Philosophy- Professor Douglas
March 13th, 2012
Midterm Essay #1
The nature of inquiry is not one that is uncommon to the human race. From the very origin of philosophy, the term for the “love of wisdom”, individuals have spent countless hours contemplating the most essential and critical matters before them. These individuals have made substantial attempts to explain reasoning behind the functioning of earthly matters, and by virtue of their study, they have come to be known as philosophers. While various philosophers have contributed to significant revelations and theories, the main pre-socratic philosophical movements were of ancient Greek origin and are attributed to the following philosophers: Thales, Anaximander, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. Born in Miletus, Thales was discontent with the traditional stories of enchantment known as myths. Aristotle contributed the fact that he saw him as the very first philosopher, which a very common belief in the modern world. His major contributions were his beliefs that the cause and element of all things is water, and that all things are occupied with gods. The impressive matter is that Thales recognized that there is only one particular base for all things and that it was a naturally occurring substance that was very tangible and real. While there is not much information on Thales, it is speculated that he chose water because of its diversity and physical characteristics that allow for it to prevail in liquid, solid, and gaseous forms. As for his second contribution, the Greeks were firm believers of the immortality of the gods and their occupation in the lives of the humans and the natural world. Therefore, it would not be unusual for them to reside in all things present on the earth. Thales very truly was the very first philosopher as he began the search for the answer to why things happen as they do. The Greek nature was not one to simply accept Thales propositions, but rather they