As you are trying to unravel the mystery of existence, you make the following observation; water is everywhere. You find a vast ocean, rivers, lakes, rain, snow, and observe that every living organism depends on this one substance called water.
After all this, you observe water in all its forms; liquid, solid, and gas. Water is absorbed into the earth, and earth into the sea. While you are looking for answers, you lean towards the ancient wisdom of Egyptian, Semitic, and, of course, Greek tales about the creation of the cosmos. What you discover there, is a common pattern; water is highly revered as a force of regeneration. Even the most important Greek poet, Homer, considers gods of water like Oceanus and Tethys the parents of all gods.
After all this, can you really blame Thales for thinking that water is the one and only substance out of which everything derives? Thales believed that the earth floated on water. This was a conclusion he had drawn after he observed that the earth presented a solidity and immobility that the sea did not.
Furthermore, there is a debate as to whether Thales believed that the earth was flat or spherical. Although there are good reasons to suggest that Thales would have conceived the spherical shape of the earth through his astronomical endeavors, there is not sufficient evidence to back up this claim with certainty.
Of course, it would not have been something preposterous for Thales to believe that the earth was round since this was a common understanding among ancient Greek philosophers and astronomers. Thales of Miletus was a naturalist philosopher trying to explain the world by observing natural phenomena. He was a materialist thinker since he attributed everything to one element, water.
Despite that, he seems to have believed in the concept of the soul too. According to Aristotle, Thales was the origin of the belief that the soul is a property of things that is to be found everywhere. Besides his idea of the soul as a moving force of matter at a first glance appears closer to the idea of energy than the holy spirit in Christian theology.
Of course, there are many ways to interpret these lines and no way of knowing exactly what Thales said. In any case, it is more likely than not, that when Thales tried to make sense of reality, he found answers in a material substance, namely water, and not in god or an abstract idea. Antonis is a senior staff member at TheCollector, managing the Archaeology and Ancient History department.
In his spare time, he publishes articles on his specialty. Towards the end of the s, he began to work as a professor of philosophy in Vienna , at which time he associated with the Vienna Circle.
Philosophical collective founded by the empiricist logical Moritz Schlick, who invited Carnap to participate in meetings and studies of the circle. At that time the group was trying to create a scientific perspective of the world, through which the rigor of the exact sciences could be applied in philosophical theories and their studies, an idea that contrasted with the philosophical approach of the time, which was carried out Verifications based on deductions through an unofficial or strict language, which opened space for any doubts.
In the circle presented the manifesto The scientific conception of the world: the Vienna Circle, written by Otto Neurath. This showed the signatures of Carnap and Hans Hahn. In the manifesto the circle set out the principles of neo-positivism and its opposition to meaningless metaphysics, emphasizing the importance of verifiability; these approaches were inspired by the work of Wittgenstein Tractatus logico-philosophicus logical-philosophical treatise.
During this period the philosopher delved into the philosophical problems and the language with which they are addressed. Because these problems derived from the inappropriate use of language, to test this approach he carried out various studies in which he tried to build logical systems that were capable of avoiding ambiguities and misuse of language. In parallel, he focused on analyzing scientific discourse, among the most outstanding works that addressed these themes are: The logical structure of the world , the overcoming of metaphysics through the logical analysis of language and The logical syntax of the language Towards the middle of the s, he moved to the United States, motivated by the rise of Nazism in Germany.
When he settled down, he began working as a professor at the University of Chicago, an institution where he worked until the early s. In these years he wrote Investigations in semantics , Meaning and necessity and Logical foundations of probability In the first two books he studied the formal and conceptual aspect of language and in Logical Foundations of the probability in which he distinguished between statistics and logic, generating important contributions in the field of statistics.
Between and he taught at Princeton, followed by moving to California where he was hired as a professor at the University of California. He worked until the s. Throughout his academic career, Carnap defended and promoted the principles of mathematical logic or symbolic logic, through which he tried to create a scientific perspective of the world.
After a long and outstanding academic career Carnap, he died on September 14, , in Los Angeles, California. Philosopher and theologian considered one of the most relevant thinkers of his time. Malebranche was one of the followers of the thought of Rene Descartes , whose work he read avidly. Eventually became one of the main drivers of occasionalism, a doctrine created by the followers of the French philosopher. Malebranche revitalized the doctrine by including ideas based on Augustinianism.
