“Philosophy begins with Thales, who, fortunately, can be dated by the fact that he predicted an eclipse which, according to the astronomers, occurred in the year 585 B.C. Philosophy and science -which were not originally separate- were therefore born together at the beginning of the sixth century”
Philosophers often say philosophy study begins when one has some insight into the totality, the world as a whole. Nevertheless, in reality, neither philosophy nor the whole is of much interest to most of us. More likely, we are more interested in the world surrounding us, the world sustaining us, the so-called “real” world. That’s the world our acquired knowledge does and will equip us for living in. Seeking for the “reality” means that we need some dedicated knowledge of distinguishing reality from the falsity. One of the fundamental testifiers of the acquired knowledge is inferential power. The inference is a sequence connecting our current to the past and the future, from isolation to a whole. There is no evidence showing that Thales knew any formula describing movements of the celestial bodies, but his success in predicting an eclipse is a piece of evidence that his astronomical knowledge is relevant to the true solar dynamics. If one can give a precise inference in an as complex situation as the prediction of an eclipse, then this person will be expected to, more or less, have acquired some relevant knowledge about the real situation.
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