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KLASA C
Dołączył: 19 Lis 2010
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 Wysłany: Pon 5:12, 29 Lis 2010 |
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Read on
Epicurus and His Philosophy
Xenophanes and His Philosophies
Thales the Greek Thinker
Thales was, as can best be deduced, born in the Phœnician port of Miletus around 625 B.C. His parents being Euxamius and Cleobule were said to have descended from the noble family of Cadmus, the great founder of the city of Thebes (where the ill-fated Œdipus once ruled as King). According to Diogenes Lærtius in his Lives & Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Thales involved himself with affairs of the state before turning to philosophy.
As an astronomer the poet Callimachus attributes the discovery of Ursa Minor to Thales,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], by which Phœnician sailors used for navigation. He is also credited with predicting a solar eclipse which modern astronomers have dated to May 28th 585 B.C. Thales had studied in Babylon whose astronomers were intimately acquainted with the knowledge of solar and lunar eclipses, though,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], perhaps not sufficiently enough to accurately predict solar eclipses.
Herodotus writing in the fifth century B.C. says Thales was serving as a military engineer to King Crœsus who wished to pass his armies across the river Halys (now known as the Kizilirmak River in Turkey). Thales oversaw the diverting of the river by various channels and canals making the river fordable. Herodotus reports the engineering feat: “Crœsus was in doubt how he should get his army across, as the bridges were not made at this time, and that Thales, who happened to be in the camp, divided the stream and caused it to flow on both sides of the army instead of the left only.” (Histories I. 75) This tactic was later used by King Cyrus when he marched into Babylon by way of the mighty Euphrates.
As far as his philosophy is concerned it is less natural than mystical. Thales, we are told by Aristotle,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], advanced the theory of the earth resting on water, a notion that had its antecedents in ancient Egypt. Aristotle in his De Cælo writes: "Others say the earth rests on water. This, indeed,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is the oldest theory that has been preserved, and is attributed to Thales of Miletus. It was supposed to stay still because it floated like wood and other similar substances"
Thales seemed to believe that water was the first principle, or αρχη (arche) that water in various forms as either condensed, solidified, or rarefied, made up the tangible and visible world. He ascribed the influence of gods to the transformation of water into its varying stages, thus the attribution that all things are "full of gods," though Aristotle can do no more than conj
Philosophy of Thales
Thales also studied in Egypt and there he learned geometry from the Priesthood, and here Thales is said to have calculated the height of pyramids by measuring the length of their shadows; he also placed a right angle triangle within a circle, and discovered that two angles of the isosceles triangle are identical.
In his own lifetime he was counted as one of the Seven Sages of Greek antiquity and is said to have written various treatises none of which are extant. Several of Thales’ aphorisms are preserved by Diogenes Lærtius but whether or not they can be definitively attributed to Thales is in some doubt, though the infamous “Know thyself” is among the said aphorisms.
Some sources say he led a solitary reclusive life, others that he was married and had a son named Cibissus, still others say he adopted the son of his sister. When his mother encouraged him to marry he replied that it was not yet time, but in his old age he lamented: “Alas! for there is no more time.”
Life Before Philosophy
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