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	The Presocratics:  Workshop III  <p>
	Qualitative Pluralists, Atomists, &amp; Pythagoreans<p>
By Don Finkel<p>
<p>
<u>Preparation</u>:  Divide up into groups of four, no more and definitely no
less.  This is your "home group."  For the first part of the workshop, each of
the group members will focus on one of the following four philosophers or
schools: EMPEDOCLES, ANAXAGORAS, ATOMISTS, PYTHAGOREANS.  Decide who will work
on which.  <p>
<p>
Go to the designated corner of the room for those who have made the same choice
as you have.  Once there, form new "research groups" of four.  You will be
working together for the next 40 minutes and then reporting your findings back
to your "home group."  Take careful notes so you can be effective in
communicating to your "home group" the central core of ideas proposed by your
philosopher or philosophical school.<p>
<p>
<u>Part I</u>  (For the "research group" - 40 minutes)<p>
<p>
Discuss and try to agree on answers to the following question as it pertains to
"your philosopher."  (We will employ the term "your philosopher" for
convenience even when referring to the philosophical schools of atomism or
pythagoreanism.)  Take careful written notes of your group's answers.  Record
any significant dissenting opinions where consensus cannot be reached.<p>
<p>
1.  (10 mins.)  Two weeks ago, we ended our study of the Presocratics with a
challenging intellectual problem.  This problem arose from the encounter or
clash between the insights of the Eleatic School (Parmenides and his students)
and those of Heraclitus.  We cannot proceed today until we re-construct and
re-appreciate this intellectual problem.<p>
<p>
Go back to your notes from Workshop II on the Presocratics and agree on a
formulation of the intellectual problem.  Your formulation should have
something to say about the following:  Being, non-being, motion, one-ness,
plurality, change, appearances, reality, reason, and sense perception.  <p>
<p>
2.  (10 mins.)  Review your reading notes on the portion of this week's
assignment from Wheelwright that deals with your philosopher, and make a list
of the main ideas, key propositions, and central assumptions of your
philosopher.  This list should serve as a concise summary of his philosophical
position.  Add anything that is needed to round out your summary.<p>
<p>
3.  (10 mins.)  Assume that your philosopher has formulated a philosophical
position that resolves the intellectual problem which you described in question
1 above.  How does the position you have summarized in question 2 resolve the
problem you have described in question 1?<p>
<p>
4.  (10 mins.)  What account would your philosopher give of the burning candle
we observed in Workshop I?<p>
<p>
	(OVER)<p>
RETURN TO YOUR "HOME GROUP" FOR PART II<p>
<p>
<u>Part II</u> (for the "home group" - 55 minutes)<p>
<p>
A.  (30 minutes)  Each person in turn should communicate to the rest of the
group the answers of your "research group" to the four questions in Part I.
When you are done, the other members should pose clarifying questions, and the
person reporting should attempt to answer these.  The goal is to bring the
group "up to speed" on all four of the philosophers.  Each person has 7-8
minutes.  <p>
<p>
B.  (25 minutes)  As a group, discuss and try to agree on answers to the
following questions.  Take notes on your answers, and have one person keep an
eye on the time so that you proceed through them at the appropriate speed.  You
have 25 minutes to answer them all.<p>
<p>
	1.  If you were a citizen of Fifth Century Greece, which of the four
philosophical positions would consider the best? <p>
<p>
	2.  When you answered question 1, what criteria were you using for "best"?  <p>
<p>
	3.  a.  By the time of the Presocratics, the Greeks had begun to discover that
reason was a powerful tool for acquiring knowledge.  Parmenides may be thought
of as "going all the way" with reason.  But then he is left with the problem of
how to "save the appearances."   What is meant by the phrase "save the
appearances"? <p>
<p>
	b.  Someone with the sensibility of a Heraclitus who had been exposed to
Zeno's paradoxes of motion might well have concluded that it was not the
appearances that needed to be saved at all, but rather that it was reason that
needed to be saved?  What does the phrase "saving reason" mean in this context?
<p>
<p>
	c.  Of the four philosophical positions you are examining this week, which
does the best of saving the appearances? <p>
<p>
	d.  Which does the best of saving reason? <p>
<p>
	e.  Which does the best of striking a balance between saving the appearances
and saving reason?  <p>
<p>
	4.  How would modern science, roughly speaking, explain the phenomenon of the
burning candle?<p>
<p>
	5.  Where on the spectrum between saving reason and saving the appearances
would you place the approach of modern science?<p>
<p>
	6.  How different or how similar are the approach of modern science and the
approach of the Presocratics to understanding the physical universe?<p>
<p>
<p>
<u>Part III</u> (15 minutes):  Reconvene at 11:45 for class discussion.
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