Archelaus Quotes
Archelaus of Athens was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, pupil of Anaxagoras and, according to a strong ancient tradition, the teacher of Socrates. He combined his master's doctrine of an ordering Mind with original speculations about the origin of life from a primal warm and watery earth and about the conventional, rather than natural, character of justice and law. The quotes below are attributed to Archelaus, organized by topic.
Archelaus on Justice
-
Attributed to Archelaus:
“Justice and law exist by convention, not by nature.”
Archelaus on Mind
-
Attributed to Archelaus:
“Mind orders the world but is itself part of nature.”
Archelaus on Nature
-
Attributed to Archelaus:
“Living things first arose from a warm earth nourished by rain.”
-
Attributed to Archelaus:
“All things are mixtures, and the qualities of each are the proportions of the mixture.”
-
Attributed to Archelaus:
“Cold and heat are the formative powers of the cosmos.”