Anaximenes | by Ancient Philosophers Ancient sources say that Anaximenes was a younger associate or pupil of Anaximander: He agrees with Thales that there is a single cause: He calls this basic stuff aēr (usually translated “air,” although aēr is more like a dense mist than what we think of as air, which is ideally transparent). Aēr is indefinite enough to give rise to the

Anaximander | by Ancient Philosophers Diogenes Laertius says that Anaximander was 64 years old in 547/6 BCE, and this dating agrees with the ancient reports that say that Anaximander was a pupil or follower of Thales. He was said to have been the first person to construct a map of the world. Anaximander makes the originating stuff of the cosmos something indefinite or boundless (Apeiron in Greek);

Thales appears on lists of the 7 sages of Greece, a traditional catalogue of wise men. The chronicler Apollodorus suggests that he was born around 625 BCE. Plato and Aristotle tell stories about Thales that show that even in Ancient Times philosophers had a mixed reputation for practicality: They say that once when Thales was gazing upwards while doing astronomy, he fell into a well.

Anaximenes (c. 585 – c. 528 BCE) Anaximenes was the 3rd and last member (the others were Thales and Anaximander) of what is traditionally called the Milesian school of natural philosophers. Although little is known about his life and work, fragments of ancient testimony credit him with the doctrine that Air is the underlying principle of the universe, changes in physical state being the result

Anaximander (c. 610 BCE–546 BCE) Anaximander is the first Greek scientist and philosopher whose thought is known to us in any detail. He was born in Miletus c. 610 BCE and died shortly after 546 BCE. It is perhaps Anaximander who should be considered the founder of Greek astronomy and natural philosophy. For him, the term Apeiron meant “untraversable” or “limitless” rather than “infinite” in