The three milesian philosophers who attempted to explain the building blocks of the natural world were Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. They all had a materialistic view to explain the natural world. Materialists believe that the only things that were truly real or that truly existed were tangible items. At the time they studied there was no technology to give validity to their teachings, therefore, their beliefs on the origin of the natural world were based solely on what they could sense. Anaximander was the exception to this, he was the most radical of the three because his thoughts went beyond what he could sense. Each philosopher had their own reasoning to support why their arkhé, or ultimate origin, was the true building blocks of the world they could sense. ADD INFO ABOUT PYTHAGOREANS TO INTRO Thales was considered the first philosopher. He …show more content…
This means that much of their beliefs were not brought down after they were no longer practicing. What is known are accounts of what they taught. The Pythagoreans believed they could explain nature through objective ideas, specifically math. They believed that no one can invent math; therefore, it is not a personal idea, but a shared truth. To the Pythagoreans, math is simply discovered from nature. They also believed that these objective ideas have always existed, and will always exist, even if they are not discovered. Aristotle explained their teachings by stating that the Pythagoreans believed the origin of math to be the underlying origin, or arkhé, of all things. (A Presocratics Reader, Aristotle, 3.17) They used this belief about the origin of math in nature to explain nature. Upon observations they saw matter in the natural world as having representations of math. Although, the Pythagoreans believed nature was imperfect, but striving for the perfection of math. The Pythagoreans used idealism to explain the natural