The birth of Western Philosophy

The birth of western philosophy: the early naturalists

Western philosophy began in the sixth or seventh century before Christ in Ionia. The first philosophers were search for the essence of all things, in the sense of a material constituent. Thus Anaximander held that the underlying reality of all things is water, and Thales that it is air. Anaximenes did better, holding that it is indefinite, and therefore able to take on the various sensible characters that we experience. Anaximenes held that there are an infinite nu...