The history of Milesian
views about the primary substance is chiefly
remarkable for the way in which the awareness of the
problems grew from one philosopher to the nextÉ
Their actual theories strike a later age as childishÉ But
the measure of their achievement is the advance
they made in grasping the problems. They rejected supernatural causation
and appreciated that
naturalistic explanations can and should be given for a wide
range of phenomenaÉ they took the first
tentative steps toward an understanding of the
problem of change. (Lloyd)