The main objective of the dissertation is to attempt to recognize the foundations of a critical, skeptical and zetetical attitudes in early Greek philosophy. First, the meanings of the terms "criticism", "skepticism" and "zeteticism" are clarified, and their interrelationships are shown. The essential part of the research is a meticulous analysis of early Greek philosophy in the perspective of these attitudes. At the same time, this publication is an outline of a new paradigm for interpreting the beginnings of philosophical reflection. The sources of contemporary doctrines and attitudes as well as the constancy of philosophical problems and the importance of broadly understood criticism have also been shown.