Thales of Miletus by O'GRADY, PATRICIA F. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Note on the Sources 1 INTRODUCTION 2 THE WRITINGS OF THALES’ AND ‘ARISTOTLE’S POSSIBLE SOURCES FOR THALES’

The Writings of Thales

Topics on which Thales may have Written

Aristotle’s Possible Sources for Thales

Anaximander and Anaximenes Heraclitus and Anaxagoras Alcmaeon Hippias

Plato’s Hippias The Works of Hippias Bruno Snell on Hippias and The Teachings of Thales’

Aristophanes and the Birds Hippo

3 THALES … SAYS THE ’APXH’ IS WATER

Thales’s Watery Principle

But What is this ‘Nature’?

Material Principles as ’Aρχρή – Generation, Destruction and Preservation The Ancient Terminology and the Aristotelian Texts

Oὑσία Φύσιϛ Στοιχϵîα ’Aρχρή

Anaximander, Thales and ’Aρχρή

Has Aristotle Misled Us?

Conclusion

4 ARISTOTLE ON THE ’APXH’ OF THALES AND SOME TRADITIONAL EXPLANATIONS OF PHENOMENA

The Cyclic Theory of Thales Aristotle’s Reasons for Thales’s Supposition: Preliminary Comments

A The Nurture of all Creatures is Moist’ B ‘Warmth Itself is Generated by Moisture’: Heat, Moisture and Spontaneous Generation C ‘Another Reason would be that the Semina of all Things have a Moist Nature’ D Water is the First Principle

Conclusion

5 THALES AND MYTHOLOGY

Oceanus, Tethys and Styx Near Eastern Myth Common Themes in Diverse Areas Common Mythological Themes Conclusion

6 NEW IDEAS ABOUT THE EARTH

Earth Rests on Water

Point I The Earth is at Rest Point II Others Say the Earth Rests on Water Point III The Earth Floated like Wood Point IV Water is Lighter than Earth Conclusion

Thales’s Spherical Earth

Conclusion

Thales’s Earthquake Theory

Traditional Explanations of Earthquakes Arguments Supporting Thales’s Theories Conclusion

Conclusion

7 ALL THINGS ARE FULL OF GODS

Thales’s Views on the Soul

Sources and Interpretation υΨχή in Homer The Moving Force: Magnetite or Lodestone Amber

The Influence of Thales’s Cosmology

Thales’s Successors

‘AH Things are Full of Gods’ The Life Force

8 NEW IDEAS ABOUT THE COSMOS

The Eclipse of Thales

A The Ancient Testimony B The Saros Period C Near Eastern Heavenly Observations Thales’s Comprehension of Eclipse Phenomena Conclusion

Setting the Solstices Thales’s Determination of the Diameters of the Sun and the Moon The Seasons and the Calendar

Ancient Calendars The Earliest Greek Calendars

Thales and Greek Calendars: a supposition

Cleostratus of Tenedos

Thales’s ‘Discovery’ of the Seasons

9 CROSSING THE HALYS 10 THALES THE MATHEMATICIAN

The Ancient Sources on the Discovery of Geometry

Democritus and the Relevance of the Harpedonaptae The ‘Treatises with Proof of Democritus’s Claim

The Travels of Democritus The Harpedonaptae

Plato and Aristotle Mathematics and Mensuration in Egypt Conclusion

Thales and Greek Geometry

The Theorems Attributed to Thales

Definition 17 Euclid 1.5 Euclid 1.15 Euclid 1.26 Measuring the height of a pyramid The Seqt and The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus Suggested methods of the utilization of Theorem 1.26 The suggested application of Euclid 6.4 Euclid 3.31

The Sacrifice of an Ox

Conclusion

11 SCIENTIFICITY AND RATIONALITY

Criticism, Rationality and Science

The Milesian School Rationality

Induction Falsification of Thales’s Watery Thesis Testability and Falsifiability Experimentation and Science Economy and Multiple Hidden Entities

12 CONCLUSION APPENDIX A APPENDIX B Selected Bibliography Indexes

I Index of Passages Quoted II General Index

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