Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus (c. 624 - 546 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day Turkey). He was one of the so-called Seven Sages of Greece, and many regard him as the first philosopher in the Western tradition.
He was the founder of the Milesian School of natural philosophy, and the teacher of Anaximander. He was perhaps the first subscriber to Materialist and Naturalism in trying to define the substance or substances of which all material objects were composed, which he identified as water.
His innovative search for a universality in the disciplines of mathematics, astronomy and philosophy have earned him the label the "first scientist".
Thales (pronounced THAY-lees) was born in the Greek city of Miletus (on the Ionian coast of modern-day Turkey) in about 624 or 625 B.C. (an estimate based on his age at death). The 3rd Century A.D. historian Diogenes Laërtius reported that his parents were Examyas and Cleobulina of the noble Milesian family of Thelidae (and descended from Agenor and Cadmus of ancient Thebes, Greece), although other sources suggest that his parents may have been Phoenician (from the modern-day region of Lebanon, Israel and Syria).
Details of his life are sketchy and often contradictory. Some reports suggest that he married and had a son, Cybisthus (or Cybisthon) or possibly adopted a nephew of the same name, while other reports suggest that he never married. Some say that he left no writings; others that he wrote at least two works, "On the Solstice" and "On the Equinox" (neither have survived). Some anecdotes suggest that Thales was involved in business and politics, and at one point bought up all the olive presses in Miletus after predicting a good harvest for a particular year (either to make money or merely to demonstrate that he could use his intelligence to enrich himself if he had wanted to).
His involvement in local politics is also rather anecdotal in nature, but Thales apparently impressed both sides of the ongoing conflict between the Lydians, Medes and Persians over the fate of the region of Ionia, when he predicted an eclipse of the sun which brought fighting to a standstill. He was also reportedly involved in the negotiations which followed the hostilities, and managed to obtain favorable terms for Miletus.
Work
In retrospect it is difficult to separate history from legend, but he is usually considered one of the Seven Sages or Seven Wise Men of ancient Greece, a group of 7th and early 6th Century B.C. philosophers, statesmen and law-givers who became renowned in the following centuries for their wisdom. The aphorism "Know thyself" has been attributed to Thales (as well as to at least six other ancient Greek sages). Much of what we know of Thales' philosophy has come down to us from Aristotle and so may be somewhat distorted by Aristotle's own views. Some sources say that he left no writings; others that he wrote at least two works, "On the Solstice" and "On the Equinox" (neither of which have survived).
The early Pre-Socratic philosophers (of which Thales was one of the very first) tried to define the substance or substances of which all material objects were composed (as do modern scientists even today, hence Thales is sometimes described as the first scientist). He searched for the "physis" (or nature) of objects that cause them to behave in their characteristic way. He was one of the first Western philosophers who attempted to find naturalistic explanations of the world (Naturalism or Materialism) without reference to supernatural or mythological explanations, such as the Greek anthropomorphic gods and heroes. He explained earthquakes, for example, by hypothesizing that the Earth floats on water and that earthquakes occur when the Earth is rocked by waves.
His most famous belief was his cosmological doctrine that water was the first principle (roughly equivalent to Anaximenes' later idea that everything in the world was composed of air). He claimed that water was the origin of all things, that from which all things emerge and to which they return, and moreover that all things ultimately are water. He probably drew this conclusion from seeing moist substances turn into air, slime and earth, and he clearly viewed the Earth as solidifying from the water on which it floated and which surrounded it.
While considering the effects of magnetism and static electricity, he concluded that the power to move other things without the mover itself changing was a characteristic of "life", so that a magnet and amber must therefore be alive in some way (in that they have animation or the power to act). If so, he argued, there is no difference between the living and the dead. If all things were alive, they must also have souls or divinities (a natural belief of his time), and the end result of this argument was an almost total removal of mind from substance, opening the door to an innovative non-divine principle of action.
Thales recognized a single transcendental God (Monism), who has neither beginning nor end, but who expresses himself through other gods (Polytheism). His idea of justice included both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law (e.g. adultery and perjury about it in court are equally bad). He had some common sense moral advice: that we should expect the same support from our children that we give to our parents; that we should not let talk influence us against those we have come to trust; and that we should not do ourselves that for which we blame others. He believed that a happy man was one who was "healthy in body, resourceful in soul and of a readily teachable nature".
His political views were generally in favor of a benign tyranny, rather than democracy (which most thinkers of his time distrusted as an inefficient and unreliable system). He believed that men were naturally better than women, and that Greeks were better than barbarians (non-Greeks).
Thales was known for his theoretical and practical understanding (and innovative use) of geometry, especially triangles. He established what has become known as Thales' Theorem, whereby if a triangle is drawn within a circle with the long side as a diameter of the circle then the opposite angle will always be a right angle (as well as some other related properties derived from this).
He was also an important innovator in astronomy, and he had an effective theory of the path of the sun from solstice to solstice and supposedly correctly predicted a solar eclipse. Some sources have attributed him with the "discovery" of the seasons of the year and the 365-day year (consistent with his determination of the solstices). While this may be an exaggeration, his questioning approach to the understanding of heavenly phenomena arguably marked the real beginning of Greek astronomy.
Thales: The Science
At some point, after he returned to Miletus, Thales took a step beyond his teachers. (Of course, his teachers may have taken this step themselves, but if they did, there is no historical record of it.)
