SOURCE: W. K. C. Guthrie, "Matter and Form," in The Greek Philosophers from Thales to Aristotle, 1950. Reprint by Methuen & Co Ltd, 1967, pp. 22-42.

In this excerpt, Guthrie examines in detail the beliefs of Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes and analyzes the similarities and differences of their theories. Guthrie explains that all three men focused their attention on understanding the substance of the world as a way of demonstrating stability where there appeared to be chaos.

[Philosophy] as we shall be concerned with it has two main sides, dealing on the one hand with the nature and origins of the Universe at large and on the other with human life and conduct; and … any who might be primarily interested in ethical and political thought [should be warned] that when we go back to the beginnings of European philosophy in Greece it is speculation about the Universe that we shall encounter...