38
Greek Philosophy 69 was for many years the most influential text on Presocratic philosophy in the English language . In this highly respected work , Burnet explained that the term ‘ god ’ was used by the Presocratics in a way which modern individuals would not immediately recognise . Instead of a literal use , they are employed as representational personifications of abstract concepts and of natural phenomena .
Pherecydes clearly impressed those who were contemporaneous with him 70 . Many stories of remarkable exploits are attributed to him , such as predicting the sinking of a ship despite calm weather , and the prediction of an earthquake three days before its occurrence 71 .
Aristotle made the statement that ‘ Pherecydes does not say everything in myths ’, and Jaeger concurs with Burnet in his assertion that deities in Pherecydes ’ work ‘ are merely a transparent archaistic veil which by no means obscures their purely speculative character .’ 72
As well as being the first to write in prose and the first to write philosophically , Pherecydes was also the first to find a solution to the cosmological problem of creation ex nihilo . i . e . creation out of nothing . In his major treatise , Heptamychia , he proposed three fundamental principles of the cosmos which have existed for all eternity 73 .
Pherecydes was also the first to suggest the immortality of the soul , and the concept that souls can migrate from individual to individual , a process known as metempsychosis . 74
Helena Blavatsky , the originator of the modern form of theosophy , made an important point concerning the misrepresentation of Pherecydes . She stated that ‘ Modern encyclopaedists have considered Pherecydes to be other than a philosopher on the spurious grounds that he lived at a time at which men [ … ] had hardly begun the study of philosophy .’ 75
This statement supports both Pherecydes as being a philosopher and his position in history being a very early one .
Vlastos explained that ‘ To set the contribution of Presocratic philosophy to the concept of the soul in its just historical context , we must see how here , as in its concept of god , it is its peculiar genius to transpose a religious idea into the medium of natural inquiry , transforming , but not destroying , its associated religious values .’ Vlastos also clearly distinguishes between
69
Burnet 1920
70
Kirk and Raven , p . 48-72
71
Ibid p . 48-72
72
Aristotle and Jaeger quoted in Vlastos 1952 , p . 105-107
73
Vlastos 1947 , p . 109
74
Enfield 1792 , p . 386
75
Blavatsky 1920 , p . 283-285