CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-sticky-header-enabled vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Apeiron - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-sticky-header-enabled vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"a77bd0e3-f1ed-4fa6-8e35-cfff48d74b9f","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Apeiron","wgTitle":"Apeiron","wgCurRevisionId":1273197499,"wgRevisionId":1273197499,"wgArticleId":27954947,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text","All articles with dead external links","Articles with dead external links from October 2016","Articles with permanently dead external links","CS1 errors: periodical ignored","Articles with short description","Short description is different from Wikidata","Articles containing Latin-language text","Concepts in ancient Greek metaphysics","Cosmogony","Presocratic philosophy"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Apeiron","wgRelevantArticleId":27954947,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":20000,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q194245","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false}; RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","jquery.makeCollapsible.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.ready","jquery.makeCollapsible","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.uls.quick.actions","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.quicksurveys.init","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.22"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Apeiron - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="auth.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Apeiron rootpage-Apeiron skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" title="Main menu" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="n-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages"><span>Special pages</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Apeiron" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Apeiron" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/?wmf_source=donate&wmf_medium=sidebar&wmf_campaign=en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Apeiron" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Apeiron" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Origin_of_everything" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Origin_of_everything"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Origin of everything</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Origin_of_everything-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Roots" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Roots"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Roots</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Roots-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Creation_of_the_world" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Creation_of_the_world"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Creation of the world</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Creation_of_the_world-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Interpretations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Interpretations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Interpretations</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Interpretations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Influence_on_Greek_and_Western_thought" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Influence_on_Greek_and_Western_thought"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Influence on Greek and Western thought</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Influence_on_Greek_and_Western_thought-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_pre-Socratic_philosophies" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_pre-Socratic_philosophies"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Other pre-Socratic philosophies</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_pre-Socratic_philosophies-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><i>Apeiron</i></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 43 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-43" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">43 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-als mw-list-item"><a href="https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Alemannic" lang="gsw" hreflang="gsw" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Alemannisch" data-language-local-name="Alemannic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Alemannisch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86" title="أبيرون – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="أبيرون" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeyron" title="Apeyron – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Apeyron" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Azərbaycanca</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC" title="অসীমতত্ত্ব – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="অসীমতত্ত্ব" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD" title="Апейрон – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Апейрон" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bar mw-list-item"><a href="https://bar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Bavarian" lang="bar" hreflang="bar" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Boarisch" data-language-local-name="Bavarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Boarisch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bs mw-list-item"><a href="https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Bosnian" lang="bs" hreflang="bs" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Bosanski" data-language-local-name="Bosnian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bosanski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ap%C3%ADron" title="Apíron – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Apíron" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Dansk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81peiron" title="Ápeiron – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Ápeiron" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A2%D9%BE%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86" title="آپایرون – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="آپایرون" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%95%84%ED%8E%98%EC%9D%B4%EB%A1%A0" title="아페이론 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="아페이론" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hy mw-list-item"><a href="https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B1%D5%BA%D5%A5%D5%B5%D6%80%D5%B8%D5%B6" title="Ապեյրոն – Armenian" lang="hy" hreflang="hy" data-title="Ապեյրոն" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Հայերեն</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Hrvatski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81peiron" title="Ápeiron – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Ápeiron" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F" title="אפיירון – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="אפיירון" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD" title="Апейрон – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Апейрон" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ky mw-list-item"><a href="https://ky.