, PLS1501 Assignment 1 (COMPLETE ANSWERS)
Semester 2 2025 – DUE 2025; 100% correct solutions
and explanations.
1. Study the debate among the Milesians concerning the first
cause (arche). What does this teach us about philosophy as a
practice and how philosophies develop over time?
The debate among the Milesian philosophers—Thales,
Anaximander, and Anaximenes—represents the earliest attempt
in Western thought to explain the origin and nature of reality
through rational inquiry rather than myth or religious tradition.
Their search for the arche, the first cause or underlying principle
of all things, marks the beginning of philosophy as a systematic
practice of questioning, reasoning, and theorizing about
existence.
Thales, often regarded as the first philosopher, proposed that
water is the arche. For him, water explained life, nourishment,
and transformation, making it the most fundamental element.
Anaximander, however, criticized Thales and introduced the
concept of the apeiron (the boundless or indefinite), arguing that
the first cause cannot be a specific material substance because
all substances come into conflict with one another. Instead, he
believed in an infinite, indeterminate source that generates and
sustains everything. Anaximenes further developed this debate
by suggesting that air is the arche, a substance that could
transform into other elements through rarefaction and
condensation, thus providing a more systematic explanation of
change.
Semester 2 2025 – DUE 2025; 100% correct solutions
and explanations.
1. Study the debate among the Milesians concerning the first
cause (arche). What does this teach us about philosophy as a
practice and how philosophies develop over time?
The debate among the Milesian philosophers—Thales,
Anaximander, and Anaximenes—represents the earliest attempt
in Western thought to explain the origin and nature of reality
through rational inquiry rather than myth or religious tradition.
Their search for the arche, the first cause or underlying principle
of all things, marks the beginning of philosophy as a systematic
practice of questioning, reasoning, and theorizing about
existence.
Thales, often regarded as the first philosopher, proposed that
water is the arche. For him, water explained life, nourishment,
and transformation, making it the most fundamental element.
Anaximander, however, criticized Thales and introduced the
concept of the apeiron (the boundless or indefinite), arguing that
the first cause cannot be a specific material substance because
all substances come into conflict with one another. Instead, he
believed in an infinite, indeterminate source that generates and
sustains everything. Anaximenes further developed this debate
by suggesting that air is the arche, a substance that could
transform into other elements through rarefaction and
condensation, thus providing a more systematic explanation of
change.
