who were malesians, and what was their philosophy?

Answer 1

LOL.
See below. It's spelled MILESIANS.

Miletus was an Ionian city; Ionia was a Greek colony on the Aegean coast of western Asia Minor. In the sixth century BCE, Miletus produces three philosophers: Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. These philosophers seek the one, unchanging material principle of all things. Aristotle says of the first philosophers, which includes the Milesians:

Of the first philosophers, then, most thought the principles (tas archas) which were of the nature of matter (tas en hules) were the only principles of all things (archas pantôn). That of which all things that are consist, the first from which they come to be, the last into which they are resolved (the substance remaining, but changing in its modifications), this they say is the element and this the principle of things, and therefore they think nothing is either generated or destroyed, since this sort of entity is always conserved, as we say Socrates neither comes to be absolutely when he comes to be beautiful or musical, nor ceases to be when loses these characteristics, because the substratum, Socrates himself remains, just so they say nothing else comes to be or ceases to be; for there must be some entity-either one or more than one-from which all other things come to be, it being conserved. (Metaphysics 983b)


2. The Material Principle of All Things
Aristotle explains that the Milesian philosophers concentrate their efforts on ascertaining the principle (archê) of all things, which they consider to be made of matter (hulê). By principle (archê) is meant that which explains or causes something else to be. He says that they sought to discover, "that of which all things that are consist, the first from which they come to be, the last into which they are resolved." The Milesians pursued this intellectual course because they believe that ultimately Being is material and one; for them, to be able to say what everything is made of is to explain everything. In other words, what these men sought was to determine the origin and nature of everything by identifying the most basic material element that all things ultimately are, that from which all things emerge and return, or, as Aristotle puts it, the principle of all things, which is material. This is why Aristotle calls them "physicists" (physiki or physiologi).

Knowing the first material principle provides unity to the diversity of experience; understanding what everything ultimately is, in spite of how things appear, enables one to find orderliness underlying the disorderliness of phenomena. One could say that the Milesians seek the solution to what philosophers call the problem of the one and the many (although they did not put it in these terms). The one is the material principle of all things, whereas the many are the various modifications of this one basic "stuff." Perhaps surprisingly, modern physics seeks the same goal: the most basic of all entities of which all other physical entities are composed.

It should be stressed that use of the term "material" or "matter" is anachronistic when used of Milesian philosophy, for it presupposes the later distinction between matter and form or soul. (Thus, the historian must be sensitive to anachronistic character of Aristotle's description.) In fact, the "matter" from which all things emerge and which all things are is not "matter" in the later meaning of the word; rather this matter, as self-moving, is alive, in a sense. Thus Milesian philosopher can be called a "hylozoism" ("matter-lifeism"), meaning that the animate and not just the inanimate has its origin in the archê. Moreover, for the Milesians, the first material cause is infinite; thus, each Milesian philosopher calls the first material principle god or the divine.

Milesian philosophy could be called "materialistic monism," so long as one interpreted "materialistic" properly. Thus, in spite of appearance, the differences between things in the world of common sense is quantitative, not qualitative. In other words, everything is ultimately made of the same thing, but through some sort of modification of it, this one "stuff" is "presented" to human senses in different ways.

Might one say that human beings instinctively consider the diverse things of ordinary experience to be less "real" than that which gives them unity, so that there is a drive in human beings towards the more real and eventually the most real, the one first principle?


3 . The Unchanging Source of All Change

The Milesians assume that the material principle of all things is that which underlies all change, and, as such, is itself necessarily unchanging. In other words, it is axiomatic for them that the one thing that all things ultimately are and from which they emerge and return, cannot itself change. In every change there is a substratum that endures the change; only the unchanging can sustain change, since in every change there is something that "stands under" (substratum or substance) the change, i.e., is changed. Thus, when considering the Whole, the totality of change or becoming, these philosophers reason that, since it is the one ultimate source and destination of all things, the first material principle cannot change, but must be eternally self-identical. If it were otherwise, there could be no change, since something must stay the same for there to be change, an infinite regress being impossible. Thus for the Milesians, the material principle of all things is the most basic substratum that grounds all change, and does not itself change. Aristotle explains that the first philosopher conclude that "Nothing is either generated or destroyed, since this sort of entity is always conserved." He compares the first material principle to a human being (Socrates), who can change his attributes while remaining the same person: "Socrates neither comes to be absolutely when he comes to be beautiful or musical, nor ceases to be when loses these characteristics, because the substratum, Socrates himself remains." In the same way, the material principle of all things remains perpetually what it is, even though it may change its attributes, becoming thereby all the objects of sense perception.

The conclusion that the first material principle cannot change seems to be a logical and therefore necessary conclusion from the axiom that in change there must always be a substratum that remains the same; or as Aristotle put it, for the first philosophers, "There must be some entity—either one or more than one—from which all other things come to be, it being conserved." This conclusion, however, puts the Milesian philosophers at variance with the testimony of their senses, which dictate that Being (what is) is many and constantly changing; in other words, this puts them in contradiction with the world of common sense. Thus, the Milesians are forced to reject the testimony of their senses, the basis of the world of common sense, in favor of the logically correct view that ultimately nothing really changes in the sense of one thing or substratum becoming another; what one common-sensically takes as substantial change is merely different modifications of the one, unchanging first material principle.

Answer 2

malyasia is a federation of 13 states in Southeast Asis, it was named Malyasia in the early 1960's, originally it was mostly Hindu and Buddist, but today is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural , multi religious, and multilingual society

i think, even from their beginning back in the later B.C. time, that it would be hard to pin-point a general philosophy for them as a group, due to the diversity and also the lack of records as to who actually lived there, or was considered a member of the group (federation)