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD" title="Апейрон – Kyrgyz" lang="ky" hreflang="ky" data-title="Апейрон" data-language-autonym="Кыргызча" data-language-local-name="Kyrgyz" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Кыргызча</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apiron" title="Apiron – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Apiron" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lt mw-list-item"><a href="https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeironas" title="Apeironas – Lithuanian" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" data-title="Apeironas" data-language-autonym="Lietuvių" data-language-local-name="Lithuanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lietuvių</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%9A%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3" title="アペイロン – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="アペイロン" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uz mw-list-item"><a href="https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeyron" title="Apeyron – Uzbek" lang="uz" hreflang="uz" data-title="Apeyron" data-language-autonym="Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча" data-language-local-name="Uzbek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron_(filozofia)" title="Apeiron (filozofia) – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Apeiron (filozofia)" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81peiron" title="Ápeiron – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Ápeiron" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD" title="Апейрон – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Апейрон" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk mw-list-item"><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeir%C3%B3n" title="Apeirón – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Apeirón" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A6%D8%A7%D9%BE%DB%95%DB%8C%D8%B1%DB%86%D9%86" title="ئاپەیرۆن – Central Kurdish" lang="ckb" hreflang="ckb" data-title="ئاپەیرۆن" data-language-autonym="کوردی" data-language-local-name="Central Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>کوردی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apejron" title="Apejron – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Apejron" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sh mw-list-item"><a href="https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apejron" title="Apejron – Serbo-Croatian" lang="sh" hreflang="sh" data-title="Apejron" data-language-autonym="Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски" data-language-local-name="Serbo-Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron" title="Apeiron – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Apeiron" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD" title="Апейрон – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Апейрон" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron_(v%C5%A9_tr%E1%BB%A5_h%E1%BB%8Dc)" title="Apeiron (vũ trụ học) – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Apeiron (vũ trụ học)" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%BF%E6%B4%BE%E6%9C%97" title="阿派朗 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="阿派朗" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q194245#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Apeiron" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Article</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Apeiron" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Apeiron"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Apeiron"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Apeiron" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Apeiron" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&oldid=1273197499" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Apeiron&id=1273197499&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FApeiron"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FApeiron"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Apeiron&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q194245" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Greek word meaning 'something infinite'</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about ancient cosmology. For other uses, see <a href="/wiki/Apeiron_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Apeiron (disambiguation)">Apeiron (disambiguation)</a>.</div> <p><i><b>Apeiron</b></i> (<span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'p' in 'pie'">p</span><span title="/aɪ/: 'i' in 'tide'">aɪ</span><span title="/ˌ/: secondary stress follows">ˌ</span><span title="'r' in 'rye'">r</span><span title="/ɒ/: 'o' in 'body'">ɒ</span><span title="'n' in 'nigh'">n</span></span>/</a></span></span>;<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">ἄπειρον</span></span>) is a <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Greek</a> word meaning '(that which is) unlimited; boundless; infinite; indefinite'<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> from <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">ἀ-</span></span> <i>a-</i> 'without' and <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">πεῖραρ</span></span> <i>peirar</i> 'end, limit; boundary',<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> the <a href="/wiki/Ionic_Greek" title="Ionic Greek">Ionic Greek</a> form of <span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">πέρας</span></span> <i>peras</i> 'end, limit, boundary'.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Origin_of_everything">Origin of everything</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Origin of everything"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <i>apeiron</i> is central to the <a href="/wiki/Cosmology" title="Cosmology">cosmological</a> theory created by <a href="/wiki/Anaximander" title="Anaximander">Anaximander</a>, a 6th-century BC <a href="/wiki/Pre-Socratic_philosophy" title="Pre-Socratic philosophy">pre-Socratic</a> <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_philosophy" title="Ancient Greek philosophy">Greek philosopher</a> whose work is mostly lost. From the few existing fragments, we learn that he believed the beginning or ultimate reality (<i><a href="/wiki/Arche" class="mw-redirect" title="Arche">arche</a></i>) is eternal and infinite, or boundless (<i>apeiron</i>), subject to neither old age nor decay, which perpetually yields fresh materials from which everything we can perceive is derived.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <i>Apeiron</i> generated the <a href="/wiki/Opposite_(semantics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Opposite (semantics)">opposites</a> (hot–cold, wet–dry, etc.) which acted on the creation of the world (<a href="/wiki/Cf." title="Cf.">cf.</a> <a href="/wiki/Heraclitus" title="Heraclitus">Heraclitus</a>). Everything is generated from <i>apeiron</i> and then it is destroyed by going back to <i>apeiron</i>, according to necessity.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He believed that infinite worlds are generated from <i>apeiron</i> and then they are destroyed there again.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>His ideas were influenced by the <a href="/wiki/Greek_mythology" title="Greek mythology">Greek mythical</a> tradition and by his teacher <a href="/wiki/Thales" class="mw-redirect" title="Thales">Thales</a> (7th to 6th century BC). Searching for some universal principle, Anaximander retained the traditional religious assumption that there was a cosmic order and tried to explain it rationally, using the old mythical language which ascribed divine control on various spheres of reality. This language was more suitable for a society which could see gods everywhere; therefore the first glimmerings of laws of nature were themselves derived from divine laws.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Greeks believed that the universal principles could also be applied to human societies. The word <i>nomos</i> (law) may originally have meant <i>natural law</i> and used later to mean man-made law.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Greek philosophy entered a high level of abstraction. It adopted <i>apeiron</i> as the origin of all things, because it is completely indefinite. This is a further transition from the previous existing <a href="/wiki/Mythical" class="mw-redirect" title="Mythical">mythical</a> way of thought to the newer <a href="/wiki/Rationalism" title="Rationalism">rational</a> way of thought which is the main characteristic of the <a href="/wiki/Archaic_period_in_Greece" class="mw-redirect" title="Archaic period in Greece">archaic period</a> (8th to 6th century BC). This shift in thought is correlated with the new political conditions in the Greek <a href="/wiki/City_states" class="mw-redirect" title="City states">city states</a> during the 6th century BC.