Quotation
Last reviewed:
“He says that the earth rests upon water.”
Thales of Miletus · Milesian · Ancient · 4th-century BCE report of a 6th-century view
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading treats this as a physical picture attached to the water principle: the earth stays up because it floats on water, as a log floats. A competing reading thinks Aristotle inferred the picture from the principle, so the sentence may organise Thales for a lecture rather than quote a doctrine he stated. It stands in Metaphysics I.3, 983b, in the same stretch as the report that the principle is water, which is already a separate card. The two claims are not the same. One names a stuff. This one names where the earth sits. Both are Aristotle speaking. The Diels-Kranz number is 11 A12.
Did Thales of Miletus really say this?
The library’s label is Questionable. Aristotle's report, a few lines after he says Thales made water the principle. Diels-Kranz 11 A12. It is not the same sentence as the principle claim, and it is not Thales's own wording.
Where it comes from
Aristotle, Metaphysics I.3, 983b21, reporting Thales (Diels-Kranz 11 A12)
Approximate date: 4th-century BCE report of a 6th-century view.
How to use it
A residents' meeting that says 'it's the water table' still has to say what that is supposed to hold up. The report is a reminder that a named stuff is not yet an account of why something stays where it is. Ask for the picture, and then ask whose picture it is.
A mindset reading
Do not collapse two reports from the same chapter into one slogan. Aristotle gives a principle and then a consequence about the earth. Keeping them apart is how a short library stays honest about a man who left no book.
Understand the philosophy
Metaphysics I.3 is Aristotle lining up the earliest philosophers before he states his own causes. The key picture is the earth resting on water. He offers reasons Thales might have thought this, including moisture and seeds, and those reasons are Aristotle's reconstruction. The card on the principle is the neighbouring sentence. This one is the cosmological claim.
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FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading treats this as a physical picture attached to the water principle: the earth stays up because it floats on water, as a log floats. A competing reading thinks Aristotle inferred the picture from the principle, so the sentence may organise Thales for a lecture rather than quote a doctrine he stated. It stands in Metaphysics I.3, 983b, in the same stretch as the report that the principle is water, which is already a separate card. The two claims are not the same. One names a stuff. This one names where the earth sits. Both are Aristotle speaking. The Diels-Kranz number is 11 A12.
Did Thales of Miletus really say this?
Questionable. Aristotle's report, a few lines after he says Thales made water the principle. Diels-Kranz 11 A12. It is not the same sentence as the principle claim, and it is not Thales's own wording.
Which work is it in?
Aristotle, Metaphysics I.3, 983b21, reporting Thales (Diels-Kranz 11 A12) Approximate date: 4th-century BCE report of a 6th-century view.