View source for Anaxagoras

{{Short description|5th-century BC Greek philosopher}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region           = [[Western philosophy]]
| era              = [[Ancient philosophy]]
| image            = Anaxagoras Lebiedzki Rahl.jpg
| caption          = Anaxagoras; part of a fresco in the portico of the [[National and Kapodistrian University of Athens|National University of Athens]].
| name             = Anaxagoras
| birth_date       = {{circa|500 BC}}
| birth_place      = [[Clazomenae]], [[Ionia (satrapy)|Ionia]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]]
| death_date       = {{circa}}&nbsp;428 BC
| death_place      = [[Lampsacus]]
| school_tradition = [[Ionian_School_(philosophy)|Ionian school]]
| main_interests   = [[Natural philosophy]]
| notable_ideas    = ''[[Nous]]'', or Mind ordering all things
}}
'''Anaxagoras''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|æ|n|æ|k|ˈ|s|æ|g|ə|r|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀναξαγόρας}}, ''Anaxagóras'', 'lord of the assembly'; {{circa|500 BC|428 BC}}) was a [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|Pre-Socratic]] [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosopher]]. Born in [[Clazomenae]] at a time when [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]] was under the control of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]], Anaxagoras came to [[Athens]]. In later life he was charged with [[impiety]] and went into exile in [[Lampsacus]].

Responding to the claims of [[Parmenides]] on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras introduced the concept of ''[[Nous]]'' ([[Cosmos|Cosmic]] Mind) as an ordering force. He also gave several novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including the notion of [[Panspermia#History|panspermia]], that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He deduced a correct explanation for [[eclipse]]s and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the [[Peloponnese]], and also attempted to explain [[rainbows]] and [[meteors]]. He also speculated that the sun might be just another star.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://solar-center.stanford.edu/FAQ/Qsunasstar.html | title=Ask a Solar Physicist }}</ref>

{{toclimit|3}}

==Biography==
Anaxagoras was born in the town of [[Clazomenae]] in the early 5th century BC,{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} where he may have been born into an aristocratic family.{{sfn|DK 59A1}}{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} He arrived at Athens, either shortly after the Persian war (in which he may have fought on the Persian side),{{sfn|Copleston|2003|page=66}} or at some point when he was a bit older, around 456 BC.{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} While at Athens, he became close with the Athenian statesman [[Pericles]].{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} According to [[Diogenes Laërtius]] and [[Plutarch]], in later life he was charged with [[impiety]] and went into exile in [[Lampsacus]]; the charges may have been political, owing to his association with [[Pericles]], if they were not fabricated by later ancient biographers.{{sfn|Filonik|2013|pages=26–33}} According to Laërtius, Pericles spoke in defense of Anaxagoras at his trial{{efn|Laertius 2.15}}, {{circa|450|lk=no}}. Even so, Anaxagoras was forced to retire from Athens to [[Lampsacus]] in [[Troad]] ({{circa|434}}{{snd}}433). He died of [[starvation]] there around the year 428. Citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his memory and observed the anniversary of his death for many years. They placed over his grave the following inscription:<blockquote>'' Here Anaxagoras, who in his quest of truth scaled heaven itself, is laid to rest.{{efn|{{langx|grc|ἐνθάδε, πλεῖστον ἀληθείας ἐπὶ τέρμα περήσας οὐρανίου κόσμου, κεῖται Ἀναξαγόρας.}}}}{{efn|Laertius 2.15}}''</blockquote>
Additionally, in his honor, the annual celebration known as the [[Anaxagoreia]] was established.{{efn|Laertius 2.3}}

==Philosophy==
Responding to the claims of [[Parmenides]] on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation was never caused by an absolute presence of a particular ingredient, but rather by its relative preponderance over the other ingredients; in his words, "each one is... most manifestly those things of which there are the most in it".{{sfn|Curd|2011|loc=B12}} He introduced the concept of ''[[nous]]'' ([[Cosmos|cosmic]] mind) as an ordering force, which moved and separated the original mixture, which was [[homogeneous]] or nearly so.

