stenudd.COM
Stefan Stenudd           Author, Artist, Aikido instructor
MYTH
Myth of Creation
The Logics of Myth
Psychoanalysis of Myth
Genesis 1: The first creation of the Bible
Enuma Elish: Babylonian Creation
Cosmos of the Ancients
Aristotle - life and work
Aristotle's Poetics
Ideas and learning
The Taoist source
About the writer

ANCIENT GREECE
Introduction
Thales
Anaximander
Anaximenes
Pherecydes of Syros
Pythagoras
Xenophanes
Theagenes
Hecataeus
Heraclitus
Pindar
Parmenides
Anaxagoras
Empedocles
Herodotus
Gorgias
Melissus
Protagoras
Euripides
Prodicus of Ceos
Leucippus
Democritus
Critias
Antisthenes
Diagoras of Melos
Plato
Aristotle
Epicurus
Euhemerus
Table of the Greek Philosophers
Literature

Aristotle - life and work
Aristotle's Poetics

Books by Stefan Stenudd:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd.
COSMOS OF THE ANCIENTS
The Greek philosophers' theories about the gods, the myths, and cosmology.
More about the book here.


Murder, by Stefan Stenudd.
MURDER
Thoughts on life, death, and the meaning of it all - by Stefan Stenudd.
More about the book here.


All's End, by Stefan Stenudd.
ALL'S END
A science fiction novel by Stefan Stenudd, about the quest for a perfect world.
More about the book here.


QI - increase your life energy.
QI
Increase your life energy
The book about the life energy qi, with exercises on how to awaken and use it.
More about the book here.

Aikido - the book by Stefan Stenudd.
AIKIDO
The Peaceful Martial Art
The book about aikido principles, philosophy and basic concepts.
More about the book here.

Aikibatto - the book.
AIKIBATTO
The book about the aikibatto sword and staff exercises, practical and spiritual aspects of the sword arts, equip­ment for training, etc.
More about the book here.



Parthenon

Cosmos of the Ancients

The Greek Philosophers
on Myth and Cosmology


Thales


T he earliest cosmological theories of ancient Greece, would be those of Thales of Miletus, honored by his later peers as the very first philosopher and one of the Seven Sages, flourished circa 585 BC. In stating that the world had been formed out of the one substance water, he renounced the mythological accounts of how it all began, replacing divine action with natural processes where no gods were responsible for what took place – although Aristotle claims that the same Thales saw the gods being present in everything, filling it somewhat like an ether or inner substance.
Thales      Again according to Aristotle, he regarded also the lifeless things as having a soul, using the magnet's influence on iron as an argument for his case, which Aristotle interpreted as explanatory to Thales' idea that god is in all. Furthermore, Thales may have been the first to maintain the soul's immortality.
     According to Diogenes Laertius he had stated that: "Of all things that are, the most ancient is God, for he is uncreated, " and "The most beautiful is the universe, for it is God's workmanship." If Diogenes is to be trusted in this, Thales expressed a monotheistic opinion, enforced by the impression of Aristotle that the divine, present in all, seems not to have been divided into different divinities – if even distinctly differed from the soul. He claimed, again according to Diogenes Laertius, that there is not even any difference between life and death. None of his own writing remains.

Literature
Aristotle, de Anima, 405a and 411a.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, translated by R. D. Hicks, volume I, Loeb, London 1942.

© Stefan Stenudd 2000

How to get the book
An edited and extended version of the texts on this website was published in 2007.
     If you want to buy the book, you can do so at most international web based bookstores, such as Amazon and the like. Here are links to the book on Amazon US and Amazon UK. Use the latter if you are European - then you get the book cheaper and quicker. Otherwise, you may want to buy it at Amazon US.

At Amazon US:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd - at Amazon US.
At Amazon UK:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd - at Amazon UK.


Search Amazon for books about Thales:




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Tao Te Ching - the Taoist source.
TAOIST SOURCE
The Taoist source. The complete Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu.


More on this website:
Aikido
Aikibatto sword exercises
Myth
Greek Philosophers
Aristotle and his Poetics
The Taoist source
Qi - life energy
Fiction by Stenudd
Art by Stenudd
Astrology and horoscopes