Editing Anaximenes of Miletus (section)

=== Influence on science and philosophy ===
[[File:Miletus agora.jpg|thumb|240px|The ruins of Miletus]] 
Anaximenes was the last of the Milesian philosophers, as [[Miletus]] was destroyed by attacking Persian forces in 494 BC.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=49}} Little of his life is known relative to the other Milesian philosophers, Thales and Anaximander.{{Sfn|Sandywell|1995|p=172}} These three philosophers together began what eventually became science in the Western world.{{Sfn|Eisman|2007|p=76}} In ancient Greece, the ideas of Anaximenes were well regarded in philosophy, popularized by various philosophers such as [[Diogenes of Apollonia]], and had a greater presence than the ideas of his predecessors.{{Sfn|Sandywell|1995|p=181}} The other Milesian philosophers have since overshadowed him in the study of philosophy.{{Sfn|Graham|2006|p=45}} Anaximenes was the first philosopher to give an explanation for substances changing from one state to another through a [[Physical change|physical process]].{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=45}}{{Sfn|Eisman|2007|p=76}} He may also have been the first philosopher to write in descriptive prose rather than verse, developing a prototype of [[scientific writing]].{{Sfn|Sandywell|1995|p=173}} Only [[Fragmentology (manuscripts)|fragments]] of Anaximenes's writings have been preserved directly, and it is unknown how much these fragments have diverged from the original texts as they were recorded by subsequent authors.{{Sfn|Sandywell|1995|p=177}} Further details of Anaximenes's life and philosophical views are obscure, as none of his work has been preserved, and he is only known through fragments and interpretations of him made by later writers and polemicists.{{Sfn|Eisman|2007|p=76}} The [[Anaximenes (crater)|Anaximenes crater]] on the Moon is named in his honor.{{Sfn|Cocks|Cocks|1995|p=13}}

Early medical practice developed ideas similar to Anaximenes, proposing that air was the basis of health in that it both provides life and carries disease.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=49}} Anaximenes's conception of air has been likened to the atoms and subatomic particles that make up all substances through their quantitative organization.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=46}} It has also been compared to the breath of life produced by [[God]] in the [[Old Testament]].{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=47}} His understanding of physical properties as quantitative differences that applied at individual and universal scales became foundational ideas in the development of [[natural science]].{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=46, 48}}{{Sfn|Sandywell|1995|p=180}} He was the first philosopher to analogize his philosophy in practical terms, comparing the functions of the world to behaviors that can be observed in common activities.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=48}} In this manner, he was also the first to liken the function of the individual to that of the world. In this case, likening the breath that defines humans to the air that defines the world.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=47}} His belief that the same properties governed the world at a human scale and a universal scale was eventually proven by [[Isaac Newton]].{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=48}}