Thales Flashcards
Thales of _____ lived around…
Thales of Miletus lived around 625 BCE-545 BCE
According to Aristotle Thales was the founder of…
According to Aristotle Thales was the founder of natural philosophy.
Thales helped Croesus and his army do what?
Thales helped Croesus and his army ford a river by diverting it and splitting it in two fordable streams.
(Herodotus, Histories I 75.3-5)
What is it that Thales was supposed to have predicted?
Thales was supposed to have predicted an eclipse.
Herodotus, Histories I 74.2
Thales holds that the earth rests upon what?
Thales holds that the earth rests upon water.
(Aristotle, On the Heavens 294a28-b1
What did Thales believe to be the first principle?
Thales believed that water was the first principle.
Aristotle, Metaphysics 983b 6-11, 17-27
What did Thales have to say about the soul?
The soul is something that produces motion. He thought that magnets had souls because they could move iron.
(Aristotle, On the Soul 405a19-21)
What did Thales have to say of the gods?
Thales thought that everything was full of gods.
Aristotle, On the Soul 411 a7-8
What was Thales’ relationship with geometry?
Thales was ascribed various geometric discoveries, but this is dubious.
What of Thales and the olives?
He was said to have predicted a good harvest so he bought up all the olive presses and made bank.
What of Thales and the ditch?
Thales is said to have been taken from his house by an old woman to look at the stars and to have fallen into a ditch: When he cried out, the old woman said: ‘do you think, Thales, that you’ll learn what’s in the heavens when you can’t see what’s in front of your feet?’
What famous motto is attributed to Thales?
‘Know thyself’ is the famous motto attributed to Thales.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers 1 22-28, 33-40