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Roots">Roots</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Roots"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the mythical <a href="/wiki/Greece" title="Greece">Greek</a> <a href="/wiki/Cosmogony" title="Cosmogony">cosmogony</a> of <a href="/wiki/Hesiod" title="Hesiod">Hesiod</a> (8th to 7th century BC) the first <a href="/wiki/Greek_primordial_deities" title="Greek primordial deities">primordial god</a> is <a href="/wiki/Chaos_(mythology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Chaos (mythology)">Chaos</a>, which is a void or gap. Chaos is described as a gap either between <a href="/wiki/Tartarus" title="Tartarus">Tartarus</a> and the Earth's surface (Miller's interpretation) or between earth's surface and the sky (Cornford's interpretation).<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> One can name it also <a href="/wiki/Abyss_(religion)" title="Abyss (religion)">abyss</a> (having no bottom). </p><p>Alternately, Greek <a href="/wiki/Philosopher" class="mw-redirect" title="Philosopher">philosopher</a> <a href="/wiki/Thales" class="mw-redirect" title="Thales">Thales</a> believed that the origin or first principle was water. <a href="/wiki/Pherecydes_of_Syros" title="Pherecydes of Syros">Pherecydes of Syros</a> (6th century BC) probably called the water also <i>Chaos</i> and this is not placed at the very beginning.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In the creation stories of Near East the primordial world is described formless and empty. The only existing thing prior to creation was the water abyss. The Babylonian cosmology <a href="/wiki/Enuma_Elish" class="mw-redirect" title="Enuma Elish">Enuma Elish</a> describes the earliest stage of the universe as one of watery chaos and something similar is described in <a href="/wiki/Book_of_Genesis" title="Book of Genesis">Genesis</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In the <a href="/wiki/Hindu" class="mw-redirect" title="Hindu">Hindu</a> cosmogony which is similar to the <a href="/wiki/Vedic" class="mw-redirect" title="Vedic">Vedic</a> (<a href="/wiki/Hiranyagarbha" title="Hiranyagarbha">Hiranyagarbha</a>) the initial state of the universe was an absolute darkness. </p><p> Hesiod made an abstraction, because his original <i>chaos</i> is a void, something completely indefinite. In his opinion the origin should be indefinite and indeterminate.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The indefiniteness is spatial in early usages as in <a href="/wiki/Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a> (indefinite sea). A fragment from <a href="/wiki/Xenophanes" title="Xenophanes">Xenophanes</a> (6th century BC)<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> shows the transition from <i>chaos</i> to <i>apeiron</i>: "The upper limit of earth borders on air. The lower limit reaches down to the unlimited. (i.e. the Apeiron)".<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Either <i>apeiron</i> meant the "spatial indefinite" and was implied to be indefinite in kind, or Anaximander intended it primarily 'that which is indefinite in kind' but assumed it also to be of unlimited extent and duration.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> His ideas may have been influenced by the <a href="/wiki/Pythagoreans" class="mw-redirect" title="Pythagoreans">Pythagoreans</a>:<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style></p><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>[...] for they [the Pythagoreans] plainly say that when the one had been constructed, whether out of planes or of surface or of seed or of elements which they cannot express, immediately the nearest part of the unlimited began to be drawn in and limited by the limit.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote> <p>Greek philosophy entered a high level of abstraction making <i>apeiron</i> the principle of all things and some scholars saw a gap between the existing <i>mythical</i> and the new <i>rational</i> way of thought (<i>rationalism</i>). But if we follow the course, we will see that there is not such an abrupt break with the previous thought. The basic elements of nature, <a href="/wiki/Water_(classical_element)" title="Water (classical element)">water</a>, <a href="/wiki/Air_(classical_element)" title="Air (classical element)">air</a>, <a href="/wiki/Fire_(classical_element)" title="Fire (classical element)">fire</a>, <a href="/wiki/Earth_(classical_element)" title="Earth (classical element)">earth</a>, which the first Greek philosophers believed composed the world, represent in fact the mythical primordial forces. The collision of these forces produced the cosmic harmony according to the Greek cosmogony (Hesiod).<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Anaximander noticed the mutual changes between these elements, therefore he chose something else (indefinite in kind) which could generate the others without experiencing any decay.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>There is also a fragment attributed to his teacher Thales:<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> "What is divine? What has no origin, nor end." This probably led his student to his final decision for <i>apeiron</i>, because the divinity applied to it implies that it always existed. The notion of the temporal infinity was familiar to the Greek mind from remote antiquity in the religious conception of immortality and Anaximander's description was in terms appropriate to this conception. This <i>arche</i> is called "eternal and ageless" (Hippolitus I,6,I;DK B2).<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Creation_of_the_world">Creation of the world</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Creation of the world"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <i>apeiron</i> has generally been understood as a sort of <a href="/wiki/Substance_theory" title="Substance theory">primal chaos</a>. It acts as the substratum supporting opposites such as hot and cold, wet and dry, and directed the movement of things, by which there grew up all of the host of shapes and differences which are found in the world.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Out of the vague and limitless body there sprang a central mass—Earth—cylindrical in shape. A sphere of fire surrounded the air around the Earth and had originally clung to it like the bark round a tree. When it broke, it created the Sun, the Moon and the stars.<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The first animals were generated in the water.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> When they came to Earth they were transmuted by the effect of sunlight. The human being sprung from some other animal, which originally was similar to a fish.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The blazing orbs, which have drawn off from the cold earth and water, are the temporary gods of the world clustering around the Earth, which to the ancient thinker is the central figure. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Interpretations">Interpretations</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Interpretations"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the commentary of <a href="/wiki/Simplicius_of_Cilicia" title="Simplicius of Cilicia">Simplicius</a> on Aristotle's <i><a href="/wiki/Physics_(Aristotle)" title="Physics (Aristotle)">Physics</a></i> the following fragment is attributed direct to Anaximander: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Whence things have their origin, there their destruction happens as it is ordained [Greek: <i>kata to chreon</i> means 'according to the debt']. For they give <i>justice</i> and <i>compensation</i> to one another for their <i>injustice</i> according to the ordering of time.</p></blockquote> <p>This fragment remains a mystery because it can be translated in different ways. Simplicius comments that Anaximander noticed the mutual changes between the four elements (earth, air, water, fire), therefore he did not choose one of them as an origin, but something else which generates the opposites without experiencing any decay. He mentions also that Anaximander said all these in poetic terms,<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> meaning that he used the old mythical language. The Goddess <i>Justice</i> (<a href="/wiki/Dike_(mythology)" title="Dike (mythology)">Dike</a>), appears to keep the order.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The quotation is close to the original meanings of the relevant Greek words. The word <i>dike</i> (justice) was probably originally derived from the boundaries of a man's land and transmits metaphorically the notion that somebody must remain in his own sphere, respecting the one of his neighbour.