According to this philosophy, the body and the mind are separate entities, which are connected by the intervention of God, also, for these the cause-effect relationship is determined by divine intervention, turning the cause into an occasion for God to act. His most outstanding works are The search for truth and Christian and metaphysical meditations His father was a prominent public official.
During the first years of training, he received a deep religious education from his mother, which influenced his personality, reflective and collected. At that time, he studied at the school of La Marche and years later he entered La Sorbonne, where he studied theology and philosophy between and Subsequently became interested in the religious vocation, thus joining the congregation of the Oratory as a novice, decision it is believed that was influenced by his character and the loss of his parents in the early s.
During the novitiate, Malebranche, concentrated on meditation and spiritual development. After a few years of taciturn life he was ordained a priest in September After being ordained, he devoted himself to the study of various topics. Practice that was in tune with the principles of the Oratorium, a center in which the religious, in addition to focusing on their religious work, carried out various investigations related to cultural and historical issues.
For this same period , he became interested in the life and work of St. Augustine , a religious on which he wrote various works. Also, he studied and interpreted the sacred texts, however, these subjects did not seem to be passionate. When he read the Treaty of Man he became interested in all the work of the French philosopher, which he studied in detail, deeply analyzing each work.
At that time, he studied mathematics, physics, and physiology. Based on this new knowledge, he analyzed the Cartesian and Augustinian works. The first book of the philosopher was The search for truth , a work in which Malebranche delves into the spirit, his relationship with the body and God, emphasizing the importance of the relationship between the spirit and God.
In this criticism of pagan and Christian philosophers, for not delving into these relationships, he also proposes as a task of philosophers to highlight the connection between God and the spirit, an idea that is linked to the occasional doctrine; a short time later he published the other two volumes of the book.
This work delved into topics such as creation, incarnation, divine grace, and human freedom. Given the theme that he dealt with, it was quickly included in the Index.
At the end of the s, he wrote and published Entretiens sur la mort , a book that revolved around conversations and ideas about the death of three men, one thinks that life is too short, another that it is too long and the last more spiritual and conscious about the experiences he has had raises that death only expands our minds.
This work is based on the near-death experience the philosopher lived when he became seriously ill. A year later he published the Treatise on the Love of God , as the name implies, this treatise speaks about the love of God, emphasizing how man is drawn to love him and how this produces happiness. Two years later, he was appointed honorary member of the French Academy of Science, for his contributions in the field of mathematics.
His last work was Conversation of a Christian philosopher and a Chinese philosopher , a book in which he deals with themes such as the existence of God and the nature of it, seen from two perspectives.
The renowned philosopher and religious died on October 13, , in Paris. Philosopher, a historian, and British economist considered one of the most relevant figures of the 19th century. Mill was a brilliant and influential scholar. His thinking and the ideas he promoted changed the way in which political theories on human rights and equality were understood, throughout his career, he rejected the actions of the East India Company in the colony. He was one of the main drivers of utilitarianism, a philosophical theory created by Jeremy Bentham, an economist with whom he worked for several years.
He dissuaded his compatriots from accepting an alliance with Croesus and, as a result, saved the city. It is reported that Thales predicted an eclipse of the Sun in BC. The cycle of about 19 years for eclipses of the Moon was well known at this time but the cycle for eclipses of the Sun was harder to spot since eclipses were visible at different places on Earth. Thales's prediction of the BC eclipse was probably a guess based on the knowledge that an eclipse around that time was possible.
The claims that Thales used the Babylonian saros, a cycle of length 18 years 10 days 8 hours, to predict the eclipse has been shown by Neugebauer to be highly unlikely since Neugebauer shows in [ 11 ] that the saros was an invention of Halley. Neugebauer wrote [ 11 ] No Babylonian theory for predicting a solar eclipse existed at BC, as one can see from the very unsatisfactory situation years later, nor did the Babylonians ever develop any theory which took the influence of geographical latitude into account.
After the eclipse on 28 May, BC Herodotus wrote This event had been foretold by Thales, the Milesian, who forewarned the Ionians of it, fixing for it the very year in which it took place.
The Medes and Lydians, when they observed the change, ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of peace agreed on. Longrigg in [ 1 ] even doubts that Thales predicted the eclipse by guessing, writing There are several accounts of how Thales measured the height of pyramids. Diogenes Laertius writing in the second century AD quotes Hieronymus, a pupil of Aristotle [ 6 ] or see [ 8 ] :- Hieronymus says that [ Thales ] even succeeded in measuring the pyramids by observation of the length of their shadow at the moment when our shadows are equal to our own height.
