A philosopher who thought of evolution before Darwin

Anaximander (c. 610~546 BCE) was an early Greek philosopher from Miletus, an ancient city in what is now Turkey. He was a student of Thales and is considered one of the first phiosophers to explore the nature of the universe in a systematic way.

His life

-Lived in Miletus, a Greek city in Ionia(morden-day Turkey).

-A student of Thales, one of the first know philosophers.

-He is said to have wrtten one of the earliest books on philosophy.

-Also contributed to geography and science, creating one of the first maps of the known world.

His thoughts

1.Apeiron(The infinite or boundless)

-Anaxiamander believed that everything comes from an eternal, limitless substance called "Apeiron" (which means "infinite" or "boundless").

-Unlike Thales, who thought water was the source of all things, Anaximander argued that this fundamental principle could not be something specific like water, air, or fire.

2.Cosmology(View of the Universe)

-He imagined Earth floating freely in space, without needing to rest on anything.

-He suggested that the universe was made of many worlds, which could be created and destroyed over time.

3.Evolutionary ideas

-He believed that life began in water and that early humans may have evolved from fish-like creatures.

-This was one of the earliest recorded idea about evolution.

4.Weather and Natural Phenomena

-He tried to explain natural events like thunder and earthquakes without relying on gods, iinstead using natural causes.

Anaximander was an early thinker who moved philosophy away from myths and toward rational explanations of the world. His idea of the Apeiron influenced later philosophers and set the stage for scientific thinking.