<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The word <i><a href="/wiki/Adikia" title="Adikia">adikia</a></i> (injustice) means that someone has operated outside of his own sphere, something that could disturb "law and order" (<i><a href="/wiki/Eunomia_(goddess)" class="mw-redirect" title="Eunomia (goddess)">eunomia</a></i>).<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In Homer's <i><a href="/wiki/Odyssey" title="Odyssey">Odyssey</a></i> <i>eunomia</i> is contrasted with <i><a href="/wiki/Hubris" title="Hubris">hubris</a></i> (arrogance).<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Arrogance was considered very dangerous because it could break the balance and lead to political instability and finally to the destruction of a <i>city-state</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Aetius_(philosopher)" title="Aetius (philosopher)">Aetius</a> (1st century BC) transmits a different quotation: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Everything is generated from <i>apeiron</i> and there its destruction happens. Infinite worlds are generated and they are destructed there again. And he says (Anaximander) why this is <i>apeiron</i>. Because only then genesis and decay will never stop.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Aetius I 3,3<Ps.Plutarch; DK 12 A14.></cite></div></blockquote> <p>Therefore, it seems that Anaximander argued about <i>apeiron</i> and this is also noticed by <a href="/wiki/Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a>: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The belief that there is something <i>apeiron</i> stems from the idea that only then genesis and decay will never stop, when that from which is taken what is generated is <i>apeiron</i>.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Aristotle, <i>Physics</i> 203b 18–20 <DK 12 A 15.></cite></div></blockquote> <p><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Friedrich Nietzsche</a><sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> claimed that Anaximander was a pessimist and that he viewed all coming to be as an illegitimate emancipation from the eternal being, a wrong for which destruction is the only penance. In accordance to this the world of the individual definite objects should perish into the indefinite since anything definite has to eventually return to the indefinite. His ideas had a great influence on many scholars including <a href="/wiki/Martin_Heidegger" title="Martin Heidegger">Martin Heidegger</a>. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg" title="Werner Heisenberg">Werner Heisenberg</a>, noted for his contributions to the foundation of <a href="/wiki/Quantum_mechanics" title="Quantum mechanics">quantum mechanics</a>, arrived at the idea that the elementary particles are to be seen as different manifestations, different quantum states, of one and the same "primordial substance". Because of its similarity to the primordial substance hypothesized by Anaximander, his colleague <a href="/wiki/Max_Born" title="Max Born">Max Born</a> called this substance <i>apeiron</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Scholars in other fields, e.g. <a href="/wiki/Bertrand_Russell" title="Bertrand Russell">Bertrand Russell</a><sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="/wiki/Maurice_Bowra" title="Maurice Bowra">Maurice Bowra</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-39"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>39<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> did not deny that Anaximander was the first who used the term <i>apeiron</i>, but claimed that the mysterious fragment is dealing with the balance of opposite forces as central to reality being closer to the quotation transmitted by Simplicius. </p><p>There are also other interpretations which try to match both the previous aspects. <i>Apeiron</i> is an abstract, void, something that cannot be described according to the Greek pessimistic belief for death. Death indeed meant "nothingless". The dead live like shadows and there is no return to the real world. Everything generated from <i>apeiron</i> must return there according to the principle genesis-decay. There is a polar attraction between the opposites genesis-decay, arrogance-justice. The existence itself carries a guilt.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The idea that the fact of existence by itself carries along an incurable guilt is Greek (<i>Theognis</i> 327) and anybody claims that surpasses it, commits arrogance and therefore he becomes guilty. The first half of the 6th century is a period of great social instability in Miletus, the city state where Anaximander lives. Any attempt of excess leads to exaggerations and each exaggeration must be corrected. All these have to be paid according to the debt. The things give justice to one another with the process of time.</p></blockquote> <p>Justice has to destroy everything which is born. There is no external limit that can restrict the activities of men, except the destruction. Arrogance is an expression of the chaotic element of human existence and in a way a part of the rebounding mechanism of order, because pushing it to exertions causes destruction which is also a reestablishment.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-41"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>41<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Influence_on_Greek_and_Western_thought">Influence on Greek and Western thought</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Influence on Greek and Western thought"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>We may assume that the contradiction in the different interpretations is because Anaximander combined two different ways of thought. The first one dealing with <i>apeiron</i> is metaphysical (and can lead to <a href="/wiki/Monism" title="Monism">monism</a>), while the second one dealing with mutual changes and the balance of the opposites as central to reality is physical.<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-42"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>42<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The same <a href="/wiki/Paradox" title="Paradox">paradox</a> existed in the Greek way of thought. The Greeks believed that each individual had unlimitable potentialities both in brain and in heart, an outlook which called a man to live at the top of his powers. But that there was a limit to his most violent ambitions, that arrogance-injustice (<i>hubris</i> or <i>adikia</i>) could disturb the harmony and balance. In that case justice (<i><a href="/wiki/Dike_(mythology)" title="Dike (mythology)">dike</a></i>) would destroy him to reestablish the order.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> These ideas are obvious in later Greek philosophers.<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-44"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>44<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Philolaus" title="Philolaus">Philolaus</a> (5th century BC) mentions that nature constituted and is organized with the world from unlimitable (<a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Ancient Greek language">Ancient Greek</a>: <span lang="grc">ἄπειρα</span> <i>apeira</i>, plural of <i>apeiron</i>) and limitable. Everything which exists in the world contains the unlimited (<i>apeiron</i>) and the limited.<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-45"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>45<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Something similar is mentioned by <a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a>: Nothing can exist if it does not contain continually and simultaneously the limited and the unlimited, the definite and the indefinite.<sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Some doctrines existing in Western thought still transmit some of the original ideas: "God ordained that all men shall die", "Death is a common debt". The Greek word <i>adikia</i> (injustice) transmits the notion that someone has operated outside of his own sphere, without respecting the one of his neighbour. Therefore, he commits <a href="/wiki/Hubris" title="Hubris">hubris</a>. The relative English word <i>arrogance</i> (claim as one's own without justification; <a href="/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a>: <i lang="la">arrogare</i>), is very close to the original meaning of the aphorism: "Nothing in excess." </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Other_pre-Socratic_philosophies">Other pre-Socratic philosophies</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Other pre-Socratic philosophies"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Other <a href="/wiki/Pre-Socratic" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-Socratic">pre-Socratic</a> philosophers had different theories of the <i>apeiron</i>. For the <a href="/wiki/Pythagoreanism" title="Pythagoreanism">Pythagoreans</a> (in particular, <a href="/wiki/Philolaus" title="Philolaus">Philolaus</a>), the universe had begun as an <i>apeiron</i>, but at some point it inhaled the void from outside, filling the cosmos with vacuous bubbles that split the world into many different parts. For <a href="/wiki/Anaxagoras" title="Anaxagoras">Anaxagoras</a>, the initial <i>apeiron</i> had begun to rotate rapidly under the control of a godlike <i><a href="/wiki/Nous" title="Nous">Nous</a></i> (Mind), and the great speed of the rotation caused the universe to break up into many fragments. Since all individual things had originated from the same <i>apeiron</i>, all things must contain parts of all other things. This explains how one object can be transformed into another, since each thing already contains all other things in germ. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Apeirogon" title="Apeirogon">Apeirogon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arche" class="mw-redirect" title="Arche">Arche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ein_Sof" title="Ein Sof">Ein Sof</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Brahman" title="Brahman">Brahman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God" title="God">God</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Idealism" title="Idealism">Idealism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Infinity" title="Infinity">Infinity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neutral_monism" title="Neutral monism">Neutral monism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Taiji_(philosophy)" title="Taiji (philosophy)">Taiji (philosophy)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theogony" title="Theogony">Theogony</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tzimtzum" title="Tzimtzum">Tzimtzum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wuji_(philosophy)" title="Wuji (philosophy)">Wuji (philosophy)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ayin_and_Yesh" title="Ayin and Yesh">Ayin and Yesh</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width reflist-columns-2"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apeiron">"apeiron"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Merriam-Webster" title="Merriam-Webster">Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary</a></i>. Merriam-Webster.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Merriam-Webster.com+Dictionary&rft.atitle=apeiron&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fdictionary%2Fapeiron&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)/peiros2"><span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">ἄπειρον</span></span></a>. <a href="/wiki/Henry_Liddell" title="Henry Liddell">Liddell, Henry George</a>; <a href="/wiki/Robert_Scott_(philologist)" title="Robert Scott (philologist)">Scott, Robert</a>; <i><a href="/wiki/A_Greek%E2%80%93English_Lexicon" title="A Greek–English Lexicon">A Greek–English Lexicon</a></i> at the <a href="/wiki/Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=pei=rar"><span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">πεῖραρ</span></span></a> in <a href="/wiki/Henry_Liddell" title="Henry Liddell">Liddell</a> and <a href="/wiki/Robert_Scott_(philologist)" title="Robert Scott (philologist)">Scott</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=pe/ras"><span title="Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text"><span lang="grc">πέρας</span></span></a> in <a href="/wiki/Henry_Liddell" title="Henry Liddell">Liddell</a> and <a href="/wiki/Robert_Scott_(philologist)" title="Robert Scott (philologist)">Scott</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Aristotle, <i>Phys.</i> Γ5, 204b, 23sq.<DK12,A16.>, Hippolytus, <i>Haer.</i> I 6, 1 sq. <DK 12 A11, B2.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Simplicius, <i>in Phys.</i>, p. 24, 13sq.<DK 12 A9,B1.>, p. 150, 24sq.<DK 12 A9.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Aetius I 3,3<Pseudo-Plutarch; DK 12 A14.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. M. Bowra (1957) <i>The Greek experience</i>. World Publishing Co. Cleveland and New York. pp. 168–169</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">L. H. Jeferry (1976) <i>The archaic Greece. The Greek city states 700-500 BC</i>. Ernest Benn Ltd. London & Tonbridge p. 42</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">J. P. Vernant (1964) <i>Les origins de la pensee grecque</i>. PUF Paris. p. 128; J. P. Vernant (1982) <i> The origins of Greek thought</i>. Ithaca, Cornell University Press. pp. 118, 128. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8014-9293-9" title="Special:BookSources/0-8014-9293-9">0-8014-9293-9</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>The Theogony of Hesiod</i>. Transl. H. G. Evelyn White (1914): 116, 736-744 <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sacred-tests.com/cla/hesiod/theogony/htm">online</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot" title="Wikipedia:Link rot"><span title=" Dead link tagged October 2016">permanent dead link</span></a></i><span style="visibility:hidden; color:transparent; padding-left:2px">‍</span>]</span></sup></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMiller2001" class="citation journal cs1">Miller, Mitchell (October 2001). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.pdcnet.org//pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase?openform&fp=ancientphil&id=ancientphil_2001_0021_0002_0251_0276&onlyautologin=true">"<span class="cs1-kern-left"></span>'First of all': On the Semantics and Ethics of Hesiod's Cosmogony - Mitchell Miller - Ancient Philosophy (Philosophy Documentation Center)"</a>. <i>Ancient Philosophy</i>. <b>21</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">251–</span>276. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.5840%2Fancientphil200121244">10.5840/ancientphil200121244</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2016-01-21</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Ancient+Philosophy&rft.atitle=%27First+of+all%27%3A+On+the+Semantics+and+Ethics+of+Hesiod%27s+Cosmogony+-+Mitchell+Miller+-+Ancient+Philosophy+%28Philosophy+Documentation+Center%29&rft.volume=21&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E251-%3C%2Fspan%3E276&rft.date=2001-10&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.5840%2Fancientphil200121244&rft.aulast=Miller&rft.aufirst=Mitchell&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pdcnet.org%2F%2Fpdc%2Fbvdb.nsf%2Fpurchase%3Fopenform%26fp%3Dancientphil%26id%3Dancientphil_2001_0021_0002_0251_0276%26onlyautologin%3Dtrue&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFCornford1950" class="citation book cs1">Cornford, Francis (1950). <i>A Ritual Basis for Hesiod's Theogony</i>. pp. <span class="nowrap">95–</span>116.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Ritual+Basis+for+Hesiod%27s+Theogony&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E95-%3C%2Fspan%3E116&rft.date=1950&rft.aulast=Cornford&rft.aufirst=Francis&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span> <span class="cs1-visible-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-visible-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">|work=</code> ignored (<a href="/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#periodical_ignored" title="Help:CS1 errors">help</a>)</span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFG.S._Kirk,_J.E._Raven_and_M._Schofield2003" class="citation book cs1">G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven and M. Schofield (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kFpd86J8PLsC"><i>The Presocratic philosophers</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. p. 57. