George Johnston Allman and Henry Jackson, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 26… (1911)
“ Philosophy.—Whilst in virtue of his political sagacity and intellectual eminence Thales held a place in the traditional list of the wise men, on the strength of the disinterested love of knowledge which appeared in his physical speculations he was accounted a “philosopher” (φιλόσοφος) . ”
George Johnston Allman and Henry Jackson, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 26… (1911)
“ THALES OF MILETUS (640–546 B.C.) , Greek physical philosopher, son of Examyus and Cleobuline, is universally recognized as the founder of Greek geometry, astronomy and philosophy. He is said by Herodotus and others to have been of Phoenician extraction, but the more common account (see Diogenes Laërtius) is that he was a native Milesian of noble birth. Zeller thinks that his ancestors belonged to the Cadmean tribe in Bocotia, who were intermingled with the Ionians of Asia Minor, and thus reconciles the conflicting statements. The nationality of Thales is certainly Greek and not Phoenician. ”
George Johnston Allman and Henry Jackson, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 26… (1911)
“ His “philosophy” is usually summed up in the dogma “water is the principle, or the element, of things”; but, as the technical terms “principle” (ἀρχή) and “element” (στοιχεῖον) had not yet come into use, it may be conjectured that the phrase “all things are water” (πάντα ὔδωρ ἐστί) more exactly represents his teaching. ”
