The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Thales

c. 624 – c. 546 BCE

Also known as Thales of Miletus

Traditionally counted the first Greek philosopher, he held that water is the origin of all things.

Engraving of the bust of a curly-haired, bearded man
Engraving by Wilhelm Meyer for a popular world history, 1875. No authentic likeness of Thales survives.Wilhelm Meyer · Public domain · See the original

Thales of Miletus left no writings, and what we know of him comes from later reports, above all Aristotle’s. He is credited with proposing that water is the basic principle (archē) of everything, and so with being the first to seek a single natural explanation for the world rather than a mythological one. Ancient sources also credit him with predicting a solar eclipse and with work in geometry.

His dates are those given by the ancient chronographer Apollodorus and are approximate.

Tradition
Western
Region
Miletus, Ionia

Sources

  1. Patricia Curd, Presocratic Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  2. Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, book I