Archē

 Archē, or 'principle', is an ancient Greek philosophical term. Building on earlier uses, Aristotle established it as a technical term with a number of related meanings, including 'originating source', 'cause', 'principle of knowledge' and 'basic entity'. Accordingly, it acquired importance in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of science, and also in the particular sciences. According to Aristotle's doctrine of scientific principles, all sciences and all scientific knowledge are founded on principles (archai) of a limited number of determinate kinds. Archē is an ancient Greek term meaning 'rule' (in a political sense) and 'beginning'. The latter sense was developed in philosophical contexts to mean 'origin', 'starting point', and 'principle' or 'first principle'. It derives from the verb archō, 'to begin', 'to rule'. Both verbal meanings are found in Homer, although he does not use the noun 'archē' to mean 'rule'. In historical and political writings archē means 'sovereignty', 'realm', 'political office', and, in the plural, 'authorities', 'magistrates'. The history of the noun as a philosophical term is controversial. Passages like Simplicius, On Aristotle's Physics 24.15 and 150.23 have led many to believe that Anaximander (§2) was the first to use archē in a philosophical sense, while according to others these passages simply mean that he was the first to refer to the first principle of his system (in Simplicius' vocabulary, the archē) as apeiron. Depending on the view taken, the history of archē as a philosophical term begins either in the sixth century BC or much later. The latter view is probably correct.