Everything is Full of Gods - Thales of Miletus

-Greek philosophy actually didn't start in Greece itself, but in Ionia (central western coast of modern-day Turkey) with Greek immigrants (Ionians).
   -One Ionian city, Miletus (Mīlētos) (modern-day Didim, Turkey), is considered to be the birthplace of Western philosophy, founded by immigrants in Athens.
      -Miletus was a rich and powerful city, main export was wool; similar to other Ionian cities.
         -Ionians also started their own colonies in places like Italy or around the Black Sea.
   -Did Greek philosophy have Egyptian or even Eastern influences?  Maybe!
-Arguably the first major Greek philosopher was a dude named Thales (c. 624-546 BC), who at the time was just considered to be a wise man or sage and wasn't some big thinker or philosopher just sitting around all the time (which would be the stereotype later with the Greek philosophers).
   -Considered to be one of the "Seven Sages of Early Greece" (along with Cleobulus of Lindos, Solon of Athens, Chilon of Sparta, Bias of Prene, Pittacus of Mytilene, and Periander of Corinth).
   -Good at weather prediction and farming; made a fortune in the olive business.
   -Thales was also an astronomer and mathematician and overall expert (for the time) in the physical sciences; however, he wasn't necessarily a deep thinker, but a brilliant logician.  Back then, science and philosophy were kind of the same thing.
      -Plato also tells a story about Thales falling down a well as he was gazing up at the stars (ha).
   -Thales was part of a group of early thinkers today known as the "pre-Socratics".
      -We only know fragments of what they may have said...we don't really know that much about them.
      -Pre-Socratic views were grounded in arguments, presumably based on reason and logic.
-Thales' philosophical claims (possibly) include:
   -Water is really important; the earth is even floating on water like a piece of wood.
      -Water is also a cosmic principle.  Perhaps EVERYTHING comes from water!
   -Magnets have souls, as does amber (since amber can attract things when you rub it due to static electricity).  Thales may have also believed that movement is associated with living things, and that actually "all things are full of gods" (and perhaps are therefore moving).
      -A magnet looks inert, but in fact isn't because it can attract or repel shit, so therefore couldn't that apply to everything having a god or soul or some sort of divine entity within itself?