Practice question · True or false
Anaximander argued that the earth remains at the centre of things because it is held up by symmetry, having no reason to move one way rather than another.
Hints
- His argument invokes no supporting substance at all.
- It appeals purely to the absence of any reason to move in one direction.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, and it is remarkably pure reasoning. With nothing distinguishing any direction, there is no reason for motion, so the earth stays put. No water beneath it, no pillars, no god holding it: an argument from indifference alone.
Practise The Milesians
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Philosophy I is free to start.
More questions on The Milesians
- What makes the Milesians the first philosophers rather than simply early scientists or theologians?
- Which considerations plausibly supported Thales’ choice of water as the archē?
- Arrange the Milesian thinkers in chronological order and note how each responds to the one before.
- Sort each explanatory move by whether it is characteristic of mythological or Milesian explanation.
- Thales famously asserted that 'all things are full of gods'. Given the overarching Milesian shift away from…
- Complete the account of Anaximander’s argument for the apeiron.