The School of Miletus arises during the 7th century BC, when there were many social, political and economic factors that were responsible for generating the colonial expansion of the Hellenic peninsula towards Asia Minor and its coasts. At that time, great cultural exchanges took place that generated the formation of a free thought full of religious traditions and mythical beliefs. Among the cities of Asia Minor, the city of Miletus stands out mainly. In this we can find the first philosophers who give us a rational and orderly vision of everything that surrounds us, our world.
Because she is famous
According to historical records, the School of Miletus was the first institution to focus on the teaching of philosophy.
What was the School of Miletus?
The School of Miletus was a philosophical school founded in the 4th century in Miletus, Asia Minor. Its main exhibiting members were Thales , Anaximander and Anaximenes , all citizens of Miletus. It is a way of thinking in which new points of view were introduced that were against the normal of the time, giving the anthropomorphic gods responsibilities for the things that happened around them.
The first philosophers come to the conclusion that all the things that surround us are enclosed in the same question: What is the true nature of things? The reflection of the thinkers was focused on the cosmos, the physis and the arkhé, and they left aside the problems that man could present. The School of Miletus is the first school to focus on philosophy and to be recorded in history . Of its main representatives Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes little is known, but it is known that they mixed cosmogonic myths and rational and scientific background analysis.
- History of the School of Miletus
- Characteristics of the School of Miletus
- Representatives of the School of Miletus
- Plays
History of the School of Miletus
As mentioned above, during the 7th century BC, the formation and creation of new colonies occurred, this caused by the Doric invasion that caused thousands of people to migrate to the islands. The main cities that suffered the invasion were Samos, Ephesus and Miletus, mainly because they had a great commercial contact as they were close to the coasts.
Characteristics of the School of Miletus
One of the main characteristics is that it was loaded with axiomatic monism , this means that an important part of the school was the axiomatic metaphysics which said that the axioms applied to every aspect that involved the human being, from society to the part moral. Axiomatic monism referred to ancient physicists who thought that all things came from something.
Another important characteristic was that long before philosophy developed, the Greeks thought that things passed through myths and that the earth had been created by the gods, but, when philosophy took hold, these ideals were transformed because scientists were against the gods , so they began to change the mindset of the Greeks regarding mythology . People developed a strict rationalism regarding the subject.
Representatives of the School of Miletus
Three were the main representatives of the Miletus School: Thales of Miletus , Anaximander , and Anaximenes . Thales of Miletus was the one who began with the investigation of the universe and little information is known about him, but he was considered the first philosopher in the world and as the founder of the Ionian school of philosophy. He was considered one of the seven sages of antiquity and his main disciple was Pythagoras . Great mathematician and astronomer . I thought that the beginning of things was water or arché , that all things had life because everything was full of demons, and that change and generation occur through condensation and rarefaction . The studies carried out by him deeply covered the area of geometry, mathematics, linear algebra, geometry of space and some branches of physics . Anaximander was a disciple of Thales, he is considered the author of the map, the measurement of solstices and equinoxes, inventor of works to be able to measure the distance and the size of the stars and affirmed that the earth is round and is in the center of the universe. Anaximenes, the third most important representative of the School of Miletus, also thought that all things are infinite, but he believed in an important element: air.. He thought that through rarefaction and condensation it could be transformed into anything.
Plays
With regard to Thales of Miletus, in reality there are no accurate or truthful references regarding the works he made. All the information and works of Anaximenes have been lost with the passage of time, and of Anaximander, it is possible to keep only a small text of information. It is known, however, that the three main representatives of the School of Miletus completely focused on their works in nature . For Thales, the main essence of life was water , for Anaximenes it was air and for Anaximander the indeterminate. They all had different theories and ways of looking at life.