“The early philosophers as a rule formulated the originative principle (ἀρχή)
of all things under some material expression. By the originative principle
or element of things they meant that of which all existing things are
composed, that which determines their coming into being, and into which they
pass on ceasing to be. Where these philosophers differed from each other was
simply in the answer which they gave to the question what was the nature of
this principle, the differences of view among them applying both to the
number, and to the character, of the supposed element or elements. Thales,
the pioneer of this philosophy, maintained that Water was the
originative principle of all things. It was doubtless in this sense that he
said that the earth rested on water. What suggested the conception to him
may have been such facts of observation, as that all forms of substance
which promote life are moist, that heat itself seems to be conditioned by
moisture, that the life-producing seed in all creatures is moist, and so
on.”
Other characteristics of
water, it is elsewhere suggested, may have been in Thales’ mind, such as its
readiness to take various shapes, its convertibility from water into vapour
or ice, its ready mixture with other substances, and so forth. What we have
chiefly to note is, that the more unscientific this theory about the
universe may strike us as being, the more completely out of accord with
facts now familiar to everybody, the more striking is it as marking a new
mood of mind, in which unity, though only very partially suggested or
discoverable by the senses, is preferred to that infinite and indefinite
variety and difference which the senses give us at every moment.
A History of Greek Philosophy /
THE SCHOOL OF MILETUS /
THALES