Anaxagoras brought philosophy and the spirit of scientific inquiry from [[Ionia]] to Athens. According to Anaxagoras, all things have existed in some way from the beginning, but originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined throughout the universe. All things existed in this mass but in a confused and indistinguishable form.{{sfn|Wallace|Mitchell|1911|p=943}} There was an infinite number of homogeneous parts ({{lang|el|ὁμοιομερῆ}}) as well as heterogeneous ones.{{sfn|Wallace|Mitchell|1911|p=943}}{{sfn|Schmitz|1870}}

The work of arrangement, the segregation of like from unlike, and the summation of the whole into totals of the same name, was the work of [[Nous|Mind or Reason]] ({{lang|el|νοῦς}}). Mind is no less unlimited than the chaotic mass, but it stood pure and independent, a thing of finer texture, alike in all its manifestations and everywhere the same. This subtle agent, possessed of all knowledge and power, is especially seen ruling all life forms.{{efn|B12}} Its first appearance, and the only manifestation of it which Anaxagoras describes, is Motion. It gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts.{{sfn|Wallace|Mitchell|1911|p=943}}

Decrease and growth represent a new aggregation ({{lang|el|σὐγκρισις}}) and disruption ({{lang|el|διάκρισις}}). However, the original intermixture of things is never wholly overcome.{{sfn|Wallace|Mitchell|1911|p=943}} Each thing contains parts of other things or heterogeneous elements, and is what it is only on account of the preponderance of certain homogeneous parts which constitute its character.{{sfn|Smith|1952}} Out of this process arise the things we see in this world.{{sfn|Smith|1952}}

=== Astronomy ===
Plutarch{{efn|Life of Lysander 12.1}} says "Anaxagoras is said to have predicted that if the heavenly bodies should be loosened by some slip or shake, one of them might be torn away, and might plunge and fall to earth." 

His observations of the celestial bodies and the fall of [[meteorite]]s led him to form new theories of the universal order, and to the prediction of the impact of meteorites. According to Pliny{{efn|Natural History 2.149}}, he was credited with predicting the fall of the [[Aegospotami|meteorite in 467]].{{sfn|Couprie|2004}} He was the first to give a correct explanation of eclipses, and was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including the claims that the Sun is a mass of red-hot metal, that the Moon is earthy, and that the stars are fiery stones.{{efn|Curd|2007}} He thought that the Earth was flat and floated supported by 'strong' air under it, and that disturbances in this air sometimes caused earthquakes.{{efn|Burnet|1892}} He introduced the notion of [[Panspermia#History|panspermia]], that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere.{{sfn|Hollinger|2016}}{{sfn|Kolb|Clark|2020|p=47}}

He attempted to give a scientific account of [[eclipse]]s, [[meteor]]s, [[rainbow]]s, and the [[Sun]], which he described as a mass of blazing metal, larger than the [[Peloponnese]]; he also said that the Moon had mountains, and he believed that it was inhabited. The heavenly bodies, he asserted, were masses of stone torn from the Earth and ignited by rapid rotation.{{sfn|Wallace|Mitchell|1911|p=943}} His theories about eclipses, the Sun, and Moon may well have been based on observations of the eclipse of 463 BC,{{efn|{{Cite web | url=https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=-04620430 | title=NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of -462 April 30 | access-date=2019-12-03 | archive-date=2010-07-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704081055/https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=-04620430 | url-status=dead }}}} which was visible in Greece.

