Thales

Part of speech: noun, proper noun

Definitions

1. A pre-Socratic philosopher known for his contributions to geometry and astronomy
2. An ancient thinker credited with founding the Milesian school of natural philosophy and the concept of explaining phenomena through natural causes
3. A mathematician and astronomer recognized for proposing that water is the fundamental principle underlying all of nature

Etymology: Thales of Miletus, the Greek philosopher often called the first of the Western thinkers, gave his name to the word, and the name itself carries no hidden meaning. The Greek "Thalês" was simply a personal name, and English took it over unchanged to label the man. His reputation rests on a striking claim: he argued that water was the basic stuff from which everything else is made, a proposal that replaced myths of gods and creation with an explanation based on natural substances and processes. That shift is why his name became attached to the wider idea. Later writers grouped him with other thinkers from the Ionian city of Miletus, and the term "Milesian school" describes this circle that sought causes in the physical world rather than in divine will. Thales is the figure the tradition points back to as its starting point, so the word now stands for the very beginning of that approach to explaining nature.