Anaximenes of Miletus

Anaximenes of Miletus (ˌænækˈsɪməˌniːz; Ἀναξιμένης ὁ Μιλήσιος; 586/585-526/525 BC) was an Ancient Greek, Pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) active in the 6th century BC. He was the last of the three philosophers of the Milesian School, regarded by historians as the first philosophers of the Western world. Anaximenes is best known and identified as a younger friend or student of Anaximander, who was himself taught by the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, Thales, one of the Seven Sages of Greece. The life and views of Anaximenes remain obscure as none of his work has been preserved, and he is only known through comments about him made by later writers. Historians and philosophers consider his cosmological views to be similar to his two Milesian predecessors. Thales proposed that all matter was made of water; Anaximander proposed all matter was made of apeiron—something indefinite rather than something specific; and Anaximenes proposed that all matter was made of air. According to Anaximenes, more condensed air made for colder, denser objects and more rarefied air made for hotter, lighter objects. Anaximenes also believed that the Earth and other celestial bodies were flat and tilted, in the shape of a table (or trapezoid), and that they floated on air. Anaximenes, the son of Eurystratos, was from Miletus, an Ionian Greek town on the western coast of Anatolia near the mouth of the Maeander River. He is considered to be the third philosopher in the Western tradition, after Anaximander, who came after Thales, who was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. The exact dates of Anaximenes' life are lost to history. Anaximenes is considered by Aristotle's follower Theophrastus (as relayed by Simplicius) to have been the younger pupil of Anaximander, and he is also considered old enough to have influenced Pythagoras.

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Related concepts (54)

Pre-Socratic philosophy

Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as Early Greek Philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of these early philosophers spanned the workings of the natural world as well as human society, ethics, and religion. They sought explanations based on natural law rather than the actions of gods. Their work and writing has been almost entirely lost.

Anaximenes of Miletus

Thales of Miletus

Thales of Miletus (ˈθeɪliːz ; Θαλῆς; 626/623 -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, and credited with the saying "know thyself" which was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Many 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.