2 Thales Quotes

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"Thales of Miletus" was a Pre-Socratic philosophy/pre-Socratic Greek philosophy/Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek philosophy/Greek tradition. Aristotle reported Thales' hypothesis about the [originating principle] of nature and the nature of matterthat it was a single material Substance theory/substance: Water (classical element)/water.

According to Bertrand Russell, "Western philosophy begins with Thales." Thales attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology and was tremendously influential in this respect. Almost all of the other Pre-Socratic philosophers follow him in attempting to provide an explanation of ultimate substance, change, and the existence of the world without reference to mythology. Those philosophers were also influential and eventually Thales' rejection of mythological explanations became an essential idea for the scientific revolution. He was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses, and as a result has been dubbed the "Father of Science," though it is argued that Democritus is actually more deserving of this title.