From Discussing the Milesian School, I Learned to Talk About
Previously, I discussed the Pythagorean school. This school's exploration of numbers and the theory that all things are numbers was a significant beginning. Although later history proved that the idea that all numbers are integers is incorrect, if we expand the meaning of 'number' and apply the theories of the Pythagorean school, we find that it still possesses considerable vitality. This is also why the Freemasons, who developed from the Pythagorean school, have been able to continue to this day.
When discussing the Pythagorean school, we must mention the ideas of the Milesian school, which were often combined with Pythagorean thought. The Milesian school emerged around 624 BC. Its founder was Thales, who proposed the theory that 'all things originate from water' and believed that water is the source of all things in the world.
Later generations did not understand why he said that all things originate from water. One explanation comes from Greek mythology. In ancient Greek mythology, Oceanus, the god of the ocean, and Tethys, the goddess of the ocean, were the first parents who created the world. And when the gods swore oaths, they swore by the River Styx in the underworld. Water holds an extremely important position in Greek mythology, so the Milesian school believed that water is the source of all things.
How Thales arrived at this conclusion cannot be verified, but ancient Greek mythology is very interesting as it reveals that water is the origin of all things. So, does the 'water' here refer to actual water or an abstract concept? If we view water as an abstract concept, based on scientific discoveries in recent years, it is believed that when the universe was first formed, various substances were tightly packed together, and the entire universe was like a huge high-temperature liquid.
In China, ancient texts from the pre-Qin period also mention the concept of 'Taiyi generating water.' Additionally, in later myths about Pangu, it is explicitly stated that Pangu originally existed in a chaotic state, where heaven and earth were like a large egg. It was he who split heaven and earth, creating the universe. More importantly, these sayings appeared in almost the same era around the world, hinting at a more profound secret behind them. However, this is not the focus of this article, so we will set it aside for now.
In Thales' cognition, water is the source of everything in this world, so all things change and move according to the laws of water. Unfortunately, as this school's system developed, the pace of technology did not keep up. Fluid mechanics developed from Archimedes to the modern era. Although humans can finally send airplanes into the sky like birds, we still cannot fly freely like birds. Moreover, the cost of technological products is extremely high, making free flight for everyone still a distant dream. Mechanical analysis mainly deals with fluids and solids. In a sense, fluid mechanics can include the content of solid mechanics; it just requires setting some parameters to zero. Therefore, the idea that all things originate from water and move like water is extremely valuable.
Due to the lack of technological development as supporting evidence, Thales could only remain at the level of primitive philosophy.
Decades later, a wise man named Anaximander proposed that, since water is the source of all things, water can turn into earth, and earth can turn into water. This constant transformation actually means they are the same, so there is no question of which one is the source. Anaximander's idea was not wrong given the limitations of his time, because he saw a world where various elements already existed and focused on the theoretical system under such a world. Furthermore, his era could not prove that the initial form of the world was like a ball of high-temperature liquid.
For the wise man Anaximander, since it is unimportant and indistinguishable who the source is in an already formed world, is there something else that unifies all things? After thinking about it, he believed that what runs consistently through all things is 'the indefinite' (apeiron).
That is, the movement and change of all things have no constant or eternal state. Described in physics, all things are constantly moving and changing. At the same time, the wise man Anaximander conducted deeper thinking on this, and this thinking actually took a step closer to the origin of this world.
He believed that all things are produced by the indefinite, and the indefinite itself contains 'cold' and 'hot'. Note that the cold and hot here do not refer to temperature, as the laws of thermodynamics had not yet appeared. What he intended to express was that hot things move, and cold things do not move. This is similar to the concept in thermodynamics that molecules in objects with high heat move faster, while molecules in objects with low heat move slower.
With 'cold' and 'hot', matter is constantly moving (because energy is conserved; although the law of conservation of energy did not exist back then, his amazing intuitive concept hinted at this). In constant motion, cold inevitably becomes colder, and hot becomes hotter. Thus, cold and hot separate out (it sounds very much like the myth of Pangu splitting heaven and earth, where yin and yang separate, the clear rises to heaven, and the turbid descends to earth).
After this separation, the hot gathered together to form a large ring of fire. Due to high-speed energy movement, this ultimately led to spontaneous symmetry breaking, causing the fire ring to rupture and form objects like the sun.
Of course, the principle of spontaneous symmetry breaking did not exist back then, nor did the phenomenon that spontaneous symmetry breaking is more likely to occur in high-energy objects. However, his amazing intuitive thinking coincidentally matched later discoveries. By the way, spontaneous symmetry breaking refers to parity non-conservation at the subatomic level. To put it more simply: if you create something perfectly identical and completely symmetrical, it will eventually lose a piece making it asymmetrical. This is a widely existing phenomenon, such as the complete disproportion between matter and antimatter in our current universe. They did not completely cancel each other out 1-to-1 during the big bang of creation, but left behind a large amount of matter, which constitutes our universe.
The wise man Anaximander believed in conservation. On this basis, he further deduced that all things come from the indefinite and will return to the indefinite. This coming and going, returning and coming again, influenced by time, formed the cycle of all things. In the process of circulation, all things must compensate for the damage they cause, which formed the concept of reincarnation.
A hundred years later, a wise man named Anaximenes appeared. This wise man was confused by the concept of the indefinite and did not understand why such a bizarre concept was introduced. Since the indefinite is always within all things, it itself is also a constant. If the source is a constant, it should be something that can be recognized and clearly defined.
Thus, under the thinking of this wise man, he believed that the origin of all things should be something called 'Qi' (air/breath). More interestingly, in this wise man's thinking, he believed that when things gather, they take shape, and when they scatter, they become Qi. Not only tangible matter, such as stones and forests, but also intangible matter like the soul, is composed of Qi.
Because Qi is the origin of all things, even gods cannot transcend it, so even gods come from Qi.
From this, we can see that the original Milesian school did not pursue the diversity of elements but tried to pursue the commonality among all things. Unfortunately, the development of technology did not provide more supporting evidence for the Milesians to elaborate on, so these ideas of the Milesian school did not develop further.
The thinking of the wise men of the Milesian school is very meaningful. After experiencing their line of thought, let's look at how the 'Tao Te Ching' describes it.
'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name.' ----------Tao has no constant Tao, Name has no constant Name
'There is something混沌 (undifferentiated) that was formed before heaven and earth. Silent and empty, standing alone and unchanging, going around and never failing, it can be considered the mother of heaven and earth. I do not know its name, so I forcibly call it Tao, and forcibly give it the name Great. Great means passing away, passing away means distance, distance means returning.' --------Although there is no constant Tao, nor a constant name, there is something undifferentiated, formed before heaven and earth, standing alone and unchanging, going around and never failing.
'Non-being is the name of the beginning of heaven and earth; Being is the name of the mother of all things. Always desireless, to observe its subtleties; Always desiring, to observe its boundaries. These two arise from the same source but have different names. Both are called profound. Profound upon profound, the gateway to all subtleties.' ------ That is, there is no constant Tao, nor a constant name. How can there be 'something'? But due to non-being, it is the beginning of heaven and earth; due to being, it is the mother of all things. These two arise from the same source but have different names.
'All things carry yin and embrace yang, blending Qi to achieve harmony.' ----- All things carry yin and embrace yang, using Qi as the corresponding element.