Plato
Notes from “Medieval Thought – The Western Intellectual Tradition from Antiquity to 13th Century” by Michael Harren. (MacMillan). Pages: 8-9 Plato’s philosophical background: I. 1) Pythagoras (530 BC): doctrine of the permanence of soul in terms of transmigration. 2) Universe reduced to mathematical formulae. (Pythagoras) 3) Timaeus: description of composition of bodies. II. 4) Earlier speculations on the nature of reality (Metaphysics) – problem of interpreting change. 5) Heraclitus (500 B.C.): i) Change was the natural condition of reality and had emphasized the relativity of things as we experience them. ii) Divergences were aspects of same reality & that accordingly reality was one. 6) Parmenides (475 B.C.)- founder of Eleatic School. To notice change and plurality was to be deceived by appearances; reality as perceived by reason was one- constant Being. Such a monolithic concept of Being forbade change. If a thing does not exist (was not al...