Thales was a native of Miletus, in Asia Minor. He flourished in 585 BCE (the date of an eclipse he is reputed to have predicted). No fragments of his work have survived, only testimony. Aristotle attributes the following four views to Thales:
1. The earth rests on water. (De Caelo 294a28)
2. Water is the archê of all things. (Metaph. 983b18)
3. The magnet has a soul. (De Anima 405a19)
4. All things are full of gods. (De Anima 411a7)
This seems like a very bizarre collection of very strange views. What makes these views philosophically or scientifically interesting? We will begin wi…
