Thales

Thales (c. 636–c. 546 B.C.E.)

Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition. According to Bertrand Russell, "Western philosophy begins with Thales." Thales attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology and was tremendously influential in this respect. Almost all of the other Pre-Socratic philosophers follow him in attempting to provide an explanation of ultimate substance, change, and the existence of the world without reference to mythology. Those philosophers were also influential, and eventually Thales' rejection of mythological explanations became an essential idea for the scientific revolution. He was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses, and as a result has been dubbed the "Father of Science", though it is argued that Democritus is actually more deserving of this title.

In mathematics, Thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales' Theorem. As a result, he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed.

The first recorded Western philosopher, Thales reputedly founded the Milesian school of philosophy in Ionia, a Greek province on the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey. Although little is known about his teachings, he is said to have concerned himself with the “nature of things,” with understanding the elements and origins of the physical world. Denying the approaches used by mythology in explaining the physical world, he taught that nature is composed of one basic stuff, which he thought to be water. Not his answer but his approach was what philosophers find significant.

He is believed to have introduced geometry into Greece as well as to have predicted an eclipse of the sun in 585 B.C.E. By predicting an eclipse, Thales thus contributed to the idea that the heavens are separate from the gods. Joseph McCabe calls Thales “the first freethinker in history.”

Most agree that Thales' stamp on thought is the unity of substance. Bertrand Russell in Wisdom of the West wrote:

"The view that all matter is one is quite a reputable scientific hypothesis.

...but it is still a handsome feat to have discovered that a substance remains the same in different states of aggregation."

Russell was reflecting an established tradition as did Nietzsche in his Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks:

"Greek philosophy seems to begin with an absurd notion, with the proposition that water is the primal origin and the womb of all things. Is it really necessary for us to take serious notice of this proposition? It is, and for three reasons. First, because it tells us something about the primal origin of all things; second, because it does so in language devoid of image or fable, and finally, because contained in it, if only embryonically, is the thought, "all things are one."

This is not, however, deterministic materialism. Thales was attempting to explain the unity observed in the free play of the qualities.

Plato’s Theaetetus tells this tale:

"It seems that while Thales was engaged in studying the stars and gazing upwards he fell into a cistern; whereupon he was jeered at (they say) by a witty and attractive serving-wench from Thrace for being so eager to know what was happening in the sky that he did not see what was under his nose."

Matt Cherry has observed that Thales was undeterred by the jeers of saucy serving-wenches and that several younger colleagues of Thales continued his study into the “nature of things.” Chief among these first philosophers were the Ionian Greeks Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Xenophanes.

More: http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/

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