Anaxagoras was one of the first to assert that the Moon reflected [[sunlight]] and did not produce light by itself; a statement translated as “the sun induces the moon with brightness” was found in his writings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgess |first=Mark Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUF_6_BYYuUC&pg=PP1 |title=Transcendent Apriorism: Pure Reason's Quest for the Noumenal |year=2011 |pages=90 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=9781599423814 |language=en}}</ref>

===Mathematics===
According to [[Plutarch]] in his work ''On exile'', Anaxagoras is the first Greek to attempt the problem of [[squaring the circle]], a problem he worked on while in prison.{{efn|Plutarch, On exile}}

==Legacy==
[[File:Jose de Ribera - Anaxagoras.jpg|thumb|''Anaxagoras'' (1636) by [[Jusepe de Ribera]]]]
Anaxagoras wrote a book of philosophy, but only fragments of the first part of this have survived, through preservation in the work of [[Simplicius of Cilicia]] in the 6th century AD.{{efn|Simplicius}}

Anaxagoras's book was reportedly available for a drachma in the [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Athenian]] [[agora|marketplace]].{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} It was certainly known to [[Sophocles]], [[Euripides]], and [[Aristophanes]], based on the contents of their surviving plays,{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} and possibly to [[Aeschylus]] as well, based on the testimony of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]].{{sfn|Curd|2019|loc=1}} However, although Anaxagoras almost certainly lived in Athens during the lifetime of Socrates (born 470 BC), there is no evidence that they ever met. In the ''[[Phaedo]]'', Plato portrays Socrates saying of Anaxagoras as a young man: 'I eagerly acquired his books and read them as quickly as I could'. However, Socrates goes on to describe his later disillusionment with his philosophy.{{efn|Plato, ''Phaedo'', 85b}} Anaxagoras is also mentioned by [[Socrates]] during his trial in [[Plato]]'s ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]''.

He is also mentioned in Seneca's Natural Questions (Book 4B, originally Book 3: On Clouds, Hail, Snow). It reads: "Why should I too allow myself the same liberty as Anaxagoras allowed himself?"

The Roman author [[Valerius Maximus]] preserves a different tradition; Anaxagoras, coming home from a long voyage, found his property in ruin, and said: "If this had not perished, I would have"—a sentence described by Valerius as being "possessed of sought-after wisdom".{{sfn|Curd|2007}}{{efn|Val. Max., VIII, 7, ext., 5: ''Qui, cum e diutina peregrinatione patriam repetisset possessionesque desertas vidisset, "non essem – inquit "ego salvus, nisi istae perissent." Vocem petitae sapientiae compotem!''}}

[[Dante Alighieri]] places Anaxagoras in the First Circle of Hell (Limbo) in his ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' (''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', Canto IV, line 137).

Chapter 5 in Book II of [[De Docta Ignorantia]] (1440) by [[Nicholas of Cusa]] is dedicated to the truth of the sentence "Each thing is in each thing" which he attributes to Anaxagoras.

Anaxagoras appears as a character in the second Act of ''[[Faust, Part Two|Faust, Part II]]'' by [[Goethe|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].

[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] also frequently mentions Anaxagoras in the later chapters of his book entitled [[Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks]]. He speaks fondly of Anaxagoras's [[nous]], and defends the idea by claiming philosophers had "failed to recognize the meaning of Anaxagoras's [nous]&nbsp;..." and believed that it was "perfectly sufficient for his insight to have found a motion which is capable of
creating visible order in a thoroughly mixed chaos, by means of a simple continuous action."<ref>{{cite book |last=Nietzsche |title=Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks |pages=115–116 |year=1873}}</ref> Nietzsche believes it is essential to understand Anaxagoras's nous as a sort of act of free will, not determined by any previous action before.

==See also==
* [[Anaxagoras (crater)]] on the Moon

==Notes==
===Footnotes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

==References==
===Ancient testimony===
{{Wikisourcelang|el|Αναξαγόρας|Ἀναξαγόρας}}
{{Wikisource|Fragments of Anaxagoras}}
{{refbegin}}
In the [[Diels-Kranz numbering]] for testimony and fragments of [[Pre-Socratic philosophy]], Anaxagoras is catalogued as number 59.

