Archelaus (philosopher)

Archelaus ( Greek Ἀρχέλαος Archelaos even Archelaus of Athens ) was an ancient Greek philosopher . He lived in the 5th century BC. Chr.

Archelaus was probably born in Athens . He was a student of Anaxagoras and, according to Diogenes Laertios, a teacher of Socrates . Although some researchers suspect that this was just an attempt to link the Ionic school to Socrates, others consider Diogenes' statement to be credible. Archelaus has not received any of his own works, so that his teaching can only be inferred from information given by Diogenes Laertios, Simplikios , Plutarch and Hippolytus of Rome .

Archelaus probably developed an ethic . In his cosmology he resorted to the Ionic school. He speculated about the existence of a basic matter which is identical with air and mixed with spirit, thus circumventing the matter-spirit dualism of Anaxagoras. From this spirit-filled “air” result through solidification and dilution, warm and cold, water and fire. One aspect always passive, the other active. Archelaus saw the earth and the heavenly bodies as made of dirt and dust, the product of fire and water. From this man also emerged, initially in his lower form. Morals and artistic dispositions distinguish humans from animals.

The righteous and the harm not exist for Archelaos by nature, but are the product of the Convention . The knowledge of the prevailing rules (temporally and culturally different) and influencing them for one's own benefit is the focus of sophistic philosophy.

literature

• Richard Goulet: Archélaos le Physicien . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Volume 1, CNRS, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-04042-6 , pp. 333–334; Addendum in the volume Supplément , Paris 2003, ISBN 2-271-06175-X , p. 78 f.
• Georg Rechenauer : Archelaos from Athens . In: Hellmut Flashar et al. (Ed.): Early Greek Philosophy (= Outline of the History of Philosophy . The Philosophy of Antiquity , Volume 1), Half Volume 2, Schwabe, Basel 2013, ISBN 978-3-7965-2598-8 , p. 797-810