CHAPTER TEN

THE HISTORY OF EPISTEMOLOGY: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHIES

Abstract

The central focus of ancient Greek philosophy was the problem of motion. Many pre-Socratic philosophers thought that no logically coherent account of motion and change could be given. Although the problem was primarily a concern of metaphysics, not epistemology, it had the consequence that all major Greek philosophers held that knowledge must not itself change or be changeable in any respect. That requirement motivated Parmenides (flourished 5th century BCE), for example, to hold that thinking is identical with “being” (i.e., all objects of thought exist and are unchanging) and that it is impossible to think of “nonbeing” or “becoming” in any way.