The most recent edition of this catalogue is {{cite book |last1=Diels |first1=Hermann |last2=Kranz |first2=Walther |editor-last1=Plamböck |editor-first1=Gert |title=Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker |date=1957 |publisher=Rowohlt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEYWQwAACAAJ |access-date=11 April 2022 |isbn=5-87560-741-6 |language= grc,de}}
{{refend}}
====Biography====
*'''A1. '''{{cite LotEP | chapter=Anaxagoras|ref={{sfnref|DK 59A1}}}}
*'''A3. '''{{cite encyclopedia | title=Heraclitus|encyclopedia=[[Suda]]|ref={{sfnref|DK 59A3}}}}
*'''A5. '''{{cite LotEP | chapter=Democritus|§=41|ref={{sfnref|DK 59A5}}}}
*'''A12. '''{{cite book | author=[[Plutarch]] | title=Life of [[Lysander]] | at = [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lysander*.html#ref25 §12] | ref={{sfnref|DK 59A12}}}}
*'''A13.'''{{cite book | author=[[Plutarch]] | title=Life of [[Pericles]] | at = [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pericles*.html#ref:inventory_management §16] |ref={{sfnref|DK 59A13}}}}
*'''A15. '''{{cite book | author=[[Plato]] | title=[[Phaedrus (Plato)|Phaedrus]] | at= [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0174%3Atext%3DPhaedrus%3Asection%3D270a 270a]  | ref={{sfnref|DK 59A15}}}}
*'''A16. '''{{cite book | author=[[Plutarch]] | title=Life of [[Pericles]] | at = [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pericles*.html#ref10 §6] | ref={{sfnref|DK 59A16}}}}
*'''A17. '''{{cite book | author=[[Plutarch]] | title=Life of [[Pericles]] | at = [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pericles*.html#ref57 §32] |ref={{sfnref|DK 59A17}}}}
*'''A18. '''{{cite book | author=[[Plutarch]] | title=Life of [[Nicias]] | at= [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Nicias*.html#ref:eclipse_dates_the_siege_of_Syracuse §23]| ref={{sfnref|DK 59A18}}}}

====Writings====
====Doctrines====
====Fragments====
{{refbegin|30em}}
*'''B1.''' {{cite book |author = [[Simplicius of Cilicia]] | title = Commentary on [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotle's Physics]] |at=155.23 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B1}}}}
*'''B2.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=155.30 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B2}}}}
*'''B3.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=164.16 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B3}}}}
*'''B4.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=34.28 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B4}}}}
*'''B5.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=156.9 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B5}}}}
*'''B6.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=164.25 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B6}}}}
*'''B7.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's [[On the Heavens]] |at=155.23 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B7}}}}
*'''B8.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=175.11 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B8}}}}
*'''B9.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=35.13 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B9}}}}
*'''B10.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=460.16 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B10}}}}
*'''B11.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=164.22 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B11}}}}
*'''B12.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=164.24 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B12}}}}
*'''B13.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=300.27 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B13}}}}
*'''B14.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=157.5 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B14}}}}
*'''B15.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=179.3 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B15}}}}
*'''B16.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=179.6 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B16}}}}
*'''B17.''' {{cite book |author = Simplicius of Cilicia | title = Commentary on Aristotle's Physics |at=163.18 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B17}}}}
*'''B18.''' {{cite book |author = [[Plutarch]] | title = [[Moralia|On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon]] |at= [[Stephanus pagination|Stephanus]] p.[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/The_Face_in_the_Moon*/C.html#ref125 929b] | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B17}}}}
*'''B21.''' {{cite book |author = [[Sextus Empiricus]] | title = [[Against the Mathematicians|Against the Logicians]] | at=Book I.90 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 21B21}}}}
*'''B21a.''' {{cite book |author = [[Sextus Empiricus]] | title = [[Against the Mathematicians|Against the Logicians]] | at=Book I.140 | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 21B21a}}}}
*'''B21b.''' {{cite book |author = [[Plutarch]] | title = [[Moralia|On Fortune]] |at= [[Stephanus pagination|Stephanus]] p.[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_fortuna*.html#ref22 98f] | language=en |ref={{sfnref|DK 59B21b}}}}
{{refend}}

