ABSTRACT
The Milesians and Pythagoreans did not question the reality of the changes and multiplicity perceived in ordinary experience or provides a philosophical explanation for permanence in the 'world process'. Heraclitus and Eleatic philosophers developed metaphysical doctrines regarding change and the unity and permanence of reality. Heraclitus, who lived from about 544 to 484 BC, was an aristocratic citizen of Ephesus in Ionia. Heraclitus's psychological doctrine was that the soul, or mind, is pure fire or aether, akin to the divine reason and the fire that is the primal substance. His psychology was moralistic. The Eleatics are named for the colony of Elea in southern Italy. They flourished in the fifth century bc. Their approach to the question of change was very different from that of Heraclitus. Xenophanes is best known for his concept of god and his criticism of anthropomorphic concepts of god. He was critical of Homer and Hesiod for their stories of the poor behavior of the gods.
