Thales, << THAY leez >> (625?-546? B.C.) was the earliest known Greek philosopher. He was born in Miletus in Asia Minor. All that is known about Thales and his thought came from brief and scattered reports by later historians and philosophers.
According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, Thales was the first philosopher to attempt to discover the underlying material source of all things. Aristotle wrote that Thales believed that this substance was water. He also reported that Thales believed that magnets have souls because of their ability to move iron.
Thales was perhaps the first individual to bring a philosophic and scientific approach to subjects that had previously been given mythological and supernatural explanations. He was the first to use reasoning and observation in attempting to answer questions about human beings and the universe. Thales may therefore be considered the founder of the philosophical and scientific tradition in the Western world.