===Translations of the fragments===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Curd |editor1-first=Patricia |title=A Presocratics reader: selected fragments and testimonia |date=2011 |location=Indianapolis |publisher=Hackett Publishing |isbn=978-1-60384-305-8 |edition=Second}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Curd |editor-first=Patricia  |title=Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. Fragments and Testimonia: A Text and Translation with Notes and Essays |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2007}}
* {{cite book |last1=Graham |first1=Daniel W. |title=The Texts of Early Greek Philosophy: The Complete Fragments and Selected Testimonies of the Major Presocratics, Part 1 |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-521-73763-0}}
* {{cite book |title=Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 1.1–2 |date=7 April 2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-28570-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTJeEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |title=Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 1.3-4 |date=22 April 2014 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4725-1531-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAgsAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |title=Simplicius: On Aristotle On the Heavens 1.3-4 |date=22 April 2014 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4725-0170-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wUsAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* Sider, David (ed.), ''The Fragments of Anaxagoras'', with introduction, text, and commentary, Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag, 2005.
* [[Geoffrey Kirk|Kirk G. S.]]; [[John Raven|Raven, J. E.]] and Schofield, M. (1983) ''The Presocratic Philosophers: a critical history with a selection of texts'' (2nd ed.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, {{ISBN|0-521-25444-2}}; originally authored by Kirk and Raven and published in 1957 {{OCLC|870519}}
{{refend}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* [[John Burnet (classicist)|Burnet J.]] (1892). ''Early Greek Philosophy'' A. & C. Black, London, {{OCLC|4365382}}, and subsequent editions, 2003 edition published by Kessinger, Whitefish, Montana, {{ISBN|0-7661-2826-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Copleston |first1=Frederick Charles |author-link1=Frederick Copleston |title=A History of Philosophy: Volume 1 Greece and Rome (reprint) |chapter=IX: The Advance of Anaxagoras |date=2003 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-6895-6}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Couprie |first1=Dirk |title=How Thales Was Able to "Predict" a Solar Eclipse Without the Help of Alleged Mesopotamian Wisdom|journal=Early Science and Medicine|volume=9|issue=4|year=2004|pages=321–337 |issn=1383-7427|doi=10.1163/1573382043004631}}
* {{cite SEP |url-id=anaxagoras |title=Anaxagoras |last=Curd |first=Patricia | date=2019}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Filonik |first=Jakub |date=2013 |title=Athenian impiety trials: a reappraisal |journal=Dike |volume=16 |issue=16 |doi=10.13130/1128-8221/4290}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hollinger |first=Maik |title=Life from Elsewhere – Early History of the Maverick Theory of Panspermia |journal=Sudhoffs Archiv |volume=100 |issue=2 |year=2016 |pages=188–205 |doi=10.25162/sudhoff-2016-0009 |jstor=24913787 |pmid=29668166 |s2cid=4942706 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Kolb |first1=Vera M. |last2=Clark |first2=Benton C. III |title=Astrobiology for a General Reader: A Question and Answers - Panspermia hypothesis |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFLwDwAAQBAJ&dq=Anaxagoras+Panspermia&pg=PA49 |date=13 July 2020 |chapter=10 |page=47 |publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-5275-5502-0 }}
* {{Cite DGRBM|last=Schmitz|first=Leonhard|title=Anaxagoras|volume=1|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D21%3Aentry%3Danaxagoras-bio-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Homer W. |author-link=Homer W. Smith |title=Man and His Gods |date=1952 |publisher=[[Grosset & Dunlap]] |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit/page/145 145] |url=https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Anaxagoras|volume=1|page=943|first=William|last=Wallace|author-link=William Wallace (philosopher)|first2=John Malcolm|last2=Mitchell}}
{{refend}}

