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. |
Contents
anaxagoras | 1 |
empedocles | 31 |
socrates | 75 |
plato | 93 |
the atomists | 133 |
aristotle | 167 |
the stoics | 205 |
a galenic perspective | 239 |
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according actual already alternative Anaxagoras animals appears argued argument Aristotle Aristotle’s assumed atoms become body building called causal cause chapter clear comes complete contains context continue cosmic craft created creation creator cycle described developed divine doubt earth elements Empedocles entire Epicurean everything evidence example existence explain eyes fact fire follows four function further gods hand human included individual infinite intelligence interpretation kind later least less lines living Love luck material matter means mind moving namely nature once organisms origin passage phase physics Plato possible present principle question rational reading reason reference regard result seeds seems sense separation simply single Socrates soul species stage Stoic Strife structure teleology theory things thought Timaeus tion turn universe Xenophon zoogony