The Problem Of Singularity And The Milesian Philosophers
The Problem of Singularity
While we must admire the rationality and the logical intuitions of the Milesian philosophers, their lofty goal of discovering a single, unique element that explains both the genesis of the universe and persistence of all matter is largely unsuccessful. Both Thales’s and Anaximenes’s material monism, though philosophically seductive, convenient models are unable to account for all the ‘stuff’ in existence. Neither arche (ἀρχή), be it the water of Thales or the aer of Anaximenes, can accurately explain the physical composition of all matter in the universe and all causal reactions that occur thereafter. However, a closer analysis of their two fundamentally similar paradigms can yield a fruitful understanding of our world, ultimately posing larger questions about the cosmological constitution of the universe’s past, present, and future.
Thales, one of the seven sages of Greece, explains that water is responsible for the primal origins of life and existence. Given that the Greeks were not privy to numerous advancements of modern science, his initial claim seems sensible: all living things, including plants, need to water to survive; water is one of the more basic and uncomplicated substances; water can’t be destroyed or created; and, quite literally “the earth rests on water” (9). As Aristotle put it, “maybe he got this idea from seeing that the nourishment of all things is moist.” Using his keen powers of empirical observation, Thales saw how moisture operates in nearly every natural process. Water rained down from the heavens, and then evaporated back into the clouds. Water was even able to maintain stability in solid state as ice, if given the right conditions. In this respect, Thales saw water as the quintessential utilitarian element; matter that could exist in all three states whilst maintaining intrinsic stability: “the substance persisting but changing in its attributes, this they state is the element and...
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