Thales of Miletus c. 624 BC – c. 546 BC
Thales of Miletus (c. 624 BC – c. 546 BC) was a Greek philosopher of the Ancient era, associated with Pre-Socratic and Ancient Greek Philosophy.
Thales of Miletus was an ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher of the 7th and 6th centuries BC, traditionally regarded as the first philosopher of the Western tradition and a founder of Greek natural philosophy and mathematics. He held that water is the fundamental substance from which all things arise, the first recorded attempt in the West to explain the world by appeal to a single natural principle rather than to mythology. He is reported to have predicted a solar eclipse in 585 BC and to have demonstrated several geometrical theorems including the equality of base angles in an isosceles triangle. He was counted in antiquity among the Seven Sages of Greece. He left no writings; his views survive in reports by Aristotle and later authors.
Thales of Miletus was born around 624 BC in the prosperous Ionian Greek port of Miletus on the coast of Asia Minor. Ancient sources connect his family with Phoenicia, credit him with travels to Egypt where he studied geometry and watched the flooding of the Nile, and report his political advice to the Ionian cities to form a federal council in the face of Persian expansion. Aristotle and the doxographic tradition treat him as the first Greek philosopher.
No writings of his survive, and the tradition is unsure whether he wrote any. He is reported to have predicted the solar eclipse of 28 May 585 BC, to have measured the heights of the Egyptian pyramids by their shadows, to have proved a series of basic propositions in geometry that later authors gathered as 'Thales' theorems', and to have speculated about the magnetic properties of lodestone and amber.
Thales is best known for the doctrine that water is the principle (arche) of all things, and that 'all things are full of gods' — a thesis that opened the path of Greek natural philosophy by treating the cosmos as the intelligible product of a single underlying material. He is counted among the Seven Sages and is reported to have died at Miletus around 546 BC, by some accounts as a spectator at an athletic festival.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Pre-Socratic, Ancient Greek Philosophy
Selected quotes
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“All things are full of gods.”
παντα πληρη θεων ειναι -
“Water is the first principle of all things.”
As quoted in Aristotle , Metaphysics , 983b -
Attributed to Thales of Miletus:
“Know thyself.”
-
“The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.”
Γνῶθι σαυτόν -
“Hope is the only good that is common to all men; those who have nothing else still possess hope.”
A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 234
Thales of Miletus by topic
Frequently asked about Thales of Miletus
- When did Thales of Miletus live?
- Thales of Miletus was born in c. 624 BC and died in c. 546 BC.
- Where was Thales of Miletus from?
- Thales of Miletus was a Greek philosopher of the Ancient era.
- What philosophical movements is Thales of Miletus associated with?
- Thales of Miletus was associated with Pre-Socratic and Ancient Greek Philosophy.
- What was Thales of Miletus known for?
- Thales of Miletus was an ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher of the 7th and 6th centuries BC, traditionally regarded as the first philosopher of the Western tradition and a founder of Greek natural philosophy and mathematics.
- How many quotes are attributed to Thales of Miletus?
- There are 14 attributed quotations from Thales of Miletus in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.