Western philosophy
Because the earliest Greek philosophers focused their attention upon the origin and nature of the physical world, they are often called cosmologists, or naturalists. Although monistic views (which trace the origin of the world to a single substance) prevailed at first, they were soon followed by several pluralistic theories (which trace it to several ultimate substances). There is a consensus, dating back at least to the 4th century bc and continuing to the present, that the first Greek philosopher was Thales of Miletus (flourished 6th century bc). In Thales’ time the word philosopher (“lover of wisdom”) had not yet been coined. Thales was counted, however, among the legendary Seven Wise Men (Sophoi), whose name derives from a term that then designated inventiveness and practical wisdom rather than speculative insight. Thales demonstrated these qualities by trying to give the mathematical knowledge that he derived from the Babylonians a more exact foundation and by using it for the solution of practical problems—such as the determination of the distance of a ship as seen from the shore or of the height of ... (200 of 38,563 words)Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
The pre-Socratic philosophers
Cosmology and the metaphysics of matter
Monistic cosmologies