Ancient Greek Philosophers - Pre-Socratic Philosophy

Pre-Socratic Philosophy

The convention of terming those philosophers who were active prior to Socrates the pre-Socratics gained currency with the 1903 publication of Hermann Diels' Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, although the term did not originate with him. The term is considered philosophically useful, however, as what came to be known as the Athenian school (composed of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) signaled a profound shift in the subject matter and methods of philosophy; Friedrich Nietzsche's thesis that this profound shift began with Plato rather than with Socrates (hence his nomenclature of "pre-Platonic philosophy") was not sufficient to prevent the rise and perpetuation of the phrase "pre-Socratic philosophy."

The pre-Socratics were primarily concerned with cosmology, ontology and mathematics. They were distinguished from non-philosophers insofar as they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse.