Apeiron

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The apeiron ( ancient Greek τὸ ἄπειρον , the infinite, the unlimited ' in a quantitative sense) is a philosophical term for a primordial substance that the pre-Socratics Anaximander (around 610-546 BC) coined.

Apeiron - literally the negation of the “limit” (Greek peirata ), ie “the unlimited ” - is also translated as “the indefinite” and is defined as the principle that - in contrast to the cosmos - has neither beginning nor end. Another translation option - obtained from a variant of the same word stem ( ex-piriens ) - is "the inexperienced". Against this interpretation it is objected that the term presupposes a degree of abstraction that is untypical for pre-Socratic philosophy.

The best-known, presumably verbatim transmission of that section from the didactic poem Anaximander, which seems to designate the apeiron as the beginning and end of all material phenomena, is attributed to the historiographer Simplikios . The passage named after him read as follows:

“The beginning and end of existing things is the apeiron. From what ... the becoming of the existing things, into which also their passing away according to the obligation occurs; for they pay one another just punishment and penance for their injustice according to the time ordinance. "

Simplikios determined it - like Aristotle - as "the beginning and the element of existent things" ( "ἀρχήν τε καὶ στοιχεῖον τῶν ὄντων τὸ ἄπειρον"). The translation of the Apeiron as “principle and element” is also used by others in the following.

This sentence is considered a basic fragment for Anaximander. There has been no overall interpretation of this passage supported by the majority in research. Fragments that have been preserved by contemporaries such as Theophrast and Aristotle show different interpretations for antiquity as well. These and fragments by other Greek authors are used for the interpretation of the sentence.

English-language interpretations of the present are largely based on the assumption that the sentence of Anaximander is mainly a description of natural processes. These processes are reversible and repeat themselves endlessly. It is possible that Anaximander also related this repetitive arising and passing away to the cosmos. His ideas about how this observable event connects with the Apeiron principle have not been proven.

Older authors, such as Wolfgang Schadewaldt , explain that Anaximander addresses a general phenomenon with the term “injustice”: We observed everywhere how a living being lives on the death of the other, how each is there at the expense of the other. "The water gnaws at the land and carries it away, the land again restricts the water and pushes it back, the liquid evaporates under the warmth, and in general the hot is something that strongly exercises such injustice." Anaximander said that " Becoming and passing "to the order of all life, metaphysically formulated to the" order of being "explained.

With his interpretation of the Anaximander sentence - under the title “Spruch des Anaximander” - Martin Heidegger suggested that the Greek terms should be understood in the sense of “rich and preconceived”.

The interpretations of the first ancient historiographers (especially those of Theophrastus and Aristotle) ​​have shaped the conceptions of the supposed ideas of Anaximander mentioned in fragments of others to this day. For a number of years it has been possible to include a larger context of source texts. The project of the classical philologist Georg Wöhrle ( University of Trier ) should be mentioned here. The first results of employees from this project are available for the role of Aristotle in the history of interpretation. It is z. B. explained on the basis of detailed discussions of sources that, from his point of view, he assumed the Apeiron to have a "divine character". However, this would probably not have been the opinion of Anaximander, if one includes the entirety of the texts that are now accessible. It is more likely that Aristotle subordinated his cosmological ideas of the 'all-acting and controlling divine mover' to those of his predecessor.

Individual evidence

  1. Christof Rapp : pre-Socratics , series thinkers, CH Beck Verlag, Munich 1997 - section: Unlimited as Urstoff , pp. 38–44.
  2. Wolfgang Röd : The philosophy of antiquity. From Thales to Democritus . 3rd edition, Munich 2009, p. 41.
  3. Dirk L. Couprie: Anaximander . Internet Encyclopedia Philosophy , Section 2. - See also Dirk L. Couprie, Robert Hahn, Gerard Naddaf: Anaximander in Context. New studies in the origins of Greek philosophy . State University of New York Press, Albany 2003, ISBN 0-7914-5537-8 .
  4. Diels, Kranz (ed.): The fragments of the pre-Socratics , fragment 2, A9 and B1.
  5. ^ Diels, Kranz (ed.): The fragments of the pre-Socratics . Fragment 2, A9 and the like. B1: Simplikios in Phys. P. 24,13f; Theophrast, Phys. op.
  6. See e.g. B. Jaap Mansfield: The pre-Socratics . Stuttgart 1987, pp. 56-65. Mansfield uses the term "the unlimited" for Apeiron. See also the text of the fragment, ibid. Pp. 73f. - A compilation of fragments relating to the Apeiron can be found in: Rudolf Eisler : Dictionary of Philosophical Terms (1904) Apeiron
  7. Cf. Keimpe Algra: The beginnings of cosmology and Glenn W. Most: The poetics of early Greek philosophy . In: Anthony A. Long (ed.): Handbook of early Greek philosophy. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, pp. 24–60; Pp. 304-332.
  8. Wolfgang Schadewaldt : The beginnings of philosophy among the Greeks. Tübingen Lectures Volume I. Frankfurt / M. 1978, 1st edition, pp. 242-244.
  9. The following is quoted from a PDF online publication of the publisher: Martin Heidegger: Der Spruch des Anaximander . Pp. 296-343 and pp. 305f. The text was also published in book form: Ders: Der Spruch des Anaximander . Frankfurt am Main 2010.
  10. Georg Wöhrle (ed.): The Milesier: Thales . Berlin 2009 and later. (Ed.) The Milesians: Anaximander and Anaximenes . Berlin 2012.
  11. Maria Marcinkowska-Rosól: The principles of the Milesians . Berlin / Boston 2014, p. 202 f.