===Further reading===
{{refbegin|2}}
* Bakalis Nikolaos (2005). ''Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments'', Trafford Publishing, Victoria, BC., {{ISBN|1-4120-4843-5}}
* Barnes J. (1979). ''The Presocratic Philosophers'', Routledge, London, {{ISBN|0-7100-8860-4}}, and editions of 1982, 1996 and 2006
* {{cite journal |last=Davison |first=J. A. |title=Protagoras, Democritus, and Anaxagoras |journal=Classical Quarterly |volume=3 (n.s) |issue=1–2 |year=1953 |pages=33–45 |doi=10.1017/s0009838800002585 |s2cid=170730707}}
* Gershenson, Daniel E. and [[Daniel Greenberg (educator)|Greenberg, Daniel A.]] (1964) ''Anaxagoras and the birth of physics'', Blaisdell Publishing Co., New York, {{OCLC|899834}}
* Graham, Daniel W. (1999). "Empedocles and Anaxagoras: Responses to Parmenides" Chapter 8 of Long, A. A. (1999) ''The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp.&nbsp;159–180, {{ISBN|0-521-44667-8}}
* {{cite book |author-link=W. K. C. Guthrie |last=Guthrie |first=W. K. C. |title=A History of Greek Philosophy |volume=2 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1962}}
* {{cite book |last=Luchte |first=James |title=Early Greek Thought: Before the Dawn |year=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-0-567-35331-3}} 
* {{cite journal |author1-link=Jaap Mansfeld |last1=Mansfeld |first1=J. |title=The Chronology of Anaxagoras' Athenian Period and the Date of His Trial |journal=Mnemosyne |date=1979 |volume=32 |issue=1/2 |pages=39–69 |doi=10.1163/156852579X00219 |jstor=4430850 |issn=0026-7074}}
* {{cite journal |last=Mansfield |first=J. |title=The Chronology of Anaxagoras' Athenian Period and the Date of His Trial |journal=[[Mnemosyne (journal) |Mnemosyne]] |volume=33 |issue=1–2 |year=1980 |pages=17–95 |doi=10.1163/156852580X00271}}
* {{cite book |last=Sandywell |first=Barry |title=Presocratic Reflexivity: The Construction of Philosophical Discourse, c. 600–450 BC |volume=3 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=1996}}
* {{cite book |last=Schofield |first=Malcolm |title=An Essay on Anaxagoras |url=https://archive.org/details/essayonanaxagora0000scho |url-access=registration |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-521-22722-3 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Taylor |first=A.E. |title=On the Date of the Trial of Anaxagoras |journal=Classical Quarterly |volume=11 |year=1917 |pages=81–87 |doi=10.1017/S0009838800013094 |issue=2 |s2cid=170595550 |id={{zenodo|1428584}} |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1428584 }}
* Taylor, C. C. W. (ed.) (1997). ''Routledge History of Philosophy: From the Beginning to Plato'', Vol. I, pp.&nbsp;192–225, {{ISBN|0-415-06272-1}}
* Teodorsson, Sven-Tage (1982). ''Anaxagoras' Theory of Matter''. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Göteborg, Sweden, {{ISBN|91-7346-111-3}}
* Torrijos-Castrillejo, David (2014) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=w37CAwAAQBAJ Anaxágoras y su recepción en Aristóteles]{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''. Romae: EDUSC, {{ISBN|978-88-8333-325-5}} {{in lang|es}}
* {{cite book |last1=Warren |first1=James |title=Presocratics |chapter=Anaxagoras |date=2007 |publisher=Acumen |location=Stocksfield |isbn=978-1-84465-391-1 |pages=119–134}}
* {{cite book |last=Wright |first=M.R. |title=Cosmology in Antiquity |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=1995}}
* Zeller, A. (1881). ''A History of Greek Philosophy: From the Earliest Period to the Time of Socrates'', Vol. II, translated by S. F. Alleyne, pp.&nbsp;321–394
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Anaxagoras}}
{{Wikiquote|Anaxagoras}}
* {{wikisource author-inline|Anaxagoras}}
* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/anaxagor Anaxagoras] entry by Michael Patzia in the [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]
* {{MacTutor Biography | id=Anaxagoras}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101212042713/http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/burnet/egp.htm?chapter=6#124 Translation and Commentary] from [[John Burnet (classicist)|John Burnet]]'s ''Early Greek Philosophy''.
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Anaxagoras}}
* {{Librivox author |id=8590}}

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