Archelaus (philosopher)

Archelaus (Greek Ἀρχέλαος Archelaus, also Archelaus of Athens) was an ancient Greek philosopher. He lived in the 5th century BC

Probably Archelaus was born in Athens. He was a pupil of Anaxagoras and Diogenes Laertius, according to a teacher of Socrates. Although some researchers suggest that this was just an attempt to bring the ionic school with Socrates in connection to keep other Diogenes ' statement credible. My works are not received by Archelaus, so that his teaching can only be inferred from data provided by Diogenes Laertius, Simplicius, Plutarch and Hippolytus of Rome.

Archelaus probably developed an ethic. In his cosmology, he returned to the Ionian school. He speculated about the existence of a fundamental matter, which is identical with air and mixed with spirit, with which he handles the matter - spirit dualism of Anaxagoras. From this spirit-filled "air" it follows by solidification and dilution, hot and cold, water and fire. The one aspect always passive, the other active. The earth and the heavenly bodies saw Archelaus as made ​​from dirt and dust, the product of fire and water. This man also had arisen, initially in its lower form. The moral and artistic dispositions distinguish humans from animals.

The righteous and the harm exist from for Archelaus not by nature, but are the product of the Convention. Knowing the prevailing rules ( temporally and culturally different) and the influence of this is for their own benefit at the center of sophistic philosophy.