Elpenor's
note : It should be added at least that "with Anaximenes apparent differences
of kind of quality are for the first time reduced to a common origin in
differences of quantity" (Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, v. I, p.
126) with Burnet's remark (EGP, 74) that "a theory which explains
everything as a form of a single substance", therefore "bound to regard all
differences as quantitative, the only way to save the unity of the primary
substance is to say that all diversities are due to the presence of more or
less of it in a given space".
Such a belief is not 'materialistic' because in this primal substance
there is attributed a divine character. Presocratic philosophy is internally
connected with the ancient and rather theological poetry, that is
mainly Homer and Hesiod. Anaximenes belongs to this tradition, but without a
deep interest in its theological dimension; as Guthrie observes "religion
had little appeal for him" (l.c. p. 140).
A History of Greek Philosophy /
THE SCHOOL OF MILETUS /
ANAXIMENES
