Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity"The world is configured in ways that seem systematically hospitable to life forms, especially the human race. Is this the outcome of divine planning or simply of the laws of physics? Ancient Greeks and Romans famously disagreed on whether the cosmos was the product of design or accident. In Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity, David Sedley examines this question and illuminates new historical perspectives on the pantheon of thinkers who laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Versions of what we call the "creationist" option were widely favored by the major thinkers of classical antiquity, including Plato, whose ideas on the subject prepared the ground for Aristotle's celebrated teleology. But Aristotle himself excluded any role for divine intervention, in this respect aligning himself with the anti-creationist lobby, whose most militant members - the atomists - sought to show how a world just like ours would form inevitably by sheer accident, given only the infinity of space and matter. This study explores seven major thinkers and philosophical movements enmeshed in the debate: Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Socrates, Plato, the atomists, Aristotle, and the Stoics. An epilogue considers their debate from the viewpoint of Galen, the great second-century A.D. doctor, who was also a leading voice of creationism."--BOOK JACKET. |
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Contents
I ANAXAGORAS | 1 |
II EMPEDOCLES | 31 |
III SOCRATES | 75 |
IV PLATO | 93 |
V THE ATOMISTS | 133 |
VI ARISTOTLE | 167 |
VII THE STOICS | 205 |
A GALENIC PERSPECTIVE | 239 |
| 245 | |
| 257 | |
| 267 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Anaxagoras Anaxagoras’s animals argued argument Argument from Design Aristodemus Aristotle Aristotle’s atomists atoms beneficial benefit biological body causal chapter confirmed context Cosmic Intelligence craft craftsman created creation creationist creator cycle daimons Demiurge Democritus difficulties Diogenes Diogenes of Apollonia divine craftsmanship doubt earth einai Empedoclean Empedocles Epicurean Epicurus estin everything evidence example existence explain explanatory eyes fact fifth figure final find finite fire first flesh god’s gods Hesiod human identified included infinite influence interpretation isonomia kind Love Love’s luck Lucretius matter moving cause myth nature origin passage Phaedo phase philosophical physics Plato possible Presocratic principle question rational soul reading reason reference reflects scientific Sedley seeds seems significant Socrates species specific sphairos Stoic Stoicism Strife structure stuffs sufficient teleology thˇ theology theory things Timaeus Timaeus’s tion toiˇ touto wste Xenophon Xenophon’s Socrates Zeno Zeno’s zoogony
Bibliographic information
| Title | Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature Volume 66 of Sather Classical Lectures, ISSN 0080-6684 |
| Authors | David Sedley, Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy David Sedley |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of California Press, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0520253647, 9780520253643 |
| Length | 269 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Ancient / General History / Europe / General Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical |
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