   thales of miletus (; , thalÄs;  624&nbsp;â c. 546&nbsp;bc) was a pre-socratic greek philosopher from miletus in asia minor, and one of the seven sages of greece. many, most notably aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the greek tradition.aristotle, metaphysics alpha, 983b18. aristotle reported thales' hypothesis about the nature of matter â that the originating principle of nature was a single material substance: water. according to bertrand russell, "western philosophy begins with thales." thales attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology and was tremendously influential in this respect. almost all of the other pre-socratic philosophers follow him in attempting to provide an explanation of ultimate substance, change, and the existence of the world without reference to mythology. those philosophers were also influential and eventually thales' rejection of mythological explanations became an essential idea for the scientific revolution. he was also the first to define general principles and set forth hypotheses, and as a result has been dubbed the "father of science," though it is argued that democritus is actually more deserving of this title. in mathematics, thales used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. he is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by
546_BC_deaths 6th-century_BC_Greek_people 6th-century_BC_philosophers Ancient_Greek_mathematicians Ancient_Greek_philosophers Ancient_Greek_physicists Ancient_Milesians Philosophers_of_ancient_Ionia Presocratic_philosophers Seven_Sages_of_Greece