The philosophers of Miletus

It was in Miletus, in the sixth century BC, when philosophical thought began: the well-known step from myth to logos. Religious beliefs and explanations (myth) are left behind and the rational explanation is developed to decipher all the events of our world. In Mileto the first school arose, the first group of philosophers that raised questions about the origin of the Universe, of nature and life in general. They are considered the first physicists, since these were the first rational explanations about nature or Physis. Everyone thought that there was some element that caused the origin of the Universe. Now we will see what element each of the philosophers of Miletus took .

Tales of Miletus (624-546 BC)

Great connoisseur of mathematics and physics. He considered that since everything is composed of water, this would be the element or principle of the Universe. A principle with life that likewise, originates the rest of lives.

Anaximenes (585-525 BC)

Consider that the element from which the Universe is born is air . By condensation and rarefaction all natural phenomena occur: from the air by rarefaction arises the fire and by condensation the wind, the clouds, the water and the earth.

Anaximander (611-546 BC)

The first who called the element that originated the Universe by a name: the arche. For Anaximander it was something immaterial: the apeiron, something indefinite and indeterminate from which the cold and the hot, the wet and the dry were separated.

Pythagoras (570-496 BC)

He founded his school-brotherhood in the South of Italy, creating complex centers of something more than Philosophy. They enclosed an authentic mystique of thought with the influence of ancient religions. What we know about these is what Aristotle tells us: they considered the number as the arche to explain the origin of the Universe. Everything has a measure, everything is made up of numbers: there is the form, the limit, the order, the proportion and the measure.

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