Milesian School#
The philosophy of the Milesian School begins with an independent thinking action. They ask, "What are things actually like?" "How do we explain the process of change in things?" This truly bid farewell to the poetry of Homer and Hesiod and embarked on a more scientific path of thought.
In fact, in this stage of history, science and philosophy were the same thing, only later did various disciplines separate from the field of philosophy. Medicine was the first to separate. Therefore, we can completely call the Milesian School both the earliest scientists and the earliest Greek philosophers.
What we must remember is that Greek philosophy from the very beginning was an activity of the intellect. It is not just a matter of observation or belief, but a matter of thought. Philosophy means approaching those fundamental questions with a pure and free attitude of exploration.
Thales (circa 585 BC)#
He raised a completely new question about the nature of things: What are things made of? Or, what "substance" makes up everything?
He assumed a single element, a "substance" that contains the principle of its own activity and change, which is the foundation of all physical reality. For Thales, this one, this substance, is water.
In addition, he advocated that all things have souls, which are not purely spiritual entities, but rather thin substances similar to breath. The Greeks at that time had not completely abandoned the concept of purely spiritual forms of matter, so the soul here is only a function associated with matter.
Anaximander (circa 610-546 BC)#
Student of Thales
He believed that water and all other specific things are just special variations or derivatives of something more fundamental.
Anaximander believed that all these specific substances come from the ::primordial substance (apeiron 阿派朗 [meaning "infinite" or "undetermined" in Chinese])::
He believed that the world is formed by the movement of apeiron, and this movement leads to the separation and generation of opposite things. For example, the separation of cold and hot, or dry and wet.
It is worth mentioning that Anaximander was the first in the history of philosophy to propose the philosophical concept of using "arche" [meaning "principle"] to explain the world, just as Thales believed that the "origin" is water, while Anaximander believed that the "origin" is apeiron.
As the original chaotic body, "indeterminate" contains opposing things within itself, and these opposing things, such as cold and hot, dry and wet, are separated from the original chaos "indeterminate" due to their actions. Unlike Thales, Anaximander believed that the generation of things is not due to the transformation of a basic element (such as water), but due to the separation of opposing things from the "indeterminate" through eternal motion, so the so-called generation is the separation of opposing things.
Anaximander pioneered a new view of birth and death, where "birth" means that all things are separated from apeiron and acquire a certain determinacy, and "death" means to remove determinacy and return to the undetermined state of apeiron. It expresses a fundamental concept of birth and death: birth is from the infinite to the finite, death is from the finite back to the infinite. This is a breakthrough in fundamental philosophical concepts.
Anaximander developed the vague soul implied by Thales into an important opportunity for the transformation between apeiron and all things—the separation of cold and hot, dry and wet. Due to their different combinations, all things are separated from apeiron, and it is emphasized that all things are generated from apeiron and return to apeiron according to the dictates of fate. This mysterious view of fate undoubtedly has some inherent connection with the theme of fate in Greek tragedies and has a significant influence on later metaphysical entities such as Pythagoras' "numbers" and Heraclitus' "logos".
"The things from which all things arise, when they are destroyed, return to them of necessity; for they pay penalty and retribution to each other for their injustice according to the ordinance of time." - Anaximander
Anaximenes (6th century BC)#
Student of Anaximander
He proposed the view that air is the primal substance of all things.
Considering the question of the composition of natural things posed by Anaximander, but not satisfied with it, the idea that the unlimited is the source of all things is vague and confusing. Therefore, he adopted Thales' approach and focused on a specific substance.
To explain how air is the primal substance of all things, Anaximenes pointed out that the nature of things and their appearance depend on the degree of condensation and rarefaction of the air that composes them. In saying this, he has put forward an important new idea: the difference in quality is due to the difference in quantity.
Theory
"When air is condensed, it becomes wind... If this process continues, it will produce water, and further development will produce earth, and at its densest, it will become stone."
Summary#
Although these Milesian philosophers laid the foundation for the questions and research styles that science focuses on, they did not form their hypotheses in the way modern scientists do, nor did they design any experiments to test their theories. Their thoughts have a dogmatic nature - their attitude is affirmative assertions and do not have the experimental characteristics of true hypotheses. However, we must remember that critical questions about the nature and limits of human knowledge have not yet been raised. The Milesian philosophers also did not mention in any way the relationship between mind and body. By reducing all reality to a primitive substance, it is certain that this question will arise, but it was not until later that philosophers realized it was a problem. Regardless of whether their ideas about water, the unlimited, and air as the primal substance of things are valid, it should be emphasized again that the true significance of the Milesian School lies in their first raising the question of the ultimate nature of things and their direct exploration of what the natural world is actually made of.