Thales Of Miletus: The Father

of Western Philosophy
 Thales of Miletus: The Father of Western
Philosophy

A philosopher,
astronomer and
legendary
mathematician, the
ancient Greek
philosopher Thales of
Miletus set the basis of
Western thought.
Thales of Miletus was a Greek philosopher
and one of the seven sages of antiquity.
Aristotle considered him to be the first
philosopher and his philosophical
predecessor. Today, Thales is widely
accepted as the first philosopher in the
Western tradition. Although some of his
concepts, like the idea that everything is
made of water, seem out of places in the
21st century, Thales was an ingenious
figure that changed the ancient world
through his work in geometry,
mathematics, astronomy, and, of course,
philosophy.
The Life Of Thales Of Miletus
Thales was the son of
Examyas and Cleobulina
and was born in the
Greek Ionian city of
Miletus in Asia Minor at
around 620 BCE. He
belonged in one of the
noble families of
Miletus with possible
Phoenician origins.
 THALES
• He was revered as one of the wisest Greeks of all time.
• He was included in the list of the seven sages of antiquity by
Plato
• Considered to be the first philosopher by Aristotle
• Always listed as the first Presocratic philosopher
• He is part of the group of the Milesian philosophers including
Anaximander and Anaximenes who were his students and
continuers of thinking.
• He is also a monist philosopher just like the rest of the
Milesians as well as the Ionian Greek philosopher Heraclitus
Like most of the Presocratic philosophes, Thales was not
simply a philosopher but rather a jack of all trades. He was a
mathematician, an astronomer, and a mechanic. This was not
something unusual. Science, theology, and philosophy were
still deeply interconnected. At the time, a philosopher was a
term signifying someone who loved wisdom and knowledge in
all of its forms. The main difference of a presocratic Greek
philosopher, like Thales, from an Egyptian priest of Osiris, a
Persian magus, or a Buddist mystic, was the attempt to
explain natural phenomena using natural principles. While
Thales’ view that everything derives from water can be
traced back to Egyptian and Semitic creation myths, his
theory was an attempt at explaining the material world using
natural, and not theological, principles.
Diogenes Laertius who lived in the
third century CE attributes the famous
Delphic maxim “know thyself” to
Thales, although the ancients disagreed
on the matter.
In general, ancient sources disagreed on
whether Thales of Miletus ever wrote a
book. In any case, the key ideas of his
thought were preserved through the
work of later philosophers and scholars.
HIS DEATH
Thales’ death is placed in the 550s
and there are two different
versions of how he died.
According to Apollodorus, he died
of a heat stroke while watching
the Olympic Games. However,
Plato records that Thales was
studying the stars of the night sky
when he fell into a well. This
story has a didactic value for the
ancients warning them against
spending too much time
philosophizing, without caring
about earthly matters.
However, the story could be a made-up legend. This was not
uncommon in antiquity. Especially when it came to significant
philosophers, politicians, and other influential personalities,
the Greeks loved making up fake death stories that
corresponded to the life or teachings of the deceased.
Sometimes these stories were didactic and other times simply
mean. In Thales’ case, it was probably a combination of the
two. In the story with the well, Thales died because he lost
contact with the real world after being absorbed in his pursuit
of higher knowledge. Making him drown in the well was also a
fun way of dismissing his theory that everything is made of
water.
THALES’ MANY SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS
Thales of Miletus was not
simply a theorist. He was a
man who put his theoretical
understanding of the world
into practice. According to
Herodotus, he had helped
the army of King Croesus of
Lydia cross the river Hayls
by digging a dam that
divided the river into two
passable straits.
As for his knowledge in
Geometry and Mathematics,
Thales became a symbol of the
inventive man and most
famously counted the height of
the Great Pyramid of Giza using
its shadow. He also measured
the distance of ships at sea and
was attributed with five
theorems including the one
known as the “Thales
Theorem”.
His work on astronomy was also
significant. His greatest and most
well-known achievement was the
prediction of the solar eclipse of
May 28, 585 BC. He also observed
and studied constellation; a feat that
would be useful in the navigation of
the sea. His third most important
astronomical achievements was the
determination of the sun’s course
from solstice to solstice.
THALES’ HAD TRAVELLED TO EGYPT
“Thales. . . First went to Egypt and hence
introduced this study [geometry] into Greece. He
discovered many propositions himself, and
instructed his successors in the principles underlying
many others, his method of attack being in some
cases more general, in others more empirical”. –
Proclus quoted by Thomas Little Heath
It was quite common amongst
Greeks to credit their wisest with
having visited Egypt. Pythagoras,
Solon, and Plato are among the
most notable examples. However,
in the case of Thales of Miletus, it
seems that he really visited the
land of Nile as many of his
achievements, like the measuring
of the pyramids’ height, were set
in the Egypt.
Even if Thales’ visit never occurred, the legend
may still point to the origins of the philosopher’s
ideas. Thales was surely aware of Egyptian views
about the cosmos and its creation but he managed
to adapt them in a unique, unprecedented manner
that led to the bith of philosophical thinking.
In addition, Geometry has
originated in Egypt and Egyptian
mathematical knowledge was
among the most advanced in
the world. Without a doubt, this
knowledge passed down to
Thales who became known as
the one who introduced
Geometry to Greece.
THALES AND MONOPOLY
In a story told by Aristotle, Thales of
Miletus provided one of the best
arguments in defense of the life of a
philosopher. In this story, Thales
observed the celestial bodies and
managed to predict that the next crop
of olives would be unusually productive.
He then invested in the olive presses of
Miletus and Chios and, when the olives
were ready to be turned to olive oil, he
controlled the rate in which they were
brought. This way he made a huge
profit.
However, according to Aristotle, Thales did not do that in
order to make money but to prove that a philosopher could
live a wealthy life if they chose to. This way Thales gave an
answer to everyone who called his profession useless and
made fun of his poverty. The Milesian proved that a
philosopher is not poor by faith but by choice at the same
time signaling that there is a path of knowledge and
spirituality offering higher satisfaction than the path of
material wealth.
Aristotle was not convinced that this story was real. He
thought that because of Thales’ wisdom, people attributed
him with that tactic of monopolizing a market.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THALES
“. . . It is easy for philosophers to be
rich if they choose, but this is not
what they care about.” - Aristotle,
Politics 1259a
As already mentioned before, Thales of
Miletus is considered the first philosopher in
the western canon. His students Anaximander
and Anaximenes did not follow his ideas
exactly but maintained a similar direction.
Since these three were born in Miletus, they
are always grouped together as the Milesians.

Many also categorize Thales as an Ionian

Monist philosopher alongside his Milesian
students and Heraclitus, the obscure
philosopher from Ephesus that held that
everything is made of fire and that
“everything flows”.
There are many types of monism but Thales’ philosophy
can be classified as substance and materialist monism.
Substance monism is the idea that everything in the world
can be traced back to a single substance. For Thales of
Miletus, this was water. Since he also appeared to believe
that matter, in the form of water, was above abstract
ideas, like the soul, he was also a materialist. The
monism of Thales does not mean that Thales did not
recognize the existence of other susbstances. It rather
means that he held that the primary source of everything
was to be found in water. Although this sounds
preposterous, in a sense, Thales was onto something.
 THANK YOU!
PREPARED BY: Yssa Leah Emprese and Cherlyn Barruga