Sages or natural philosophers
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They are the wise men who appeared before Socrates,
They paved the way for the emergence of philosophy in Greece in the sixth century BC.
They were more natural scientists (in the simple sense of the word science in that era) than philosophers. Their intellectual work consists of two elements:
First: Confronting the prevailing mythological thought, whereby the natural sages attributed the multiple to the One. That is, they attributed in their thought the natural explanation, which was based on the multiplicity of gods, to the single element in the universe.
As Thales said, for example: “Water is the origin of all things.”
Second: Thinking about nature as a basic subject by searching for the origin of the universe and its defining elements.
Therefore, the name “natural philosophers” is due to the fact that they interpreted nature with elements of nature, searching for the first principle of nature, that is, the founding principle of existence, or the origin of existence, away from mythical, imaginative and exotic interpretations...
Among the most important sages: Thales, Anaximanders, Anaximanes, Heraclides, Parmenides, Appadocleides, and Anaxagoras.
These are called the "Seven Natural Sages".
Final note:
The views of the natural philosophers were directed towards the external world, as they did not go beyond in their study the origins of the universe and the interpretation of nature, but their virtue over human thought was at least that they constituted a break with mythological (Methos) thought.
Which made these wise men represent the first indications of rational philosophical thinking (logos).
With them is the beginning of the act of philosophizing.
But only in the fourth century BC would the transition from wisdom to philosophy be made with Socrates.
Source: websites