SOURCE: A. H. Armstrong, "The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy: Milesians and Italians," in An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, Methuen & Co Ltd, 1965, pp. 1-8.

Armstrong provides a general introduction to the thinking of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Pythagoras and his followers by discussing the two separate beginnings of philosophy in the Greek world. Explaining that the Milesians were somewhat detached from traditional Greek religion, Armstrong points out the similarities between the theories of these men, who represent the "first beginning" of philosophy. The "second beginning, " as Armstrong discusses, occurred in the south of Italy among the Pythagoreans, who based many of their beliefs on those of the religious movement of Orphism.

1. PHILOSOPHY in the sense in which the word was generally understood in the ancient world may be defined as the search after the truth about the nature of the universe and of man, a search which the ancient...