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-27455-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-27455-5"><bdi>978-0-521-27455-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Presocratic+philosophers&rft.pages=57&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-521-27455-5&rft.au=G.S.+Kirk%2C+J.E.+Raven+and+M.+Schofield&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DkFpd86J8PLsC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFWilliam_Keith_Chambers_Guthrie2000" class="citation book cs1">William Keith Chambers Guthrie (2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ogUR3V9wbbIC"><i>A History of Greek Philosophy</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780521294201" title="Special:BookSources/9780521294201"><bdi>9780521294201</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+History+of+Greek+Philosophy&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2000&rft.isbn=9780521294201&rft.au=William+Keith+Chambers+Guthrie&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DogUR3V9wbbIC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span> p 58,59 <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-29420-7" title="Special:BookSources/0-521-29420-7">0-521-29420-7</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">O. Gigon (1968) <i>Der Umsprung der Griechishe Philosophie. Von Hesiod bis Parmenides</i>. Bale. Stuttgart, Schwabe & Co. p. 29</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><DK 21 B 28></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFKarl.R.Popper1998" class="citation book cs1">Karl.R.Popper (1998). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=V76PlyggwQkC"><i>The world of Parmenides</i></a>. Rootledge.New York. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780415173018" title="Special:BookSources/9780415173018"><bdi>9780415173018</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+world+of+Parmenides&rft.pub=Rootledge.New+York&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=9780415173018&rft.au=Karl.R.Popper&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DV76PlyggwQkC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span> p. 39</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFG.S._Kirk,_J.E._Raven_and_M._Schofield2003" class="citation book cs1">G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven and M. Schofield (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kFpd86J8PLsC"><i>The Presocratic Philosophers</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. pp. 10, 110. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-27455-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-27455-5"><bdi>978-0-521-27455-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Presocratic+Philosophers&rft.pages=10%2C+110&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-521-27455-5&rft.au=G.S.+Kirk%2C+J.E.+Raven+and+M.+Schofield&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DkFpd86J8PLsC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Philolaus" title="Philolaus">Philolaus</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Claude_Moss%C3%A9" title="Claude Mossé">Claude Mossé</a> (1984) <i>La Grece archaique d'Homere a Eschyle.</i> Edition du Seuil. p. 235</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Aristotle, <i>Phys.</i> Γ5, 204b 23sq.<DK 12 A 16.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Diogenes Laertius,<DK 11 A1.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0004.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1">"Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, BOOK I, Chapter 1. THALES (Floruit circa 585 B.C., the date of the eclipse)"</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Diogenes+Laertius%2C+Lives+of+Eminent+Philosophers%2C+BOOK+I%2C+Chapter+1.+THALES+%28Floruit+circa+585+B.C.%2C+the+date+of+the+eclipse%29&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.perseus.tufts.edu%2Fhopper%2Ftext%3Fdoc%3Durn%3Acts%3AgreekLit%3Atlg0004.tlg001.perseus-eng1%3A1.1&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFWilliam_Keith_Chambers_Guthrie2000" class="citation book cs1">William Keith Chambers Guthrie (2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ogUR3V9wbbIC&pg=PA83"><i>A History of Greek Philosophy</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. p. 83. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-29420-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-29420-1"><bdi>978-0-521-29420-1</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+History+of+Greek+Philosophy&rft.pages=83&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2000&rft.isbn=978-0-521-29420-1&rft.au=William+Keith+Chambers+Guthrie&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DogUR3V9wbbIC%26pg%3DPA83&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFPatricia_Curd1998" class="citation book cs1">Patricia Curd (1998). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=x2JX1ulXzogC&pg=PA77"><i>The Legacy of Parmenides: Eleatic Monism and Later Presocratic Thought</i></a>. Princeton University Press. p. 77. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-691-01182-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-691-01182-0"><bdi>978-0-691-01182-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Legacy+of+Parmenides%3A+Eleatic+Monism+and+Later+Presocratic+Thought&rft.pages=77&rft.pub=Princeton+University+Press&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=978-0-691-01182-0&rft.au=Patricia+Curd&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3Dx2JX1ulXzogC%26pg%3DPA77&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Pseudo-Plutarch, <i>Strom.</i> 2, fr.179 Sandbach <DK 12 A 10.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Aetius V 19,4 <DK 12 A 30.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Hippolytus, <i>Haer.</i> I 6,6 <DK 12 A 11.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Simplicius in Phys. p. 24, 13sq.<DK12a9,B1> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712" /><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Anaximander from Miletus, son of Praxiades student and descendant of Thales, said that the origin and the element of things (beings) is apeiron and he is the first who used this name for the origin (arche). He says that the origin is neither water, nor any other of the so-called elements, but something of different nature, unlimited. From it are generated the skies and the worlds which exist between them. Whence things (beings) have their origin, there their destruction happens as it is ordained. For they give justice and compensation to one another for their injustice according to the ordering of time, as he said in poetic terms. Obviously noticing the mutual changes between the four elements, he did not demand to make one of them a subject, but something else except these. He considers that genesis takes place without any decay of this element, but with the generation of the opposites by his own movement.</p></blockquote></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. M. Bowra (1957) <i>The Greek experience</i>. Cleveland and New York. p. 167–168</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. M. Bowra (1957) <i>The Greek experience</i>. World publishing company. Cleveland and New York. p. 87</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">L. H. Jeffery (1976) <i>The archaic Greece. The Greek city states 700–500 BC</i>. Ernest Benn Ltd. London & Tonbridge. p. 42</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Homer: Odyssey.</i> 17.487</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. M. Bowra <i>The Greek experience</i>. World publishing company. Cleveland and New York. p. 90</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">F. Nietzsche (1962) <i>Philosophy in the tragic age of the Greeks.</i>. Washington DC: Regnery, Gateway.