Anaximenés z Mílétu – Kočandrle Radim (2015)

Anaximenes of Miletus is the last of the trio of thinkers who hailed from the same Ionian city and, according to tradition, stood at the very threshold of philosophy. Although Anaximenes concludes the Milesian perception of the world, he somewhat remains in the shadow of Thales and Anaximander. However, it was to him that Theophrastus dedicated a separate treatise. According to Aristotle, he considered air to be the beginning of all things. Yet it was primarily the specific formulation of the origin, destruction, and changes in nature against the backdrop of the rarefaction and condensation of air that became characteristic of him. The presented monograph offers a translation of the main part of the preserved textual sources on Anaximenes' thought and accompanies his key themes. It shows that air was not only the medium of all transformations but especially an expression of the intimate features of life, which were seen in the parallels of air, breath, and soul. Within the framework of cosmology, it points to its close connection with meteorological phenomena. It notes that significant elements of Anaximenes' conception can also be found further, particularly in Anaxagoras and Diogenes of Apollonia. Thus, it outlines a sketch of archaic Ionian thought, in which boundless air represented true divinity, from which "gods and divine things" arise.