Ancient · c. 500–428 BC
Who influenced Anaxagoras?
Influences and legacy
Brought cosmic Mind (nous) into physics — and science into Athens, at personal cost.
Anaxagoras was influenced by Anaximenes of Miletus, and went on to influence Socrates. That is 2 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Eduard Lebiedzki, after a design by Carl Rahl, Public domain See the whole map
Who was Anaxagoras?
Anaxagoras came from Clazomenae in Persian-ruled Asia Minor and settled in Athens. Answering Parmenides's claim that change is impossible, he introduced Nous, cosmic mind, as the force that orders the world.
He gave the correct explanation of eclipses, described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese and suggested it might be just another star. He also proposed panspermia, the idea that life exists throughout the universe. Late in life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Anaxagoras?
1 direct influence on this map, earliest first.
- Anaximenes of Miletus c. 586–526 BC
Who did Anaxagoras influence?
1 thinker on this map draws directly on Anaxagoras.
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
The line of teachers behind Anaxagoras
The longest documented line of influence ending at Anaxagoras runs 2 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
- Thales of Miletus
- Anaximenes of Miletus
- Anaxagoras
Two steps away from Anaxagoras
Indirect influences
- Through Anaximenes of Miletus: Thales of Miletus
The second generation
- Through Socrates: Antisthenes, Aristippus, Xenophon, Plato, Diogenes of Sinope, Søren Kierkegaard
Contemporaries of Anaxagoras
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Anaxagoras, with no direct line between them.
- Leucippus fl. 5th c. BC
- Zeno of Elea c. 495–430 BC
- Empedocles c. 494–434 BC
- Protagoras c. 490–420 BC
- Parmenides c. 515–450 BC
- Gorgias c. 485–380 BC
Anaxagoras by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 1
- Direct followers
- 1
- Thinkers upstream
- 2
- Thinkers downstream
- 215
- Wikipedia languages
- 79 — #22 of 54 among ancient philosophers
- Card rarity
- Epic
Questions about Anaxagoras
- Who influenced Anaxagoras?
- Anaximenes of Miletus.
- Who did Anaxagoras influence?
- Socrates.
- When did Anaxagoras live?
- c. 500–428 BC. The map files Anaxagoras under the ancient world.
- How rare is the Anaxagoras card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Anaxagoras in 79 languages, which makes it an Epic card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More ancient philosophers
- Confucius 551–479 BC
- Aristotle 384–322 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
- Cicero 106–43 BC
- Thales of Miletus c. 624–546 BC