Anaxagoras of Clazomenae was a Greek philosopher of the Ionian school, born around 500 BC in Clazomenae in Asia Minor and dying around 428 BC, who spent much of his working life in Athens and is credited with bringing philosophy to that city. He is best known for introducing Nous, or Mind, as a distinct ordering and moving force that set an original undifferentiated mixture of matter into motion and organized it into the ordered world, a departure from earlier accounts that relied only on physical elements or process. Anaxagoras also gave a correct physical explanation of solar and lunar eclipses, argued that the sun was an enormous incandescent mass of rock rather than a god, a claim that reportedly contributed to a charge of impiety against him, and proposed a form of what would later be called panspermia, that the seeds of life exist throughout the universe.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own accountGiven only as circa in ancient testimony; exact year unknown. Defining MomentSourced to the subject's own accountHis trial and exile from Athens on a charge of impiety, owing to his association with Pericles 1 Notable PublicationSourced to the subject's own accountOn Nature, his book of philosophy, surviving only in fragments of its first part 1 Death YearSourced to the subject's own accountDied of starvation in exile at Lampsacus; year given as circa 428 BC. BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own account Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own accountLampsacus, in the Troad 1 TraditionSourced to the subject's own accountIonian natural philosophy; introduced the concept of Nous (Cosmic Mind) as the ordering force of the universe 1 Classification
NationalitySourced to the subject's own accountAncient Greece (Historical) 1 Sources
1. Anaxagoras (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, opening sentence (death year)
Anaxagoras (; Ancient Greek: Ἀναξαγόρας, Anaxagóras; c. 500 BC, c. 428 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher.
Biography section, on Clazomenae
Anaxagoras was born in the town of Clazomenae in the early 5th century BC, where he may have been born into an aristocratic family.
Biography section, on his exile and death
Anaxagoras was forced to retire from Athens to Lampsacus in Troad (c. 434-433). He died of starvation there around the year 428.
Lead section, on Nous
Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras introduced the concept of Nous (Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force.
Legacy section, on his surviving text
Anaxagoras wrote a book of philosophy, but only fragments of the first part of this have survived, through preservation in the work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th century AD.
Biography section, on the impiety charge
in later life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus; the charges may have been political, owing to his association with Pericles, if they were not fabricated by later ancient biographers.
Lead section, opening sentence (birth year)
Anaxagoras (; Ancient Greek: Ἀναξαγόρας, Anaxagóras; c. 500 BC, c. 428 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.