This appears to contain no subtle geometrical knowledge, merely an empirical observation that at the instant when the length of the shadow of one object coincides with its height, then the same will be true for all other objects. A similar statement is made by Pliny see [ 8 ] :- Thales discovered how to obtain the height of pyramids and all other similar objects, namely, by measuring the shadow of the object at the time when a body and its shadow are equal in length.
Plutarch however recounts the story in a form which, if accurate, would mean that Thales was getting close to the idea of similar triangles This is in line with the views of Russell who writes of Thales contributions to mathematics in [ 12 ] :- Thales is said to have travelled in Egypt, and to have thence brought to the Greeks the science of geometry.
What Egyptians knew of geometry was mainly rules of thumb, and there is no reason to believe that Thales arrived at deductive proofs, such as later Greeks discovered. On the other hand B L van der Waerden [ 16 ] claims that Thales put geometry on a logical footing and was well aware of the notion of proving a geometrical theorem. However, although there is much evidence to suggest that Thales made some fundamental contributions to geometry, it is easy to interpret his contributions in the light of our own knowledge, thereby believing that Thales had a fuller appreciation of geometry than he could possibly have achieved.
In many textbooks on the history of mathematics Thales is credited with five theorems of elementary geometry:- A circle is bisected by any diameter.
The base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal. The angles between two intersecting straight lines are equal. First is the fact that during a solar eclipse, the shadow caused by the interposition of the earth between the sun and the moon is always convex; therefore the earth must be spherical.
In other words, if the earth were a flat disk, the shadow cast during an eclipse would be elliptical. Second, Thales, who is acknowledged as an observer of the heavens, would have observed that stars which are visible in a certain locality may not be visible further to the north or south, a phenomena which could be explained within the understanding of a spherical earth.
Third, from mere observation the earth has the appearance of being curved. From observation, it appears that the earth is covered by a dome. When observed from an elevated site, the sky seems to surround the earth, like a dome, to meet the apparently curved horizon. If observed over the seasons, the dome would appear to revolve, with many of the heavenly bodies changing their position in varying degrees, but returning annually to a similar place in the heavens.
Through his work in astronomy Thales would almost certainly have become familiar with the night sky and the motion of the heavenly bodies.
There is evidence that he gave advice to navigate by Ursa Minor, and was so involved in observation of the stars that he fell into a well.
As a result of observations made over a long period of time, Thales could have realized that the motions of the fixed stars could not be explained within the idea of the observable hemispherical dome. During the determination of the size of the rising sun, and again while watching its risings and settings during his work on fixing the solstices, Thales may have realized that much natural phenomena could be explained only within the understanding of the earth as a sphere.
From the shore, a ship can be seen to be descending, gradually, below the horizon, with the hull disappearing from view first, to be followed by masts and sails. If one had a companion observing from a higher point, the companion would see the ship for a long period before it disappeared from view. Cicero attributed to Thales the earliest construction of a solid celestial globe Rep. It is not the only occasion on which Anaximander and Anaximenes failed to follow the theories of Thales.
That they did not do so is the main argument in favour of accepting that the scientific method commenced in the Milesian School. There is testimony that Thales knew the earth to be spherical, but no evidence to suggest that he proposed any other shape. It seems that he applied his floating on water simile to the natural phenomena of earthquakes.
It is an advance upon the traditional Homeric view that they resulted from an angry supernatural god, Poseidon, shaking the earth through his rapid striding. The question of whether Thales endowed the gods with a role in his theories is fundamental to his hypotheses.
They adopted and adapted the earlier view of Thales that soul was the cause of motion, permeating and enlivening the entire cosmos. Thales is not mentioned in the relevant lines in Plato, but there is a popular misconception that they refer to the belief of Thales.
This is wrong. Thales had rejected the old gods. In a passage in Apology 26 C Socrates identified the heavenly bodies as gods, and pointed out that that was the general understanding. In Cratylus D-E Plato had Socrates explain a relationship between soul as a life-giving force, the capacity to breathe, and the reviving force. In Timaeus 34B Plato had Timaeus relate a theory which described soul as pervading the whole universe.
Concerning all the stars and the moon, and concerning the years and months and all seasons, what other account shall we give than this very same, — namely, that, inasmuch as it has been shown that they are all caused by one or more souls. Plato had the Athenian Stranger extend his ideas into a theological theory. He used a sleight of hand method to express his own ideas about divine spiritual beings. Thales is not mentioned. This early report does not mention godly entities.
