Pre-Socratic philosophy

< Back to Ancient Greek Philosophy

Pre-Socratic philosophers are those whose studies are about subjects before Socrates. Usually those subjects are mostly about nature or cosmos, so very often this period is wrongly identified with cosmological period of Greek philosophy. This identification is wrong because Sophists are considered Pre-Socratic Philosophers, but their studies are not about cosmos nor nature. This term originates with Herman Diels and his book The Fragments of the Pre-Socratics. You can find similar grouping in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche much earlier, but his grouping is used in other sense. Socrates was born around 469 BC, and most of Pre-Socrates are older than Socrates but not all of them. Don't be confused with this because this grouping has nothing to do with time but with subjects.

Essential Reading

 * Presocratic Philosophers