ancient greek philosophy

2. Trace the notion of opposites from the thought of Anaximander through the thought of the Atomists.

According to Anaximander, the worlds consists of opposites. The main opposites are wet-dry and hot-cold. These are conflicting opposites. For one to exist it has to overpower the direct opposite. For example, for the dry earth to exist it has to overpower the wet water. According to Anaximander, this is injustice to one another. Justice therefore has to be restored by the defeated opposite to fight against the other opposites. So the water has to fight the dry land and overpower it for justice to be restored. This occurs in a circle and also with time. He also states that all these movements are caused by the Apaeron which is the mover of all things. For Anaximander progress comes by the conflict of opposites. However, the coming of Aneximanes saw the disregard of the apaeron as the mover of all things. He argued that the Apaeron is unnecessary to explain the roots of influence. He is of the view that the roots of influence cannot be applied when it is not necessary and he went on to suggest that the Arche is air. He accepts that the world is composed of opposites but argues that the opposites are in no way at war with each other but rather that they coexist peacefully. He argues that the opposites continue in each other. So for the moon to come it does not have to fight the sun but the sun gives way to the moon. The same applies to hot and cold. In Aneximanes' view, progress is present on the fact that the opposites give way to each other and are present in one another. Furthermore, Pythagoras also saw the opposites coexisting and in harmony. He talks of the ten opposites which include light and darkness, good and evil, male and female, odd and even numbers. He argues that the good member of each pair must establish dominance over the other evil member. The subordinate must therefore acquiesce to be the subject. In his explanation of the odd and