What metaphysical developments occurred during the time period before Socrates? Metaphysics has to do with the questions: What is real? What is most real and upon which other things are dependent? What is matter, idea, soul, divinity, form, substance, cause-effect, space, time, etc. You don't have to discuss every thinker. Discuss at least 5 of the 12 thinkers listed below. Can you relate to any of these thoughts today? Does early philosophy remind you of your early childhood in any way? These thinkers include: Homer, Hesiod, Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the Atomists.