Early Greek Philosophy: Ionian Physics (Natural Philosophy). The Milesians and Heraclitus of Ephesus

Natural Philosophical Explanation of the World’s Components

The natural philosophical approach to explaining the components of the world is characterized by deriving various objects and phenomena from natural principles or elements. Initially, even the gods were considered ordinary natural objects. Anaximander is attributed with the view that the apeiron (the boundless) is the source of gods and divine beings. Celestial bodies, especially the Sun, lost their divine status. Anaximenes believed that the stars are composed of earth, and that the Sun is simply earth that has become heated due to rapid motion. Even humanity was deprived of divine origin. Anaximander proposed that humans evolved from fish that gave birth to live young. Additionally, early philosophers reduced the soul, once considered a divine essence, to a material substance. According to Anaximenes, the human soul is composed of air. Heraclitus, aligning with his understanding of the principle, viewed the soul as dry fire or a dry radiance, with its affiliation to the cosmic fire-logos granting it rationality.

Heraclitus also provided examples of the secularization of social phenomena. He claimed that war (conflict) determined the distinctions between gods and humans, made some individuals slaves and others free. Heraclitus even humorously applied the epithet of Zeus to war, describing it as "the father of all and the king," possibly replacing Zeus’s supremacy with the dominance of war in the world. According to Heraclitus, human relationships should be regulated by a "common" law rather than by the gods.

This initial separation of philosophy from mythology marked only the beginning of their fundamental divergence. Many shared worldview elements still connected them, as evidenced by certain distinctive traits in Ionian philosophy that continued to relate to mythology.