The same textbook– Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy from Thales to Aristotle edited by S. Marc Cohen, Patricia Curd and C.D.C. Reeve Hackett Publishing Co, Indiana, 1995.
that puts Thales at the beginning of philosophy, also lists him as a pre-Socratic. We are going with the beginning as the Platonic dialogues so its good to know what was happening before the beginning.
In addition to Thales, Anaximader, Anaximenes, and
Pythagoras with special guest Philolaus
Xenophanes
Heraclitus– is of course responsible for the famous -“A man never steps in the same river twice” quote
Parmenides
Anaxagoras
Empedocles
Zeno of Elea
Leucippus and Democritus
and finally throws a couple of sophists in the list
Protagoras
Gorgias — there is an eponymous Platonic dialogue about him.
Antiphon
and
Critias
What I really enjoy about this textbook is the introduction to each pre-Socratic. After some famous lines of the thinker at hand, the textbook notes what later philosophers cited which passage. This is important for showing the diffusion of learning.
