Western Anatolia is one of the most important sites of the world in terms of the history of philosophy and science. Contemporary civilisation was shaped on the basis of the philosophical and scientific tradition flourished on these territories. Philosophy began to rise from that area. It is my aim to remind and emphasize the philosophical importance of the Western Anatolia for our civilization.

Heraclitus

HERACLITUS

Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present- day Selcuk, Izmir Province, Turkey.

Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom. From the lonely life he led, and still more from the riddling nature of his philosophy and his contempt for humankind in general, he was called "The Obscure," and the "Weeping Philosopher."

Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria.

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 Anatolia: 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.

Anaximander was a pre- Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia; Milet in modern Turkey. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and Pythagoras amon gst his pupils.

Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition.According to Bertrand Russell, "Western philosophy begins with Thales."

Anaximenes of Miletus was an Archaic Greek Pre- Socratic philosopher also known as the father of philosophy active in the latter half of the 6th century BC. One of the three Milesian philosophers, he is identified as a younger friend or student of Anaximander. Anaximenes, like others in his school of thought, practiced material monism. This tendency to identify one specific underlying reality made up of a material thing constitutes the bulk of the contributions for which Anaximenes is most famed.

Leucippus or Leukippos was one of the earliest Greeks to develop the theory of atomism — the idea that everything is composed entirely of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms — which was elaborated in greater detail by his pupil and successor, Democritus. A possible earlier candidate for atomism is Mochus of Sidon, from the Trojan War era.

Klazomenai is located in modern Urla on the western coast of Anatolia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Izmir, at about 20 miles west of Izmir.

Anaxagoras was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae in Asia Minor, Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to bring philosophy from Ionia to Athens.

Assos is a small historically rich town in Canakkale Province, Ayvacık District, Turkey.Aristotle lived here and opened an AcademyThe city was also visited by St. Paul. Today Assos is a Aegean-coast seaside retreat amid ancient ruins.