The sun is a stone
He declared the sun no god but a mass of blazing metal. This naturalist boldness enraged the Athenians and drove him into exile for impiety.
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Anaxagoras
Brought "Mind (Nous)" into cosmology
Remembered for a Single Line · Small Roles, Famous Names
NousPluralismCosmology
Who they are
Anaxagoras (c. 500–428 BC) held that all things are made of countless "seeds," and that what draws chaos into order is a distinct active principle — Nous (Mind). Charged with impiety for saying the sun was a red-hot stone, he was the first to bring intelligence into the explanation of nature.
Primary sourcesDiels–Kranz, Fragments of the PresocraticsPlato, Phaedo
Key stories
Relationships
Disciple
Echoes today
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
"Nous"The idea of Mind/Intellect as a cosmic principle was first his.