Archelaus (philosopher)

Archelaus (ɑrkɪˈleɪəs; Ἀρχέλαος; fl. 5th century BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher, a pupil of Anaxagoras, and may have been a teacher of Socrates. He asserted that the principle of motion was the separation of hot from cold, from which he endeavoured to explain the formation of the Earth and the creation of animals and humans. Archelaus was a philosopher of the Ionian School, called Physicus from having been the first to teach natural philosophy at Athens. This statement of Diogenes Laërtius, is contradicted by Clement of Alexandria, but the two may be reconciled by supposing that Archelaus was the first Athenian who did so. According to Simplicius, who probably got his information from Theophrastus, Archelaus was a native of Athens, even though Diogenes Laërtius says it is unclear if he was born in Athens or Miletus. He was the son of Apollodorus, or as some say, of Mydon, Midon, or Myson; was a pupil of Anaxagoras; and is said to have taught at Lampsacus before he established himself at Athens. He is commonly reported to have taught Socrates and Euripides. If he was the instructor of Socrates, he is never mentioned by Xenophon, Plato, or Aristotle, and this story may have been an attempt to connect Socrates with the Ionian School. However, Diogenes Laërtius does report, on the authority of Ion of Chios, a contemporary of Socrates, that Socrates went with Archelaus on a trip to Samos. Also, some scholars have seen in Socrates' "autobiographical" sketch in Plato's Phaedo a reference to Archelaus' theory about the generation and nourishment of the first animals. The tradition which connects Archelaus with Euripides may have arisen from a confusion with Euripides' patron, Archelaus I, king of Macedonia. No fragments of Archelaus have survived; his doctrines have to be extracted from Diogenes Laërtius, Simplicius, Pseudo-Plutarch, and Hippolytus. Archelaus held that air and infinity are the principle of all things, by which Pseudo-Plutarch supposes that he meant infinite air; and we are told, that by this statement he intended to exclude Mind from the creation of the world.