Name Claim/Conclusion Support/Premise

All things are composed of infinitely divisible The formation of the world as we know it was the result of a rotary
Anaxagoras particles; the universe was caused by mind motion produced in this mass by mind.
(nous) acting on matter.
The original source of all things is a boundless, The world is surrounded by fire, which we see as the stars and other
Anaximander
ageless, and indeterminate element. heavenly bodies, through holes in the mist.
Air becomes fire through rarefaction; when condensed it becomes
Anaximenes The underlying principle of all things is air. wind, then (Though additional condensation) clouds, water, earth, and
stone.
All things are composed of imperceptible,
By combining with one another in various ways, atoms compose the
indestructible, indivisible, eternal, and
The Atomists objects of experience. They are continuously in motion, and thus the
uncreated atoms. Motion needs no
various combinations come and go.
explanation.
Apparent changes in things are in fact
These basic elements mingle in different combinations to form objects
changes in the positions of basic particles, of
of experience as well as he apparent changes of it. The basic elements
Empedocles which there are four types: earth, air, fire, and
enter new combinations under two forces – love and strife – which are
water. Two forces cause these basic changes:
essentially forces of attraction and decomposition.
love and strife.
Only the reality is ceaseless change and that The essential feature of reality is that it is ceaselessly changing. But
Heraclitus the underlying substance of the universe is everything seems changing constantly. Thus, fire whose nature whose
fire. nature is to ceaselessly change, is the root substance of the universe.
Only reality is permanent, unchanging, He said, if something changes, it becomes something different. Thus, if
indivisible, and undifferentiated being and being itself were to change, then it would become something different.
Parmenides
that change, and motion are illusions of the But what is different from being is nonbeing, and nonbeing just plain
sense. isn’t. Thus, being does not change.
There is an intimacy between things and numbers. Whatever the thing,
Enumerability constitutes the true nature of
Pythagoras whether physical or not, it participates in the universe of order and
things.
harmony. Orderliness and harmony apply to all things.
Water is the basic stuff of which all else is Water is a substance that can appear in three different states which
Thales
composed. makes it very flexible. Water can appear in various forms.
First argument is that any other thing, must pass through an infinite
Clever paradoxes seeming to show that
Zeno number of points to go anywhere. Second arguments is that a thing that
motion is impossible
occupy a space equal to its length cannot move.