A quotation from Thales
Quotation
Water is the first principle of all things.
Thales
The first philosopher. He looked at the world and asked what it was made of.
Before Thales, people explained floods with gods and eclipses with fate. Thales asked a different kind of question: what if the world has a nature, and that nature can be understood? He proposed water as the origin of all things, not as mythology, but as a theory. That shift, from story to inquiry, is where philosophy begins.
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What does Thales mean by this quotation?
The first philosopher. He looked at the world and asked what it was made of. Before Thales, people explained floods with gods and eclipses with fate. Thales asked a different kind of question: what if the world has a nature, and that nature can be understood? He proposed water as the origin of al…