Ionian Enlightenment

The Ionian Enlightenment was a intellectual movement in ancient Ionia (modern-day Turkey) during the 6th century BCE. Thinkers like Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus sought to understand the natural world through reason, observation, and scientific inquiry rather than myth or religion. They introduced ideas such as the idea that water or the "apeiron" (boundless) is the fundamental substance of everything, emphasizing evidence-based thinking. This movement laid the groundwork for Western philosophy and science by promoting critical questioning, rational explanations, and the pursuit of knowledge about the universe.