The later commentators, Cicero Nat. However, their views post-date Stoicism and are distorted by theistic doctrines. When Thales defined reality, he chose an element, not a god. The motive force was not a supernatural being. It was a force within the universe itself. Thales never invoked a power that was not present in nature itself, because he believed that he had recognized a force which underpinned the events of nature. Thales is acclaimed for having predicted an eclipse of the sun which occurred on 28 May B.
The vital points are: Thales foretold a solar eclipse; it did occur within the period he specified. How Thales foretold the eclipse is not known but there is strong opinion that he was able to perform this remarkable feat through knowledge of a cycle known as the Saros, with some attributing his success to use of the Exeligmos cycle.
It is not known how Thales was able to predict the Eclipse, if indeed he did, but he could not have predicted the Eclipse by using the Saros or the Exeligmos cycles. In addition to Herodotus, the successful prediction of the eclipse was accepted by Eudemus in his History of Astronomy and acknowledged by a number of other writers of ancient times Cicero, Pliny, Dercyllides, Clement, Eusebius.
Modern astronomy confirms that the eclipse did occur, and was total. All becomes hushed and there is a strong uncanny sensation of impending disaster, of being within the control of some awful power. In ancient times, the awesome phenomenon must have aroused great fear, anxiety and wonder. The combatants saw the eclipse as disapproval of their warfare, and as a warning. They ceased fighting and a peace agreement was reached between the two kings. From his new perspective of observation and reasoning, Thales studied the heavens and sought explanations of heavenly phenomena.
It is widely accepted that Thales acquired information from Near-Eastern sources and gained access to the extensive records which dated from the time of Nabonassar B. H Some commentators have suggested that Thales predicted the solar eclipse of B. The ancients could not have predicted solar eclipses on the basis of those periodic cycles because eclipses of the sun do not repeat themselves with very little change.
The extra 0. The following important fact should be noted. Some commentators and philosophers believe that Thales may have witnessed the solar eclipse of 18th May B. They accepted that he had predicted the solar eclipse of 28 May B. Two facts discount rebut those claims. First, recent research shows that the solar eclipse of 18th May B.
Even if the eclipse of had been visible to the Near-Eastern astronomers, it is not possible to recognize a pattern from witnessing one event, or indeed, from witnessing two events. One may suggest a pattern after witnessing three events that are separated by equal periods of time, but the eclipse which preceded that of , and which occurred on 6th May , was not visible in Near-Eastern regions.
It is quite wrong to say that eclipses repeat themselves with very little change, because each solar eclipse in a particular Saros occurs about 7. Adding to the difficulty of recognizing a particular cycle is the fact that about forty-two periodic cycles are in progress continuously, and overlapping at any time. Every series in a periodic cycle lasts about 1, years and comprises 73 eclipses.
Eclipses which occur in one periodic cycle are unrelated to eclipses in other periodic cycles. The ancient letters prove that the Babylonians and Assyrians knew that lunar eclipses can occur only at full moon, and solar eclipses only at new moon, and also that eclipses occur at intervals of five or six months. Recent opinion is that, as early as B. In other recent research Britton has analysed a text known as Text S, which provides considerable detail and fine analysis of lunar phenomena dating from Nabonassar in B.
The text points to knowledge of the six-month five month periods. Britton believes that the Saros cycle was known before B. There is no evidence that the Saros could have been used for the prediction of solar eclipses in the sixth century B.
The Babylonian and Assyrian astronomers knew of the Saros period in relation to lunar eclipses, and had some success in predicting lunar eclipses but, in the sixth century B.
It is testified that Thales knew that the sun is eclipsed when the moon passes in front of it, the day of eclipse — called the thirtieth by some, new moon by others The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, However, lunar eclipses are not always followed by solar eclipses.
A report from Theon of Smyrna ap. Diogenes Laertius I. Solstices are natural phenomena which occur on June 21 or 22, and December 21 or 22, but the determination of the precise date on which they occur is difficult.
It is the reason why the precise determination of the solstices was so difficult. It was a problem which engaged the early astronomers, and more than seven centuries later, Ptolemy acknowledged the difficulty Alm.
This suggests that Thales observed the rising and setting of the sun for many days at mid-summer and mid-winter and, necessarily, over many years.
0コメント