Thales – the ‘first philosopher’? A troubled chapter in the historiography of philosophy

It is widely believed that the ancient Greeks thought Thales was first philosopher, and they therefore maintained philosophy had a Greek origin. This paper challenges these assumptions, arguing most thinkers who expressed views about history development of rejected both positions. I argue not even Aristotle presented as doing so would have undermined his philosophical commitments interests. Beyond Aristotle, view philosopher attested almost nowhere in antiquity. In classical, Hellenistic, post-Hellenistic periods, we witness marked tendency to locate beginning time going back further than Thales. Remarkably, often traced origins earlier non-Greek peoples. Contrary received view, then, (1) vanishingly few writers pronounced philosopher; (2) did advocate origin philosophy. Finally, show originated with (along its misleading attribution general) has roots problematic, some cases manifestly racist, eighteenth-century historiography