these mechanisms also be relevant to explanation in medicine? Anaxagoras and Diogenes are both philosophers of ancient Greece who used their beliefs to try explain the change and developments that occur in the world and the body. Anaxagoras believes that everything is in everything; and differing proportions explains why a chair is a chair while a person is a person. Opposed to Anaxagoras is Diogenes, who believes that air is the original substance from which everything else was created from. He attributes the development of the senses to the movement of the air surrounding the body. Both philosophers attempt to deduce what started the creation of the world as we know, whether it was everything, or a single element. Regardless of either
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He believes that everything that already is, or will ever be, is already in existence because of the universal mixture. This is a confusing concept to understand today with the belief that things that have not been created yet are not in existence. However, he emphasizes the principle of potential in his understanding of the development and change of the world. He mentions “the seeds of all things” (Anaxagoras F4). Although this is not a causal mechanism, Anaxagoras uses the basic understanding that a seed has the potential to grow into an apple tree, to support his idea of something already existing theoretically in the primordial mixture. Mind is a causal mechanism in Anaxagoras’ understanding since “mind decided about the coming, the separation, and the dispersal of all things” (Anaxagoras F10). From the mind, separation of the ingredients occurred: dense from the rare, warm from the cold, bright from the dark, and dry from the moist. This separation caused the individuality of things. The differing proportions of the ingredients in allowed for some ingredients to be “predominate in its mixture” (Anaxagoras …show more content…
His causal mechanism focuses a universe where the movement of air and the different qualitative properties of air are the bases of all things created; and subsequently all things are reducible to air. According to Diogenes, senses and perception depend on the amount of air in a body. Smell is one of the senses that “is caused by the air around the brain” (Diogenes T7), since the odor must mingle with the air around the brain in order to be perceived. Hearing is another sense caused by the motion of air since the air inside the ear is set into motion by the air outside the ear. This motion is what causes the air to pass through to the brain. Diogenes accounts for changes by commenting on the amount of air one may have in their body. For instance, a change in behavior or thought occurs when one is drunk, overfull, or asleep because “moisture impedes the mind” (Diogenes T7). Diogenes uses the movement of air to explain how the body works since they did not have the medical technology to tell them what is happening inside the
He believes that everything that already is, or will ever be, is already in existence because of the universal mixture. This is a confusing concept to understand today with the belief that things that have not been created yet are not in existence. However, he emphasizes the principle of potential in his understanding of the development and change of the world. He mentions “the seeds of all things” (Anaxagoras F4). Although this is not a causal mechanism, Anaxagoras uses the basic understanding that a seed has the potential to grow into an apple tree, to support his idea of something already existing theoretically in the primordial mixture. Mind is a causal mechanism in Anaxagoras’ understanding since “mind decided about the coming, the separation, and the dispersal of all things” (Anaxagoras F10). From the mind, separation of the ingredients occurred: dense from the rare, warm from the cold, bright from the dark, and dry from the moist. This separation caused the individuality of things. The differing proportions of the ingredients in allowed for some ingredients to be “predominate in its mixture” (Anaxagoras …show more content…
His causal mechanism focuses a universe where the movement of air and the different qualitative properties of air are the bases of all things created; and subsequently all things are reducible to air. According to Diogenes, senses and perception depend on the amount of air in a body. Smell is one of the senses that “is caused by the air around the brain” (Diogenes T7), since the odor must mingle with the air around the brain in order to be perceived. Hearing is another sense caused by the motion of air since the air inside the ear is set into motion by the air outside the ear. This motion is what causes the air to pass through to the brain. Diogenes accounts for changes by commenting on the amount of air one may have in their body. For instance, a change in behavior or thought occurs when one is drunk, overfull, or asleep because “moisture impedes the mind” (Diogenes T7). Diogenes uses the movement of air to explain how the body works since they did not have the medical technology to tell them what is happening inside the