You Don’t Need Hapi to Make the Nile Flood
Thales realized that natural phenomena had rational causes that could be studied and understood. For example, the annual flooding of the River Nile could be explained without Hapi, the river god, shown above.
In Egypt the annual rise in the River Nile’s level was vital for the success of the Kingdom’s harvests. Every year the silty river would rise and replenish the land around it with nutrients and moisture. The river would then fall and Egyptians would farm the newly fertile land. Without the Nile there could be no Kingdom of Egypt, because rain hardly ever fell there.
The Egyptians believed the Nile’s floods were caused by Hapi, one of their many gods. If the gods were displeased, the river would not flood, and there would be famine. The gods had to be kept happy at all costs.
Nowadays, of course, we know the Nile floods because seasonal rains fall further south in Africa: in fact it was another Ancient Greek, Eratosthenes, who was the first to figure this out, although Thales himself seems to have speculated about the true cause.
The switch between believing the gods were responsible for day-to-day events and believing that if we understood natural phenomena we could actually explain and predict events was Thales’ greatest achievement.
It unleashed people’s ability to think about the underlying causes of what we observe. It was the first scientific thinking we know of: Thales was the man who dumped superstition in favor of science.
A man with his head in the clouds who grew rich!
One dark evening Thales was out walking in Miletus looking at the night sky. He stumbled into a ditch, whereupon an old woman, who knew him as a ‘thinker’ laughed, and asked: “How can you see what the heavens are telling you when you can’t even see what is under your own feet?”
Thales seems to have been Ancient Greece’s first ever academic – its first science nerd in fact! And he was mocked for it. In the wealthy city of Miletus people told Thales that no one could ever prosper from merely thinking, and that’s why he was not rich.
Thales, however, proved his detractors wrong.
He had studied weather patterns in the region of Ionia, where the city of Miletus was located. The weather patterns one winter indicated that next season’s olive harvest would be a bumper crop. While it was still winter he placed small deposits to hire all the olive presses in Miletus for the next harvest. In summer, when the olive growers began to realize that a huge crop of olives was coming, they discovered Thales had hired all the olive presses.
Thales made a fortune by selling his rights to the presses to the olive growers. He carried out no physical work. He grew rich on mind power alone, applying his observations of weather patterns to predict how big the olive crop would be. He did not need any help from Aristaeus, the Greek god of olive groves.
Earthquakes
Ancient people believed earthquakes were a measure of their gods’ anger. Sacrifices, including human sacrifices in some cultures, became the normal way of trying to pacify angry gods.
Thales sought a rational explanation for earthquakes. He theorized that our whole planet Earth is a flat disk floating on an infinite sea of water and that earthquakes come when the planet is hit by a wave traveling through the water. With the benefit of modern science we know Thales got it wrong.
His theory was, however, an enormous advance on saying the earth shook because Zeus was annoyed about something. Thales had at least tried to find a rational explanation for earthquakes.
What Are Things Made Of?
Thales thought deeply about matter. He decided that, fundamentally, everything must be made of the same thing – much as today we believe that all matter is made of atoms. His idea was that in its most fundamental form, all matter is water. It took about 200 years for Thales’ idea to be transformed by his compatriot Democritus into “all matter is atoms.”
The Ancient Greek historian Plutarch, who lived 600 years after Thales, wrote that Egyptian priests claimed Thales’ “everything is water” theory originally came out of Egypt.
Astronomy
Thales learned about astronomy in Egypt and possibly Babylon.
When Archimedes was killed during the Roman conquest of Syracuse in 212 BC, the Roman historian Cicero wrote about the event. He tells us the Romans discovered Archimedes had a machine that accurately predicted the movement of the moon and planets, and predicted solar and lunar eclipses. (Such a machine has actually been found by archeologists – it is an amazingly sophisticated device called the Antikythera Mechanism.)
The Romans also found a more basic globe showing the celestial sphere – a forerunner of the Antikythera Mechanism – which had first been made by Thales.
Groundbreaking Mathematics
As with astronomy, Thales learned about mathematics in Egypt and possibly Babylon.
Back in Miletus, he built on what he had learned and was the first person to use deductive logic in mathematics, producing new results in geometry.
He established for the first time that mathematical theorems require proof before they are accepted as true.
He began transforming mathematics from a practical field of study to one that could be explored without worrying about practical applications. Hence Thales took great leaps towards modern pure mathematics, a subject based on deduction and proof, unconcerned about practical uses for its findings. (Funnily enough, although pure mathematics is performed with no thought for practical uses, discoveries in pure mathematics often turn out to be important in the real world!)
Thales established the Milesian School, where he taught mathematics, setting the stage for mathematics to flourish in Ancient Greece.
Belief in Gods
Thales did not reject the gods. He believed the gods were present in everything. As a result of this, all matter had some aspect of life in it. He thought that by understanding the fundamental principles of nature, people would actually get to know and understand their gods better.
Legacy
Thales was the founder of science in Ancient Greece. He established the Milesian School, which passed on his knowledge, most notably to Anaximander and Pythagoras. Greek science and mathematics peaked about 300 years later, in the era of Archimedes.
The rediscovery of Ancient Greek knowledge was the spark that fired the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution in Europe, setting science on a course leading to our modern technological world.
The rejection of superstition in favor of science began with Thales.
Family Life and The End
Accounts from ancient historians disagree about whether Thales ever married. Some say he married and had a son. Others say that he did not marry, but treated one of his nephews as if he were his son.
Thales died aged about 78 in about the year 546 BC.
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