THE "APEIRON"
"They all make it a principle or source [...] Everything is either a source or derived from a source. But there cannot be a source of the infinite for in that case it would have an end. It is without beginning and indestructible, as being a sort of first principle, for it is necessary that whatever comes into existence should have an end, and there is a conclusion of all destruction [...] It itself seems to be the first principle of all other things and to surround all and to direct all [...] It itself is divine ; for it is immortal and indestructible"
With these words Aristoteles, in his work Physis (book
III, 4, 203 b 4-15), mentions the theory on the apeiron, introduced by
the greek philosopher Anaximander from Miletus (VII-VI centuries b.C.).
The word a-peiron litterally means "boundless", and Anaximander
introduced it in the query for the origin of all things. In fact, this
principle for the philosopher is infinity, from which the beings have
their origin and in which they find necessarily their destruction; this
principle is in-finite and in-definite, but at the same time "embraces
and surrounds, rules and supports all" because, even though it is
boundless, it bounds itself and all things originate from it, consist
of it and are in it, as a delimitation and determination of it itslef.
Moreover Anaximander asks himself how and why all things derive from the
principle, and why they all decay: the answer is that the cause of the
origin of things is a sort of "injustice", while the cause of
decay and destruction is a sort of "atonement" of that injustice.
Infinite is the principle, infinite are the worlds: our world is only
one of the countless similar worlds that came before it and that will
follow it, moreover it coexists with an endless series of other worlds
that originate and perish in an analog way.
Therefore, the apeiron is all from which all is created, the nothing to
which all is bound to become...
"Principle of beings is infinity:
whence things have their origin,
thence also their destruction happens,
as is the order of things;
for they execute the sentence upon one another
the condemnation for the crime
in conformity with the ordinance of time"
Anaximander of Miletus
