science

Hippo (philosopher)

Hippo (philosopher) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hippo (philosopher) rather than just read about it. In short: Hippo (; Ancient Greek: Ἵππων, Hippon; fl. 5th century BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He is variously described as coming from Rhegium, Metapontum, Samos, and Croton, and it is possible that there was more than one philosopher with this name.

Key takeaways

Hippo (philosopher) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hippo (philosopher) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hippo (philosopher) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hippo (; Ancient Greek: Ἵππων, Hippon; fl. 5th century BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He is variously described as coming from Rhegium, Metapontum, Samos, and Croton, and it is possible that there was more than one philosopher with this name. Although he was a natural philosopher, Aristotle refused to place him among the other great pre-Socratic philosophers "because of the paltriness of his thought".

Beliefs At some point Hippo was accused of atheism, but since his works have perished, we cannot be certain why. He was accused of impiety by the comic poet Cratinus in his Panoptae, and, according to Clement of Alexandria, Hippo supposedly ordered the following couplet to be inscribed on his tomb:

Behold the tomb of Hippo, whom in death Fate made an equal of the immortal gods. The classical philologist Michael Hendry has suggested an alternative translation of the epitaph that underscores the argument for Hippo's atheism:

This is the tomb of Hippo, Whom Fate made just as dead as the immortal gods. According to Hippolytus, Hippo held water and fire to be the primary elements, with fire originating from water, and then developing itself by generating the universe. Simplicius, too, says that Hippo thought that water was the principle of all things. Most of the accounts of his philosophy suggest that he was interested in biological matters. He thought that there is an appropriate level of moisture in all living things, and disease is caused when the moisture is out of balance. He also viewed the soul as arising from both mind and water. A medieval scholium on Aristophanes' The Clouds attributes to Hippo the view that the heavens were like the dome (πνιγεύς) of an oven covering the Earth.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hippo (philosopher)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hippo (philosopher) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hippo (philosopher) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hippo (philosopher) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hippo (philosopher)

In research: Hippo (philosopher) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hippo (philosopher) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hippo (philosopher) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 5th-century BC Greek medical doctors, 5th-century BC Greek philosophers, Ancient Greek philosopher stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hippo (philosopher) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hippo (philosopher) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hippo (philosopher) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hippo (philosopher) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hippo (philosopher) in simple terms?

Why does Hippo (philosopher) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hippo (philosopher)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hippo (philosopher).