Thales: Philosophy from the point of view of the natural approach

The ancient sage Thales, whose philosophy is still studied in universities around the world, was born in 620 BC. In the city of Miletus in Ionia. Aristotle, on whose works all the teachings of Thales were based, described his disciple as the first man to study the basic principles and questions of the origin of material substances. Thus, the thinker from Miletus became the ancestor of the school of natural philosophy. Thales was interested in almost everyone, studying all known branches of knowledge: philosophy, history, natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, geography and politics. He put forward theories explaining a variety of natural phenomena, primary matter, the support of the Earth and the causes of changes in the world. Thales of Miletus, whose philosophy subsequently served as the source of many scholastic teachings, devoted his life not only to the study of the surrounding world through the prism of scientific knowledge - he also actively developed astronomical theorems and invented many explanations for cosmological phenomena, mainly basing his arguments on the naturalness of processes, Interference of supernatural forces.

It was thanks to this man that ancient Greek astronomy arose, a science striving to know and rationally explain everything that happens in the distant sky. In that era, Thales was recognized as a daring innovator; He gradually abandoned the attraction to the theory of divine forces and began to advocate a scientific approach to the knowledge of the universe. The Thinker founded the Miletus School of Natural Philosophy and became an influential figure in the ancient world.

Water is the primary principle

Aristotle defined wisdom as knowledge of specific principles and causes. His study of wisdom, he began with the activities of thinkers who worked before him, and the first object of study of Aristotle became the principles of building the world, which adhered Thales of Miletus. The philosophy of the predecessor made Aristotle think about the role of nature in the universe. Thales believed that the whole environment is water, the "archa," the primary principle, a single material substance. Despite the fact that Plato and Aristotle invented more innovative terminology, the latter wrote down the doctrines of the Milesian researcher in the words that Thales himself used in the corresponding epoch. It is known that Aristotle did not doubt the correctness of his predecessor, but when he concocted the reasons and arguments supporting these doctrines, he nevertheless began to exercise caution.

Mythology

Some still believe that the sage's views are based on Greek or Middle Eastern religious beliefs. However, this opinion is erroneous. Thales, whose philosophy in antiquity was considered ultra-modern, very soon abandoned the tradition and ceased to trust the arguments based on the mythological context.

Probably he was familiar with Homer's assurances that the progenitors of the cosmos are divine beings, but Thales nevertheless never believed that it was the gods who organized or controlled the cosmos. Studying the theory of water as the first nature of all things, Aristotle noted that the views of his predecessor share similarities with traditional beliefs, but this does not mean that the ancient Greek philosophy of Thales is in any way dependent on mythology. The sage from Miletus expressed not outdated and primitive, but new, extraordinary views, on the basis of which later a scientific approach to the study of natural phenomena arose. That is why Aristotle recognized Thales as the founder of natural philosophy.

Basic Ideas

The problem of the nature of matter and its transformation into millions of things, from which the universe was created, excited all adherents of the natural approach. The latter included Thales of Miletus. Philosophy, which reduces briefly to the basic principle "everything is water", explains how all things are born from the liquid and then return to their original composition and state. Moreover, Thales claimed that water has the potential to change the millions of objects that make up the universe, including botanical, physiological, meteorological and geological aspects. Any cyclic process is based on fluid conversions.

Evidence base

Long before the emergence of the basic hypotheses of Thales, people began to practice primitive metallurgy, so the philosopher knew perfectly well that the heat could return the metal to a liquid state. Water initiates rational changes much more often than other elements, and can at any time be observed in three states: liquid, vapor and ice. The basic proof that Thales, as the sage and ancestor of ancient philosophy, was to confirm his views was that water, hardened, can form the soil. The city of Miletus stood in the strait, in which, over time - literally from the river water - the island grew. Now the ruins of a once prosperous city are ten kilometers from the coast, and this island has long been part of the fertile plain. On the banks of the Tigris, the Euphrates and, of course, Nile, one could observe a similar picture: the water gradually washed the soil, and the contemplators thought that the earth comes from the liquid. Thales, whose philosophy was based on natural processes, was convinced of a single principle: water is capable of creating and nourishing the entire cosmos.

Convincing hypothesis

It is not known how the thinker himself explained his idea of the omnipotence of water, as his written works were not preserved, and most of the evidence base was later provided by Aristotle. It is assumed that the main means of persuasion was the fact that Thales, whose philosophy at that time seemed to be a real breakthrough in knowledge, was the first to deny the involvement of the Olympic gods in the creation of the world.

Disclaimer

Only in 1769 the belief that water produces soil was scattered by the experimenter Antoine Lavoisier. In the nineteenth century, the idea of spontaneous generation of matter was refuted by Louis Pasteur.