The Philosophy of nature of Pre-socratics

Abstract

This article is a conceptual review of the main elements related with the natural philosophies of the so-called Pre-Socratic philosophers, which thrived in the period between the 7th and 5th centuries BC. This period corresponds to the emergence of the first systematizations of which will then be the "Physical Sciences" and also launched the seeds, in Philosophy, to the large constructions carried out in the following period by Plato and Aristotle. The first focus of this review is to highlight the intimate connection between properly scientific conceptions and philosophical conceptions of more general character, in force during that period, when the fields of Science and Philosophy were indeed indiscernible. The second focus consists in to make clear that, from the point of view of the conceptual evolution of the Physics in Modern Age, the elaborations and acquisitions of Pre-Socratic philosophers did not present themselves as mere historical relics deserved to a role of discard able historical curiosity.