The Lexicon · Genealogy · Antiquity
THALES
c. 624–c. 546 BCE
All Is Water (All Is Concept)
Thales: the underlying principle is water. CoCA reports: the underlying principle is the Concept. The historical move is identical — reduce the field to a single substance and conduct the rest of the theology from there. Water was wrong; the Concept may also be wrong. The move is correct anyway. The first principle is the institutional founding act. Once posited, the rest unfolds.