Ancient Greece & Rome · School
Milesian School
The first thinkers to explain the world's origin by a natural element: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes answered water, the boundless and air in turn.
Representative figures · 5
Thales泰勒斯
The first to explain the world by nature rather than myth; traditionally called the father of philosophy.
Anaximander阿那克西曼德
Proposed the Boundless as first principle, drew the first world map, and guessed that life began in the sea.
Anaximenes阿那克西美尼
Made air the first principle and explained all differences by condensation and rarefaction, giving change its first mechanism.
Heraclitus赫拉克利特
'The Obscure', who declared that everything flows, that opposites are one, and that the Logos is the law behind all change.
Anaxagoras阿那克萨戈拉
Brought philosophy to Athens, proposed Nous or Mind as the cause that orders all things, and was charged with impiety for calling the sun a red-hot stone.