THALES of Miletus
Surprised? Isn't he the father of Philosophy?
Yes he is! Most of us have read that Psychology was derived from Philosophy but read what follows and we might be thinking otherwise!
Greek philosophy didn’t begin in Greece (as we know it); It began on the western coast of what is now Turkey, an area known then as Ionia. In Ionia’s richest city, Miletus, was a man of Phoenician descent called Thales (624-546). He studied in Egypt and other parts of the near east, and learned geometry and astronomy.
His answer to the great question of what the universe is made of was water. Inasmuch as water is a simple molecule, found in gaseous, liquid, and solid forms, and found just about everywhere, especially life, this is hardly a bad answer! It makes Thales not only the nominal first philosopher, but the first materialist as well. Since ultimate nature was known in Greek as physis, he could also be considered the first physicist (or, as the Greeks would say, physiologist).
We should note, however, that he also believed that the whole universe of material things is alive, and that animals, plants, and even metals have souls -- an idea called panpsychism.
