Definition

Proper noun: - A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and astronomer: Thales of Miletus was an ancient Greek thinker from the city of Miletus. He is historically noted for predicting a solar eclipse in 585 BC. Aristotle credited him as a founder of physical science for his theory that water is the fundamental substance (the arche) from which all things originate.

Usage

• Thales of Miletus is considered one of the Seven Sages of Greece.
• The philosophical approach of Thales of Miletus sought natural, rather than mythological, explanations for the world.
• In many histories of science, Thales of Miletus marks the beginning of Western philosophy.

Advanced Usage

• "The Milesian school": Refers to the early pre-Socratic philosophers from Miletus, with Thales of Miletus as its founding figure.
• "Thales' theorem": In geometry, a theorem attributed to Thales of Miletus states that if A, B, and C are points on a circle where the line AC is a diameter, then the angle ∠ABC is a right angle.

Variants and Related Words

• Milesian (adj): Pertaining to Miletus or its philosophers.
• Pre-Socratic (adj/n): Referring to the Greek philosophers who lived before Socrates, including Thales of Miletus.

Synonyms

• The First Philosopher (in the Western tradition).
• The Founder of Natural Philosophy.

Related Phrases and Concepts

• "Everything is water": The fundamental doctrine attributed to Thales of Miletus.
• "The arche": A Greek term for the fundamental principle or first cause of all things, which Thales of Miletus identified as water.

Noun

1. a presocratic Greek philosopher and astronomer (who predicted an eclipse in 585 BC) who was said by Aristotle to be the founder of physical science; he held that all things originated in water (624-546 BC)