Thales: An Introduction

[Victor Eremita]

Thales (circa 624 BC–546 BC) is the first known Western philosopher. He is most famous for demanding a non-theist explanation for nature.

Unfortunately, that's it for Thales, because the rest of his philosophy lay in the idea that the world was created from a single material substance: water.

[Deftil]

He's also referred to as Thales of Miletus, as he was from Miletus in what is now known as Turkey, which is east of Greece.

He predicted an eclipse of the sun that occurred in 585 BC.

More on Thales:
Thales - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thales of Miletus [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

[CarolA]

Originally Posted by Deftil

He predicted an eclipse of the sun that occurred in 585 BC.

I would say perhaps he "explained" the eclipse. There is a very interesting article: Electronic Antiquities Volume III, Number 7
about this subject. Any astronomers out there who have run this eclipse data? Anyhow, even to have given a rational explanation must have been quite an amazing feat in its time.

[Deftil]

Originally Posted by CarolA

I would say perhaps he "explained" the eclipse. There is a very interesting article: Electronic Antiquities Volume III, Number 7
about this subject. Any astronomers out there who have run this eclipse data? Anyhow, even to have given a rational explanation must have been quite an amazing feat in its time.

Well, many sources have passed on the idea that he "predicted" it, or that he "predicted it according to Herodotus", but that of course doesn't mean it really happened. Your point and that of the paper that it probably didn't happen that way is definitely a good one.

[CarolA]

Yes, Herodotus mentions this as it was apparently the cause of two opposing armies stopping their fight, but he just says the day turned to night (so we guess this means an eclipse), he also says that Thales worked out navigation routes so I presume he was quite skilled at taking readings of the sun and stars like mariners did before GPS!
But whether or not he could "predict" an eclipse without understanding the paths of the earth and moon in relation to the sun, he still stands as a very important early "scientist", as opposed to the belief in mythological explanations for natural events.

[jgweed]

What we know of Thales is large anecdotal, but from these we see him as an archetype of the new thinking associated with the Pre-Socratics in general that began the separation of philosophy from religion and cosmological perspectives.

[Victor Eremita]

Originally Posted by jgweed

What we know of Thales is large anecdotal, but from these we see him as an archetype of the new thinking associated with the Pre-Socratics in general that began the separation of philosophy from religion and cosmological perspectives.

That's pretty much what Thales is all about, IMO anyway.