The naturalistic philosophers in ancient Greece (7th-6th century BC) are considered as the earliest philosophers. No matter whether they know the world correctly or not, their thoughts are different from superstitions because these philosophers summed up the truth of nature through rational evidence. Thales was a thinker, scientist and philosopher in ancient Greece, and the founder of Miletus School (also known as Ionian School), the earliest school of philosophy in Greece. One of the seven sages of Greece, the first thinker with a name in the history of western thought. "Father of science and philosophy", Thales was the first natural scientist and philosopher in ancient Greece and the West. Thales' students include anaximander and Anaximenis. Thales was born in Humily, and his family belonged to the noble class of slave owners. It is said that he is a descendant of Hebrews or Jewish Phoenicians, so he received a good education from an early age. Thales was the earliest and most famous thinker, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and scientist in ancient Greece. He enrolled students, established colleges, and established Miletus School. He was not only a representative of spontaneous materialism at that time, but also an early scientific enlightener. At that time, the whole society was still in a state of ignorance and backwardness, and people could not understand many natural phenomena. However, Thales always wanted to explore the truth of nature. Because he is familiar with astronomy and mathematics, he is an early scientist in human history, so people call him "the father of science". Thales was also a businessman in his early years. He has been to many eastern countries, learned the knowledge of observing solar eclipses and calculating the distance between ships at sea in Babylon, and learned about the ethnic origin of Inge Hiddinsky (Hebrew or Jew) and Phoenicians. ) Explore the original concept of everything, and understand the methods and rules of land survey in Egypt. He also went to Mesopotamia, where he studied mathematics and astronomy. Later, he engaged in political and engineering activities, studying mathematics and astronomy. In his later years, he turned to philosophy. He dabbled in almost all fields of human thought and activities at that time and gained a high reputation. He is regarded as "the head of the seven sages of Greece". In fact, among the seven sages, only he is a profound scholar. Thales' philosophical viewpoint, the main philosophical thought, can be summarized in one sentence: "Everything is aquatic, and everything belongs to water". He thinks that the world is water. The seven sages of ancient Greece each had a particularly famous motto. His motto was: "Water is the best". Thales learned to observe floods from the Egyptians. He has a lot of experience. He carefully read the records of the annual flood and ebb of the Nile and witnessed the phenomenon of the river retreating. He found that every time the flood receded, not only fertile silt was left, but also countless tiny germs and larvae were left in the silt. He combined this phenomenon with the primitive Egyptian myth that God created the universe and came to the conclusion that everything is made of water. For Thales, water was the first basic element in the world. Egyptian priests claimed that the earth rose from the bottom of the sea, while Thales thought that the earth was floating on the water. Thales also has a very important point of view that "everything is animistic". According to this theory, even stones are creatures with souls. Thales repeatedly emphasized to Pythagoras, the antithesis of his philosophy, that the whole universe is alive, and it is the soul that makes everything full of vitality. This statement was very popular at that time. Thales once experimented with magnets and amber and found that these two objects were attractive to other objects, so he thought they had vitality inside, but this life was invisible to the naked eye. From this, Thales concluded that any stone looks cold, hard and lifeless, but it also contains a soul. Until 300 BC, the Stoic philosophers used Thales' experiment to prove that everything in the world was attracted by life. I hope it helps you!