Philosophy (Natural philosophers)

natural philosophers

earliest Greek philosophers are sometimes called

The natural philosophers

took the first step in the direction of scientific reasoning, thereby becoming the precursors of what was to become science.

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Miletus

, a Greek colony in Asia Minor on the coast of modern-day Turkey, was the birthplace of three Natural Philosophers.

Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes

The three natural philosophers

Thales (624 or 625 BC-546-547 BC)

Often described as the first ever scientist

shadow

thales is said to have calculated the height of a pyramid by measuring its ____ at the precise moment when the length of his own blank was equal to his height.

water

Thales thought that the source of all things was ____

Anaximenes (c. 570-526 BC).

The second notable philosopher from Miletus was

air or vapor

Anaximenes thought that the source of all things must be ___

Anaximander (c. 610-546 BC)

Arguably, the greatest philosopher of the Milesian philosophers is

the Boundless

Anaximander argued that although not directly perceptible to us, the only substance which could explain the sheer variety of nature is something he called

pneuma

meaning cosmic breath.

the problem of change.

But how could one substance suddenly change into something else? We can call this ____

Eleatics

there was a group of philosophers in the Greek colony of Elea in Southern Italy. which were called

Parmenides (c. 540-480 B.C.).

thought that every-thing that exists had always existed.

rationalism

This unshakable faith in human reason is called

rationalist

is someone who believes that human reason is the primary source of our knowledge of the world.

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Heraclitus (c. 540-480 B.C.),

who was from Ephesus in Asia Minor. He thought that constant change, or flow, was in fact the most basic characteristic of nature