). In these arguments, water is considered a source of life: indispensable to maintain life through nourishment, to begin life through the seed, so that life ends when water vanishes. In this way, water is not made a principle or a substrate of everything, but only a seat of life. If there were no water, a lifeless universe could still exist.

One possible reason for the choice of water is Thales’ strong interest in nautical matters (building canals, explaining the periodical floods of the Nile, diverting the river Halys),12 but this would explain at best his interest in mathematics, astronomy, and the like, but not in cosmology and philosophy.13 Another reason is simply the fact that Thales lived close to the sea.14 But so did Anaxagoras and Anaximenes.

A more comprehensive reason is given by Heraclitus Homericus when he says that water is “easily formed into each different thing”: into slime and earth when compacted, into air when exhaled, and “the finest part is kindled from air into aether” (Quest. Hom. 22).15 However, the same case can be made about any other substance using the same reasoning; for example, aether is a substrate because when compacted, it becomes air, and the crudest part is compacted from air into water, and so on.

It seems that the primary reason for the choice of water as a substrate should not be sought in physiology or geography, but in religion. In that direction points an explanation that Thales was inspired by the cult of Poseidon who keeps earth in its place in the sea.16 But it seems that a less parochial view of religion is required to lead to the view of water being a cosmic principle.

Already some ancient authors stated that Thales took his ideas on water from Egypt.17 There are claims that Thales “practiced philosophy in Egypt” (Aetius 1.3.1; Proclus, In Eucl. 65 = A11), where he traveled and even was taught by priests (DL (Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum) 1.27 = A1). The claim of his visit to Egypt may be a late invention,18 but this does not mean that he may not have been influenced by Egyptian cosmogonic views. Miletus was the largest city of Ionian Greece, and, being a port city near the mouth of Meander, it conducted an extensive trade with Egypt where the Greeks founded Naukratis. Surely, not only goods were transported but information about Egyptian religion as well.

For the Egyptians, the earth is a flat platter with a corrugated rim, and so Thales considers the earth to be flat and floating upon water, which is, according to Aristotle, the oldest theory (De caelo 294a28–30 = A14). This is not a Greek view. The Greeks thought that the earth was surrounded by water, not floating on it. This fact was strongly stressed later by Xenophanes who considered the earth to extend downward infinitely (21B28). Waters on which the earth floated the Egyptians called Nun. Most importantly, Nun was the p...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 The Milesians
• 2 Xenophanes and One God
• 3 Heraclitus and the Logos
• 4 Parmenides and Being
• 5 Pythagoreanism and the harmonia
• 6 Empedocles and the Holy Phren
• 7 Anaxagoras and Mind
• 8 Democritus and Necessity
• 9 Rationalization of Religion
• 10 Socrates
• 11 Antisthenes
• 12 Megarian Theology
• 13 Plato and the Demiurge
• 14 Aristotle and the Unmoved Mover
• 15 The Old Academy
• 16 The Early Lyceum
• 17 Early Cynics
• 18 Epicurus and isonomia
• 19 Early Stoics and the Logos
• Index of Ancient Sources
• Index of Names