Why is Thales called the first Western Philosopher?
Thales was the first philosopher to try to offer an account of the nature of reality as such. He is recognized as the first “pre-Socratic” (before Socrates). Pre-Socratic philosophy, generally speaking, is known for trying to explain reality by appealing to a single principle: either water, air, fire, and earth. Thales’s choice of principle is water. According to Thales, water is the principle of reality, and everything in some sense is made from it. Not much of Thales’s writings remain available to us, but he is generally considered to get the ball rolling in Western Philosophy, is and likely the first philosopher you will here about if you took a course in Ancient Philosophy.
