The
Milesian school was a school of thought founded in the 6th century BC. The ideas associated with it are exemplified by three
philosophers from the
Ionian town of
Miletus, on the Aegean coast of
Asia Minor:
Thales,
Anaximander, and
Anaximenes. They introduced new opinions contrary to the prevailing viewpoint on how the world was organized, in which natural phenomena were explained solely by the will of
anthropomorphized gods. The Milesians presented a view of nature in terms of methodologically observable entities, and as such was one of the first truly
scientific philosophies.