PHILOSOPHER

Thales of Miletus

623 BC - 546 BC

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Thales of Miletus ( THAY-leez; Ancient Greek: Θαλῆς; c. 626/623 – c. 548/545 BC) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages, founding figures of Ancient Greece. Beginning in eighteenth-century historiography, many came to regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, breaking from the prior use of mythology to explain the world and instead using natural philosophy. He is thus otherwise referred to as the first to have engaged in mathematics, science, and deductive reasoning. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Thales of Miletus is the 17th most popular philosopher (down from 15th in 2019), the 5th most popular biography from Türkiye and the most popular Turkish Philosopher.

Thales of Miletus is most famous for his belief that everything in the world is made up of water, air, earth, and fire.

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Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Thales of Miletus ranks 17 out of 1,267. Before him are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Baruch Spinoza, Niccolò Machiavelli, Augustine of Hippo, Francis Bacon, and Friedrich Nietzsche. After him are Heraclitus, Thomas Aquinas, Diogenes, Erasmus, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and John Locke.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 623 BC, Thales of Miletus ranks 1.  Among people deceased in 546 BC, Thales of Miletus ranks 1. After him are Anaximander, and Croesus.

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In Türkiye

Among people born in Türkiye, Thales of Miletus ranks 5 out of 1,347. Before him are Suleiman the Magnificent (1494), Paul the Apostle (5), Herodotus (-484), and Mehmed the Conqueror (1432). After him are Heraclitus (-535), Diogenes (-404), Saint Nicholas (270), Saint George (280), Osman I (1254), Hesiod (-800), and Julian (331).

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In Türkiye

Among philosophers born in Türkiye, Thales of Miletus ranks 1. After him are Heraclitus (-535), Diogenes (-404), Anaximander (-610), Anaxagoras (-500), Epictetus (50), Xenophanes (-570), Leucippus (-500), Gregory of Nazianzus (329), Ibn Taymiyyah (1263), Anaximenes of Miletus (-585), and Chrysippus (-281).

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