Quotation
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“Thales, the founder of this kind of philosophy, says the principle is water.”
Thales of Miletus · Milesian · Ancient · 4th century BCE report of a 6th-century view
What does it mean?
Aristotle presents Thales as the first to name a material principle, and the principle he reports is water. A rival reading holds that Aristotle pressed a looser Milesian interest in moisture and living things into his own scheme of causes, so the word may be his more than Thales's. The report stands at the opening of Metaphysics I.3, where Aristotle lines his predecessors up before he states his four causes. No sentence of Thales's own survives to settle the quarrel.
Did Thales of Miletus really say this?
The library’s label is Questionable. Thales left no writing. This is Aristotle's report of his view, not a sentence from Thales. The doctrine is famous; the wording is Aristotle's.
Where it comes from
Aristotle, Metaphysics I.3, 983b, reporting Thales
Approximate date: 4th century BCE report of a 6th-century view.
How to use it
When a damp flat is blamed on 'the weather' in a residents' chat, name the single thing the explanation treats as basic: a cracked gutter, a cold bridge, or the landlord's neglect. That naming is the Milesian habit. A repair plan that skips it is already arguing from a slogan rather than from a cause.
A mindset reading
A confident origin story is often a later writer's filing system. Keep apart what someone is reported to have thought and the scheme the reporter needed in order to file them. Mixing those two is how a classroom summary becomes a fake quotation.
Understand the philosophy
Aristotle is answering what the earliest philosophy was looking for. He calls it an arche, a principle: something that stays while other things come to be from it. On his telling, Thales noticed only a material cause. The Milesians open his history of natural philosophy, and the sentence is evidence about Aristotle's lecture as much as about a man from Miletus.
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FAQ
What does it mean?
Aristotle presents Thales as the first to name a material principle, and the principle he reports is water. A rival reading holds that Aristotle pressed a looser Milesian interest in moisture and living things into his own scheme of causes, so the word may be his more than Thales's. The report stands at the opening of Metaphysics I.3, where Aristotle lines his predecessors up before he states his four causes. No sentence of Thales's own survives to settle the quarrel.
Did Thales of Miletus really say this?
Questionable. Thales left no writing. This is Aristotle's report of his view, not a sentence from Thales. The doctrine is famous; the wording is Aristotle's.
Which work is it in?
Aristotle, Metaphysics I.3, 983b, reporting Thales Approximate date: 4th century BCE report of a 6th-century view.