Anaxagoras

About Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras of Clazomenae was an immensely significant pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, ranked #708 in historical importance by the Pantheon project. He was the first known philosopher to place mind, rather than matter, as the originating principle of the cosmos, developing the theory of *Nous* (Mind) as the ordering force behind the material chaos. His radical ideas—including that the sun was a molten rock and the moon was made of earth—forced him to flee Athens, a testament to the challenge his cosmology posed to established beliefs of the time.

In the modern digital sphere, Anaxagoras receives an attention level nearly commensurate with his historical standing. His 181K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025 place him at an Attention Gap ratio of approximately 1x relative to his importance rank. While he is significantly outperformed by contemporary philosophers in the comparison pool, such as Swami Vivekananda (#734, 1.2M views), his digital presence is not in stark deficit. Furthermore, his profile is showing positive engagement, with a Year-over-Year change in views of +48.7%, though recent Q1 vs Q3 momentum suggests a slight cooling trend of -12%.