Magazine from Kaunas ‘Į’ #2: Water

‘It is not much that we know about Thales of Miletus who is considered to be the founder of philosophy. That is so as his scripts, if there were any, did not survive till our times. The few surviving sayings and testimonies attributed to Thales reached us through later philoso- phers who could hardly be called his pupils as they did not seem to have adopted many of his views.
The official line of the history of philosophy speak- ing through those testimonies labels him as one of the seven Greek wise men, i.e. the most intelligent Greeks from 6th century B.C. equally well versed in matters of science, politics and everyday life, a list of which varies from source to source.
According to most of his contemporaries, Thales was interested in mathematics and geometry; astronomy was his special interest. The story goes that Thales was accompanied outside by his old maidservant to observe the stars, yet he fell into a well. The old woman then retorted to Thales who was moaning in pain: ‘How can you expect to know all about the heavens, Thales, when you cannot even see what is just before your feet?’
The well must have been dry as Thales did not drown. This is an important circumstance.
That is to be born in mind because what we know best about Thales and what was summed up by Diogenes Laertius, ‘His doctrine was that water is the universal primary substance.’ The thought that everything in the world comes from and returns into the one and only ultimate substance
has some kind of irresistible charm and invincible mag- netism.’

Kęstas Kirtiklis