There's been some recent deletion-reversion-deletion here that verges on edit warring. I'd like to share my thoughts and start a discussion before contributing edits myself. Here is the passage of interest verbatim:
Some contemporary researchers of the history of philosophy believe that the introduction of Thales as the first philosopher is not the result of an independent historical investigation and the dominant opinion of ancient Greeks namely Aristotle, but rather the result of changes in the history of philosophy in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe to introduce the roots of philosophy as Greek with the motives of excluding the East from the history of philosophy in an effort they consider to be racially motivated.[1]
While I find it a bit lengthy, I read the full article here ... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09608788.2022.2029347 ... and find it well researched and reviewed. I find the concerns raised by the paper are relevant to this article and worth citing here. Further support against a view of ancient Greeks attributing to Thales the title of "first philosopher" can be found in the references of that same paper, e.g. Boys-Stones, et al.
For my part, I'd like to clarify the extent of the claim being made. Cantor does address an oft cited ancient source of it to point out, as quoted from the paper:
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Aristotle does not claim that Thales is the father of philosophy tout court, but rather the founder of a specific type of philosophy:
Most (οἱ πλϵῖστοι) of the first philosophers (τῶν … πρώτων φιλοσοφησάντων) thought that principles in the form of matter (τὰς ἐν ὕλης ϵἴδϵι … ἀρχὰς) were the only principles of all things […] Thales, the founder (ἀρχηγὸς) of this type of philosophy (τῆς τοιαύτης … φιλοσοφίας), says that it is water.26
(Metaph. I.3, 983b6–8; 20–21= Th 29)
The type of philosophy at issue is evidently natural philosophy,27 which, in its most primitive instantiations (beginning with Thales), we are told amounted to the idea that a principle in the form of matter is the only principle of all things.28
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... ahem, so if we consider this, setting aside the other arguments against even asserting that much in the paper, we might say with confidence something like, "Aristotle considered Thales the first natural philosopher". But there are other arguments in the paper:
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However, another Peripatetic student of Aristotle’s, Dicaearchus (fourth century BCE), apparently refused to consider Thales a philosopher at all, suggesting that his pursuits were practical rather than theoretical (D.L. I.40 = Th 237).66 It is also unclear whether Eudemus (late fourth century BCE), another one of Aristotle’s pupils, accepted the view that Thales was the first to engage even in natural philosophy. Eudemus extensively discussed the cosmogonies of the Babylonians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians (in a work that also contained a paraphrase of the first lines of the Babylonian creation myth, the Enūma Eliš),67 and possibly saw them as being continuous with Greek natural philosophy.68
In short, Thales’ status as a pioneering natural philosopher was contested even in the Peripatetic school within a generation of Aristotle’s time.
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... so, while we might say something like "Aristotle considered Thales the first natural philosopher", we would be better informed and informing to point out that this view was not beyond reproach in his time. Which I should remind everyone was centuries after Thales.
Anyway, if this topic interests you, I suggest reading the paper. I'll await comments before adding a reworded version of the original edit, with url added to the reference. Sharing any supporting sources not in the paper's bibliography, or direct commentaries or reviews of this paper, would of course be appreciated. JimsMaher (talk) 00:00, 19 December 2022 (UTC)
References
Cantor, Lea (3 September 2022). "Thales – the 'first philosopher'? A troubled chapter in the historiography of philosophy". British Journal for the History of Philosophy. 30 (5): 727–750. doi:10.1080/09608788.2022.2029347. S2CID 247821983.