Practice question · Estimate
Socrates reports his disappointment that Anaxagoras invokes nous to start the cosmic rotation and then explains nothing else by it. Set the number of further phenomena Anaxagoras explains by appeal to mind, on Socrates’ report.
Estimate on a scale from None at all (0) to Ten or more (10).
Hints
- Socrates’ complaint is that the promising principle is introduced and then dropped.
- On his report, nous does no further explanatory work at all.
Show the answer
0 (answers within ±1 count)
Why
None, on Socrates’ account. Nous starts the rotation and is then never used to explain why anything is arranged well, the complaint recorded in the Phaedo, and an early instance of a philosopher criticising another for failing to use his own best idea.
Practise The Pluralists: Empedocles and Anaxagoras
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