the same things--natural phenomena, the relationship between human beings and whatever gods there may be, the meaning of existence.
Jonathan Barnes notes that some see Greek mythologists as predecessors of Greek philosophers:
There are similarities between certain aspects of these early tales and certain parts of the early philosophers' writings (Barnes 15).
Aristotle made a distinction between mythologists and philosophers. Barnes, however, feels that there are few antecedents to be found in the beliefs of the mythologists that would lead to beliefs offered by the metaphysicians:
It would be silly to claim that the Presocratics began something entirely novel and totally unprecedented in the history of human intellectual endeavor. But it remains true that the best researches of scholarship have produced remarkably little by way of true antecedents (Barnes 16).
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