Thales of Miletus (640-546 B.

C)- believe that WATER is the primary source of matter

Why did he choose water as the first principle? This question cannot be answered with certainty. 

(Thales' solution emerges from his stipulation that “all things are from water,” which draws from his
observation that nature and the nurture of all things is moist. As a result, Thales' believes that it is
Water that is the arche: meaning it is the matter of everything.) –(Additional lang ni)

 Aristotle says that Thales "probably derived his opinion from observing that the nutriment of all things
is moist, and that even actual heat is generated therefrom, and that animal life is sustained by water...
and from the fact that the sees of all things possess a moist nature, and that water is a first principle of
all things that are humid." This is likely the true explanation, but it will be noted that even Aristotle uses
the word "probably," so gives his statement merely as a conjecture. It is even more uncertain by what
process water changes into other things.

Anaximenes(526 B.C)- believe that Air is the primary source of matter

Anaximenes thought air was the primary substance that held the universe together. He believed that air
was infinite and divine. He was the first to use the word pneuma (“breath of life”) as a synonym for air.
One of the only surviving quotes by Anaximenes reads: “Just as our soul...being air holds us together, so
pneuma and air encompass [and guard] the whole world. The analogy compared atmospheric air as the
divine and human air as souls that animate people. This relation of the macroscopic and microscopic
suggested Anaximenes believed there was an overarching principle that regulated all life and behaviour.
Interestingly, the Old Testament features a similar analogy to the founding of the world and creation of
man, but Anaximenes did not recognize a creator of the universe and did not think of the pneuma as a
creator to guide man.

Heraclitus(535-475 B.C)- Believe that fire is the primary source of matter

Heraclitus of Ephesus focused on fire as the primary substance because he saw change and motion in
everything he encountered.

Fire plays an important role in Heraclitus' system, but it is not the unique source of all things, because all
stuffs are equivalent. Ultimately, fire may be more important as a symbol than as a stuff. Fire is
constantly changing-but so is every other stuff. One thing is transformed into another in a cycle of
changes.