Early Greek Philosopher: Thales - Classical Western Philosophy (Philosophy)

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Introduction: Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic philosopher, astronomer, geographer and mathematician.
He hailed from a place called Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor.
He was named amongst the seven sages of Greece.
Thales is also regarded as the “First philosopher” or the “Father of Philosophy.”
Pre-Socratic period marks the rise of Greek philosophy. This period includes some of the most influential philosophers, such as, Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, etc.
Water as the Arche: According to Thales, water is the first principle.
The universe is fundamentally water. In other words, water is the principle of everything- everything comes from and returns back to water.
Water is present in all the three states, namely, vapours, liquid and solid.
When water is heated, it assumes the form of vapour, when cooled, it becomes solid, lastly, when allowed to flow in its natural form, it is liquid. Hence, water exists in all the different three forms.
It is for this reason, water is said to be the fundamental stuff of the universe.
In other words, water is arche. Arche is a greek word which means, “beginning, first cause, or origin.”
According to the biologist and philosopher, Aristotle, Thales chose water to the the ultimate principle of the universe or the ultimate stuff because of two reasons;
Food which nourishes us and helps us grow is always wet in nature.
All generating seeds are wet. This is what leads them to grow into trees and plants.
In other words, these two points refer to the concept of growth, development and nourishment. Without water, none of these are possible. This is mentioned in Aristotle’s work, Metaphysics.
According to Thales, water is the ultimate source of the universe and he believed Earth to be a disc which floats on water.
#thales
#water
#arche
#naturalism
#hylozoism

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