PHIL 338 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Monism, On The Heavens
Document Summary
Thus, thales had the brilliant insight that one could understand natural phenomena-and nature itself-without looking beyond the natural realm to provide the basis for one"s understanding. So far we have interpreted thales as a naturalist, as a proto-scientist who is offering an alternative kind of thinking to the prevailing religious orthodoxy. What about the other views aristotle ascribes to thales? (so far we have only looked at two of the four. ) Or is he, perhaps, hedging his bets. ( earthquakes occur because the earth rocks on water-and, besides, there are gods in the water making waves. ) I think it is still possible to see these four statements forming a coherent world view: thales" claim that the world is full of gods need not be a retreat to traditional religion. For thales does not have a separate realm of gods. I read this statement as saying: don"t look outside the natural world for gods" to explain natural phenomena.
