Thales was a native of Miletus, in Asia Minor. He flourished in 585 BCE (the date of an eclipse he is reputed to have predicted). No fragments of his work have survived, only testimony. Aristotle attributes the following four views to Thales: 1. The earth rests on water. (De Caelo 294a28) 2. Water is the archê of all things. (Metaph. 983b18) 3. The magnet has a soul. (De Anima 405a19) 4. All things are full of gods. (De Anima 411a7) …showed first 75 words of 998 total…

…showed last 75 words of 998 total…still accept the popular conception of the earth (or, in this case, its immediate support) stretching down so far that the problem almost disappeared . . . . Final comments: * Thales is often credited with trying to explain everything in terms of water. (Either everything is made of water, or everything came from water.) * This is a kind of monism: the reduction of a host of complex phenomena to a single, simple basis. This is a prevailing philosophical theme