Anaximander, a
Greek philosopher (c.622 - c. 547 BC), thought it unnecessary to fix upon
air,
water, or
fire as the original and primary form of body. He preferred to represent it as simply a boundless “
something” from which all things arise and to which they all return again. He believed that the
world presents us with a series of opposites: hot and cold, wet and dry, etc. If we look at things from this point of view, it is more natural to speak of the opposites as being 'separated out' from a mass that is as yet undifferentiated than it is to make any one of the opposites the primary substance.
Anaximander argued that Thales made the wet too important at the expense of the dry. His view of the world was a curious mixture of scientific intuition and primitive theory. He believed that the Earth hung freely in space and was shaped like a short cylinder. He also believed that all life came from the sea, and that the present forms of animals were the result of adaptation to a fresh environment (evolution?). He also attempted to prove that man had been descended from another species.
Quotes:
“Things give satisfaction and reparation to one another for their injustice, as is appointed according to the ordering of time.”
“The young of the human species require a prolonged period of nursing, while those of other species soon find their food for themselves. If, then, man had always been as he is now, he could never have survived.”
Thanks to Tem42 for providing me with Anaximander's dates.