Thales of Miletus
c. 624-546 BC · Early Greek Thought · Prominent
Thales counts as the first Western philosopher, a Greek from Miletus around 600 BC whom his countrymen numbered among the Seven Sages. Everything is water at bottom, he guessed. The answer matters less than the move: he looked for a cause inside the world instead of naming a god, and Aristotle dates the turn from myth to reason to him. He also said that all things are full of gods.
Signature
The position Thales is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Nature of Reality
- leans Unity
- Beginning of Things
- Eternal Cosmos / Primordial Chaos
Positions on the 1 axes the sources answer
- Nature of Reality
- leans Unity (20 on a 0–100 scale from Unity to Multiplicity)
19 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Thales refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Beginning of Things
- Eternal Cosmos / Primordial Chaos
What is the origin of reality?