The title of the first philosopher of the world is widely attributed to Thales of Miletus, an ancient Greek thinker who lived around 624–546 BCE. Hailing from Miletus, a city in Ionia (modern-day Turkey), Thales is considered the founder of Western philosophy. He was the first to seek explanations for the nature of the world through rational inquiry and natural causes, rather than relying on myths or divine intervention. This pivotal shift from mythological explanations to logical reasoning is what makes Thales stand out as the earliest known philosopher.
Thales is best known for his belief that water is the fundamental principle, or “archê,” of everything in the universe. He proposed that all matter, in its various forms, could ultimately be traced back to water, a radical idea at the time. This attempt to explain the universe through a single, natural substance laid the foundation for future philosophical and scientific thought.
Beyond his philosophical contributions, Thales was also a mathematician and astronomer. He is said to have predicted a solar eclipse in 585 BCE and made key contributions to geometry, including “Thales’ Theorem,” which pertains to angles in a circle. His work in both natural philosophy and science made him a key figure in the intellectual transformation of ancient Greece.
Thales’ legacy as the first philosopher of the world stems from his groundbreaking approach to understanding reality through observation, reasoning, and a search for underlying principles, which influenced generations of philosophers to come.