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Full Idea
Thales was the first thinker in the west to believe that the arché (the basis of things) was intelligible.
Clarification
The 'arché' is the source or basis of everything
Gist of Idea
Thales was the first western thinker to believe the arché was intelligible
Source
comment on Thales (fragments/reports [c.585 BCE]) by David Roochnik - The Tragedy of Reason p.138
Book Ref
Roochnik,David: 'The Tragedy of Reason: the Platonic logos' [Routledge 1990], p.138
| 1597 | Thales was the first western thinker to believe the arché was intelligible [Roochnik on Thales] |
| 3013 | Nothing is stronger than necessity, which rules everything [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 1713 | Thales must have thought soul causes movement, since he thought magnets have soul [Thales, by Aristotle] |
| 1742 | Thales said the gods know our wrong thoughts as well as our evil actions [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 1494 | Thales said water is the first principle, perhaps from observing that food is moist [Thales, by Aristotle] |