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSimonyi2012" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/K%C3%A1roly_Simonyi" title="Károly Simonyi">Simonyi, Károly</a> (April 7, 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Bmcpsgp-Ml4C&pg=PA546"><i>A Cultural History of Physics</i></a>. <a href="/wiki/CRC_Press" title="CRC Press">CRC Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781568813295" title="Special:BookSources/9781568813295"><bdi>9781568813295</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">December 2,</span> 2012</span> – via <a href="/wiki/Google_Books" title="Google Books">Google Books</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Cultural+History+of+Physics&rft.pub=CRC+Press&rft.date=2012-04-07&rft.isbn=9781568813295&rft.aulast=Simonyi&rft.aufirst=K%C3%A1roly&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBmcpsgp-Ml4C%26pg%3DPA546&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AApeiron" class="Z3988"></span> <span class="cs1-visible-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: </span><span class="cs1-visible-error citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">|website=</code> ignored (<a href="/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#periodical_ignored" title="Help:CS1 errors">help</a>)</span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-38">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Bertrand Russell (1946) <i>History of Western Philosophy</i> NY. Simon and Schuster</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-39"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. M. Bowra (1957) <i>The Greek experience</i>. World publishing company. Cleveland and N. York. p. 168</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-40"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-40">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">O. Gigon (1968) <i>Der Umsprung der Griechische Philosophie. Von Hesiod bis Parmenides</i>. Bale Stutgart, Schwabe & Co. pp. 81–82</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-41"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. Castoriadis (2004) <i>Ce qui fait la Grece 1. D'Homere a Heracklite. Seminaires 1982-1983. La creation humain II</i>. Edition du Seuil. p. 198</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-42"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">M. O. Sullivan (1985) <i>The four seasons of Greek philosophy</i>. Efstathiadis group. Athens. pp. 28–31 (Edition in English)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-43"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-43">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. M. Bowra (1957) The Greek experience. World publishing company. Cleveland and New York. pp. 63, 89</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-44"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-44">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">C. Castoriadis (2004) <i>Ce qui fait la grece 1. D'Homere a Heraclite. Seminaires 1982–1983. La creation Humain II</i>. Editions du Seuil. p. 268</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-45">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><DK B1.></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-46">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Plato, <a href="/wiki/Philebus" title="Philebus">Philebus</a> 16c.</span> </li> </ol></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/presocratics/">"Presocratic Philosophy" at the <i>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</i></a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Ancient_Greek_philosophical_concepts65" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Ancient_Greek_philosophical_concepts" title="Template:Ancient Greek philosophical concepts"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Ancient_Greek_philosophical_concepts" title="Template talk:Ancient Greek philosophical concepts"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Ancient_Greek_philosophical_concepts" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Ancient Greek philosophical concepts"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Ancient_Greek_philosophical_concepts65" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_philosophy" title="Ancient Greek philosophy">Ancient Greek philosophical concepts</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Adiaphora" title="Adiaphora"><i>Adiaphora</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(indifferent)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aletheia" title="Aletheia"><i>Aletheia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(truth)</span></a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink"><i>Apeiron</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(infinite)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aporia" title="Aporia"><i>Aporia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(problem)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arche" class="mw-redirect" title="Arche"><i>Arche</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(first principle)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arete" title="Arete"><i>Arete</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(excellence)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ataraxia" title="Ataraxia"><i>Ataraxia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(tranquility)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cosmos" title="Cosmos"><i>Cosmos</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(order)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Diairesis" title="Diairesis"><i>Diairesis</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(division)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Doxa" title="Doxa"><i>Doxa</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(opinion)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Episteme" title="Episteme"><i>Episteme</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(knowledge)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethos" title="Ethos"><i>Ethos</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(character)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eudaimonia" title="Eudaimonia"><i>Eudaimonia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(flourishing)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hesychia" title="Hesychia"><i>Hesychia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(stillness)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Logos" title="Logos"><i>Logos</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(reason)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mimesis" title="Mimesis"><i>Mimesis</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(imitation)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monad_(philosophy)" title="Monad (philosophy)"><i>Monad</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(unit)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nous" title="Nous"><i>Nous</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(intellect)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ousia" title="Ousia"><i>Ousia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(substance)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pathos" title="Pathos"><i>Pathos</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(passion)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phronesis" title="Phronesis"><i>Phronesis</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(prudence)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Physis" title="Physis"><i>Physis</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(nature)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom)" title="Sophia (wisdom)"><i>Sophia</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(wisdom)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sophrosyne" title="Sophrosyne"><i>Sophrosyne</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(temperance)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sage_(philosophy)" title="Sage (philosophy)"><i>Sophós</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(sage)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Techne" title="Techne"><i>Techne</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(craft)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Telos" title="Telos"><i>Telos</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(goal)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thumos" title="Thumos"><i>Thumos</i> <span style="font-size: 85%;">(temper)</span></a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://auth.wikimedia.org/loginwiki/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&oldid=1273197499">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&oldid=1273197499</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Concepts_in_ancient_Greek_metaphysics" title="Category:Concepts in ancient Greek metaphysics">Concepts in ancient Greek