Aristotelic notions in Anaximander: apeíron as a primordial element and what Aristotle thought about the indefinite

Abstract

According to the testimony of Hippolytus, Anaximander of Miletus was born in 610 BC, whereas Aristotle of Stagira was born in 384 BC. It is evident that they experienced different periods in Archaic Greece. However, they had common interests, for instance; the way they explained the world according to the thread of nature. Anaximander proposed his explanation from an undefined element -the `απείρων. This work intends to investigate Aristotle’s intention when he turned his attention to the anaximandrian primordial element, a rather curious fact, which resulted in four quotations mentioning the name of Anaximander in his work De Caelo, and in Physics. Instead of heading to the laborious translation of the fragments, which would mean jumping over an abyss with a slippery threshold, it is intend to establish a parallel that either approximates or diverges the cosmology of Anaximander and the sublunary sphere, both encompassed in Aristotle’s cosmology, as well as trying to approach us to the notion of apeíron and ether, both part of the cosmologies of these philosophers.