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Thales of Miletus | |
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| Born | 625 /623 BCE Miletus |
| Died | 548/545 BCE |
Thales of Miletus was a mathematician and pre-Socratic philosopher born around 625 BC. Thales is often referred to as the first philosopher, although this is incorrect; he was, however, the first Western philosopher. He was born in Miletus, in what is now Turkey. Miletus was then the central place for the development of Western philosophy. Thales holds the title of the first Western philosopher because, according to academics, the philosophers before him had philosophized with references to mythology. There were many philosophers before Thales in ancient Greece, such as Homer, Hesiod, and Pherecydes of Syros, who was the teacher of Pythagoras. Historically, the first recorded philosopher was Djedefhor in ancient Egypt.[1]
Since Thales lived in Miletus, which was a commercial and maritime center, the city's productive needs included astronomy for navigation, geometry for land measurement, and hydraulics. These productive needs are linked to Thales's work, as production creates the conditions and instruments for scientific and philosophical advancement.[1]
"Hitherto, what has been boasted of is what production owes to science, but science owes infinitely more to production" - Frederick Engels, Dialectics of Nature[2].
Philosophy[edit | edit source]
Since Thales' works have not been preserved, much of his philosophy has been preserved by secondary sources such as Aristotle. Thales' philosophy asserts that water was the basis for the origin of the world and was the primordial substance of the world. He explained this by saying that water can be converted into steam or ice, and since all life requires moisture, he concluded that water is the principle that controls the natural world. He observed that moisture is necessary for seeds, plants, and animals.[3]
Thales also claimed that the earth was flat and floated on an endless mass of water like a boat made of wood, as he believed that the world weighed the same as wood. Based on this, he also believed that earthquakes occurred due to underground water waves that caused the world to sway.[3]
Thales also claimed that God is in everything, that the soul of the world is God, and that God is part of everything. This was based on his observations of magnets and iron, because magnets caused dead iron to move.[3]
Thales' water theory was probably inspired by Egyptian and Babylonian creation stories, specifically the Egyptian primordial god Nun and the Babylonian Enuma Elish. Both of these creation stories describe how the world and the gods were born from infinite and cosmic water.[3]
Mathematics[edit | edit source]
Thales was famous for predicting a solar eclipse that probably occurred on 28 May 585 BC, using Babylonian tables. He travelled to Egypt and Babylonia, where he learned about the Saros cycle and tables from Babylonian astronomers.[3]
Thales brought back knowledge of practical geometry from Egypt, as the Egyptians were masters of practical geometry, which they used for land surveying and architecture. Their expertise in practical geometry probably came from the annual flooding of the Nile, which they needed to address using practical geometry by measuring land and building structures to prevent its effects.[3]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Patricia O’Grady. "Thales of Miletus" Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ↑ Friedrich Engels (1925). Dialectics of nature. Marxists Internet Archive.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 O'Grady, P. F. (2017). Thales of Miletus: The beginnings of Western science and philosophy..