Though pre-Socratic philosophers primarily focused on cosmology and the nature of reality, some of their ideas hint at broader topics, including ethics and power. For example:

• Heraclitus, with his notion of constant change and the unity of opposites, indirectly raises questions about balance and order that later thought would associate with ethical and social norms.

• Xenophanes critiqued anthropomorphic deities, indirectly challenging established power structures in religious contexts and opening the door to thinking about authority and moral leadership in society.

While their works did not develop systematic ethical theories like those later seen in Socratic or Aristotelian philosophy, these early musings laid the groundwork for later discussions of how natural order, power, and human conduct might be interconnected.