Was there natural philosophy in Ancient Greece?

The philosophy of nature is traditionally understood as the doctrine of the causes of the origin and structure of the world as a whole, while excluding everything supernatural. At the same time, it is usually assumed that philosophy began precisely as natural philosophy. This article examines the question of how such a characteristic is applicable to early philosophical constructions. We need to keep in mind that the word “physis” meaning “the outside world”, appears only in the 5th century BC. Thus, neither the Milesians, nor the Eleatics, nor the Pythagoreans study nature in the meaning of the world as a whole, but talk about the origin and development of certain principles that make up the essence of things. The Milesians are already radically divorced from sensuality, and in their teachings there is a gap between what leads to metaphysics and explanations of individual phenomena of the external world that are in no way related to their metaphysical speculations. At the same time, although the metaphysical doctrines of the fifth century can be considered as religious revelations, it is only a stretch to talk about ancient theology. It is stated that the movement towards metaphysical constructions begins with a change in attitude towards the previous worldview. This begins with Hesiod, followed by a group of poets, politicians, sages, and seers. A rational understanding of mythology and free reflection on it based on striving for a single beginning begins. It is the idea of the one that is fundamentally new, which is being developed by the generation of thinkers following Hesiod. Yet it is pointless to seek unity in the externally sensually given world, because it is infinitely diverse, and the appeal to the supersensible begins in those divine images that occupy a special, higher position in relation to others. We encounter such personified images as fate and justice. Philosophers begin to realize the divine (immortal) negatively as infinite, by denying what is inherent in man and what he is able to perceive with his senses. And it is only through denial that they move towards certain positive characteristics. Ultimately, it can be shown that metaphysical reflections led philosophers away from nature and into the realm of the divine and infinite, while reflections on the outside world led to what we call science.