Miletus was an ancient Greek city near the Aegean coast in Ionia. It is believed to have been the birthplace of scientific philosophy, or independent thinking based on observing the evidence and applying logical thought without the distortions of religious beliefs. Up until 600 BC, and again in the Dark Ages, the irrational belief in the fantasies of religion had corrupted recorded ideas. The Milesian school was founded by three main thinkers – Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. They were all trying to understand and explain the physical world in the same way as the great scientists would do after the Renaissance.
Thales was born in around 624 BC. He argued that everything was made of water. He was also the first known person to apply deductive reasoning to geometry and used triangles to calculate measurements. He also seemed to understand the planets and the weather, using this to predict solar eclipses and good years for the olive harvest. He used that knowledge to speculate and make a profit – not so much for the money but to show the importance of logical thinking in everyday life.
Anaximander was born in around 610 BC. He also used a scientific and rational thought process. Like Thales, he believed that everything was made of one primal substance, but argued that there was a balance between fire, earth, water ( and possibly air) and that all matter eventually reverted back to the primal substance, which could not therefore be any one of these known substances or it would dominate in time.
He argued that the world was not created ( as stated in Jewish theology ) but evolved. All animals, including man were descended from fishes. Man could not have survived if created in his current form due to the long period of dependant infancy.
Anaximenes was born in around 570 BC. He believed that fire, air, water, earth and stone were all forms of the same substance, some being more condensed.
He argued that the soul was air, and air encompasses everything. His ideas influenced Pythagoras.