The History of Philosophy: From the Greeks and Christians to Moderns and Postmoderns – Discourses on Minerva

The beginning of philosophy isn’t philosophy. Rather, it is poetry. Greek poetry to be specific. While we know the names of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, they did not arise in a vacuum. It is also true that the pre-Socratics existed, some you may know: Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Thales. The pre-Socratics and Socratics can be assessed for their visions of philosophy, both already contained in the poetic tradition. The poetic tradition concerned itself with man and the cosmos, human nature and cosmogony to be more specific. These were the issues dealt later by the first philosophers: the pre-Socratics were concerned with the nature of the cosmos and the Socratics concerned with human nature—though we can say with Plato that he was also concerned with the nature of the cosmos just like Aristotle would be in his Metaphysics. But why does philosophy begin with poetry? Greek poetry deals with the human condition and the cosmos that the human condition inhabits. That is what philosophy is abou

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• Atem Aguer