Editing Classical element (section)

==== Water, air, or fire? ====
[[File:Four Classical Elements in Burning Log.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|The four classical elements of [[Empedocles]] and [[Aristotle]] illustrated with a burning log. The log releases all four elements as it is destroyed.]]{{Main|Thales of Miletus#Water as the arche|Anaximenes of Miletus#Air as the arche|Heraclitus#Fire as the arche|Anaximander#Theories}}The classical elements were first proposed independently by several early Pre-Socratic philosophers.{{sfnp|Ross|2020}} Greek philosophers had debated which substance was the ''[[arche]]'' ("first principle"), or primordial element from which everything else was made. [[Thales]] ({{circa|626/623|548/545 BC}}) believed that water was this principle. [[Anaximander]] ({{circa|610|546 BC}}) argued that the primordial substance was not any of the known substances, but could be transformed into them, and they into each other.{{sfnp|Russell|1991|p=46}}{{sfnp|Curd|2020}} [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] ({{circa|586|526 BC}}) favored air, and [[Heraclitus]] (<abbr>fl.</abbr> {{circa|500 BC}}) championed fire.{{sfnp|Russell|1991|p=61}}