Thales

Thales of Miletus
Born	c. 624 BC
Died	c. 546 BC
Era	Pre-Socratic philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Ionian / Milesian Naturalism
Main interests	Ethics Metaphysics Mathematics Astronomy
Notable ideas	Water is the arche Thales' theorem Intercept theorem
Influences Babylonian astronomy Ancient Egyptian mathematics Ancient Egyptian religion
Influenced Pythagoras Anaximander Anaximenes

Thales of Miletus (/ˈθeɪliːz/; Greek: (ὁ Μῑλήσιος), Thalēs; c. 624 – c. 546 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek/Phonecian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from Miletus in Asia Minor (present-day Milet in Turkey). He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, and he is otherwise historically recognized as the first individual in Western civilization known to have entertained and engaged in scientific philosophy.

Thales is recognized for breaking from understanding the world and universe by mythological explanations to instead finding explanations for the existence of natural things and phenomena by theories and hypothesis, i.e. science. Almost all of the other Pre-Socratic philosophers proceed after him to provide explanations of natural things by way of there being a unity of everything because of the existence of a single ultimate substance, instead of explanation given by mythology. Aristotle reported Thales's hypothesis that the originating principle of nature and the nature of matter was a single material substance: water.