Milesian school
The first philosophers look for a single natural origin of the world instead of myths
Key ideas
- Everything comes from one primary substance, the arche
- For Thales it is water, for Anaximander the boundless apeiron, for Anaximenes air
- Natural events have natural causes, not the whims of gods
- The starting point of Greek philosophy and science
Key thinkers
- Thales of Miletus (founder) — philosopher and mathematician, 624 BC–546 BC
- Anaximander — Greek philosopher of the Milesian school, 610 BC–546 BC
Meanwhile elsewhere
- Pythagoreanism Europe
- Eleatics Europe
- Confucianism Asia
- Buddhist philosophy Asia