metaphysics</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Cosmogony" title="Category:Cosmogony">Cosmogony</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Presocratic_philosophy" title="Category:Presocratic philosophy">Presocratic philosophy</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_containing_Ancient_Greek_(to_1453)-language_text" title="Category:Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text">Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_with_dead_external_links" title="Category:All articles with dead external links">All articles with dead external links</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_dead_external_links_from_October_2016" title="Category:Articles with dead external links from October 2016">Articles with dead external links from October 2016</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_permanently_dead_external_links" title="Category:Articles with permanently dead external links">Articles with permanently dead external links</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_errors:_periodical_ignored" title="Category:CS1 errors: periodical ignored">CS1 errors: periodical ignored</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description" title="Category:Articles with short description">Articles with short description</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Short_description_is_different_from_Wikidata" title="Category:Short description is different from Wikidata">Short description is different from Wikidata</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_containing_Latin-language_text" title="Category:Articles containing Latin-language text">Articles containing Latin-language text</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 1 February 2025, at 06:42<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apeiron&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://www.wikimedia.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><picture><source media="(min-width: 500px)" srcset="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia.svg" width="25" height="25" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" lang="en" loading="lazy"></picture></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><picture><source media="(min-width: 500px)" srcset="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" width="88" height="31"><img src="/w/resources/assets/mediawiki_compact.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" lang="en" width="25" height="25" loading="lazy"></picture></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-header-container vector-sticky-header-container"> <div id="vector-sticky-header" class="vector-sticky-header"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-start"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icon-start vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" aria-hidden="true"> <button class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-sticky-header-search-toggle" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ui.vector-sticky-search-form.icon"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </button> </div> <div role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box"> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="vector-sticky-search-form" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia"> <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-context-bar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-sticky-header-toc" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-sticky-header-toc vector-sticky-header-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-sticky-header-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-sticky-header-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-sticky-header-toc-label" for="vector-sticky-header-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-sticky-header-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div class="vector-sticky-header-context-bar-primary" aria-hidden="true" ><i>Apeiron</i></div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-end" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icons"> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-talk-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="talk-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-speechBubbles mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-speechBubbles"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-subject-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="subject-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-article mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-article"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-history-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="history-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-history mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-history"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only mw-watchlink" id="ca-watchstar-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="watch-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-star mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-star"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-edit-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="wikitext-edit-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikiText mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-wikiText"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-ve-edit-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ve-edit-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-edit mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-edit"></span> <span></span> </a> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only" id="ca-viewsource-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ve-edit-protected-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-editLock mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-editLock"></span> <span></span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-buttons"> <button class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet mw-interlanguage-selector" id="p-lang-btn-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-wikimedia-language"></span> <span>43 languages</span> </button> <a href="#" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive" id="ca-addsection-sticky-header" tabindex="-1" data-event-name="addsection-sticky-header"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-speechBubbleAdd-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-speechBubbleAdd-progressive"></span> <span>Add topic</span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-header-icon-end"> <div class="vector-user-links"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mw-portlet mw-portlet-dock-bottom emptyPortlet" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul> </ul> </div> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f968fbb9b-tmq7k","wgBackendResponseTime":148,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.452","walltime":"0.589","ppvisitednodes":{"value":3535,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":53060,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":7245,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":17,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":3,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":69727,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 534.473 1 -total"," 32.19% 172.056 1 Template:Reflist"," 20.44% 109.253 7 Template:Lang"," 15.77% 84.294 1 Template:Ancient_Greek_philosophical_concepts"," 15.01% 80.210 1 Template:Navbox"," 12.08% 64.558 2 Template:Cite_web"," 12.00% 64.135 1 Template:Short_description"," 11.89% 63.523 1 Template:Cite_Merriam-Webster"," 6.92% 36.965 8 Template:Cite_book"," 6.44% 34.404 2 Template:Pagetype"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.286","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":16102220,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-684955989f-dzllt","timestamp":"20250331181838","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Apeiron","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Apeiron","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q194245","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q194245","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2003-02-02T23:35:48Z","dateModified":"2025-02-01T06:42:01Z","headline":"philosophical concept"}</script> </body> </html>