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Whether this view of the primary entity is really ancient and time-honored may perhaps be considered uncertain; however, it is said that this was Thales’ opinion concerning the first cause. (I say nothing of Hippo,Hippo of Samos, a medical writer and eclectic philosopher who lived in the latter half of the fifth century B.C. Cf.Aristot. De Anima 405b 2. because no one would presume to include him in this company, in view of the paltriness of his intelligence.)
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AnaximenesThe third Milesian monist; fl. circa 545 B.C. and DiogenesDiogenes of Apollonia, an eclectic philosopher roughly contemporary with Hippo. held that air is prior to water, and is of all corporeal elements most truly the first principle. HippasusA Pythagorean, probably slightly junior to Heraclitus. of Metapontum and HeraclitusFl. about 500 B.C. of Ephesus hold this of fire; and EmpedoclesOf Acragas; fl. 450 B.C.—adding earth as a fourth to those already mentioned—takes all four. These, he says, always persist, and are only generated in respect of multitude and paucity, according as they are combined into unity or differentiated out of unity.Cf. Empedocles, Fr. 17 (Diels), R.P. 166; Burnet, E.G.P. 108-109.
