Ideas from 'fragments/reports' by Thales [585 BCE], by Theme Structure
[found in 'Early Greek Phil II: first Ionians' by Anaximander (ed/tr Laks,A/Most,G) [Harvard Loeb 2016,978-0-674-99689-2]].
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1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 2. Ancient Thought
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1597
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Thales was the first western thinker to believe the arché was intelligible
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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.
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From:
comment on Thales (fragments/reports [c.585 BCE]) by David Roochnik - The Tragedy of Reason p.138
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10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 5. Modality from Actuality
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3013
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Nothing is stronger than necessity, which rules everything
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Full Idea:
Necessity is the strongest of things, for it rules everything.
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From:
report of Thales (fragments/reports [c.585 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 01.2.9
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26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / c. Ultimate substances
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1494
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Thales said water is the first principle, perhaps from observing that food is moist
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Full Idea:
Thales says water is the first principle (which is why he declared the earth is on water); perhaps he concluded this from seeing that all food is moist.
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From:
report of Thales (fragments/reports [c.585 BCE], A12) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 983b12
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27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / a. Explaining movement
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1713
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Thales must have thought soul causes movement, since he thought magnets have soul
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Full Idea:
Thales seems, from what is recorded of him, to have supposed that the soul is something productive of movement, if he really said that the magnet has soul because it produces movement in iron.
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From:
report of Thales (fragments/reports [c.585 BCE]) by Aristotle - De Anima 405a20
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29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 2. Greek Polytheism
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1742
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Thales said the gods know our wrong thoughts as well as our evil actions
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Full Idea:
When asked whether a man who did wrong could escape the notice of the gods, Thales is said to have replied: 'No, not even if he thinks wrong.'
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From:
report of Thales (fragments/reports [c.585 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 01.Th.9
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