Arche

The Arché ( ancient Greek ἀρχή for, beginning, principle, origin ') is referred to in ancient philosophy a term that reason and principle of being or knowing. Therefore, the question of Arché the question of causes, origin, original principles or Urstoffen.

Especially in the pre-Socratic philosophy, this question is of the highest importance from an ontological perspective; the term itself is rarely used by the pre-Socratics. Later he will be taken up by Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics and to gain in importance in the Middle or Neo-Platonism.

Presocratics

The question of the Arché is the question of the beginning of what is, after a primary matter ( = substance from which everything exists ) or first principle ( = lawfulness of ( formation / offense ) in the world).

They dominated the thinking of the pre-Socratics and is crucial for the entire period. Already the first of the pre-Socratics, the Milesians, presented to speculate on a primary matter. Thales called here the water from which everything exists, Anaximander the apeiron (the " Unlimited " ) and Anaximenes air. Later Pythagoras thought that the number for the order of the world plays a special role. Later Empedocles was of the opinion that everything is composed of the four elements that can be separated by love and hate, or combine to form the phenomena.