Editing Greek Philosophy and the Pre-Socratics (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Understanding</span> ==
The Pre-Socratics are understood through '''Substance''' and '''Change'''.

'''1. The "First" Question (The Arche)''':
What is the "World" "Made Of"?
* Before them, the answer was: **"The Gods."**
* **Thales** "Argued" that it must be a **"Natural Substance"** (Water).
* This was the **"First Scientific Hypothesis."**
* It "Separated" **"Reason"** from **"Faith."**
* "The Universe" was "Seen" as an **"Understandable Machine."**

'''2. The "Conflict" of Reality (Heraclitus vs. Parmenides)''':
Is the world "Moving" or "Fixed"?
* **Heraclitus** saw a world of **"Infinite Change"**: "You cannot step into the same river twice."
* **Parmenides** saw a world of **"Eternal Stillness"**: if something "Is," it "Cannot" "Become" something else.
* This **"Great Debate"** "Created" the **"Problem of Identity and Change"** that (see Article 112) "Still" "Defines" "Theoretical Physics" today.
* "Truth" is the **"Synthesis"** of "Opposites."

'''3. The "Reduction" to the Small (Atomism)''':
"Logic" "Predicts" the "Atom."
* (See Article 121). **Democritus** "Reasoned" that if you "Keep Cutting" an apple, you "Must" "Eventually" "Reach" a "Piece" that "Cannot be Cut" (**Atomos**).
* He "Predicted" the **"Atomic Structure"** of the universe **2,000 Years** "Before" we had a "Microscope."
* "Thought" "Traveled" "Further" than "Observation."

'''The 'Eleatic Monism' '''': Parmenides' "Extreme Logic." He argued that "Non-being" is "Impossible" (You can't think about nothing). Therefore, there is "No Space" for things to "Move" into. It proved that "Pure Reason," if "Unchecked" by "Observation," can "Lead" to "Logical Absurdities" (Zeno's Paradoxes).
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