qualities, this they declare is the element and first principle of existing

things, and for this reason they consider that there is no absolute coming-
to-be or passing away, on the ground that such a nature is always
preserved…for there must be some natural substance, either one or more
than one, from which the other things come-into-being, while it is
preserved. Over the number, however, and the form of this kind of
principle they do not all agree; but Thales, the founder of this type of
philosophy, says that it is water (and therefore declared that the earth is
on water), perhaps taking this supposition from seeing the nurture of all
things to be moist, and the warm itself coming-to-be from this and living
by this --taking the supposition both from this and from the seeds of all
things having a moist nature, water being the natural principle of moist
things."

This observation led other philosophers to think of transformation as a process of

'condensation' and 'rarefaction', and ultimately to the principle analogous to the
modern notion that physical change is subject to the law of 'conservation of matter and
energy'.

Other Ionians noted that water cannot be the substance because it is incompatible with
fire. This criticism is significant because introduces the assumption that all
explanations must be consistent with observed data. That is, explanation must meet a
logical standard. Consequently, the successor of Thales turned to more neutral
substances like "air" or the "infinite".

Xenophanes, another 6th century Ionian from the town of Colophon, went in a

different direction, applying the logical methods of the Ionians to understanding of the
Greek gods. Here are three fragments of his thinking:

"Homer and Hesiod have attributed to the gods everything that is sinful
and reproached among men, stealing and committing adultery and
deceiving each other."

"But mortals consider that the gods are born, and that they have clothes
and speech and bodies like their own."

"But if cattle and horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with
their hands and do the works that men can do, horses would draw the
form of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make
their bodies such as they each had themselves."
**"One gods, greatest among gods and men, in no way similar to
mortals either in body or in thought…always he remains in the same
place, moving