Screen LibraryExplaining the cosmos : the ionian tradition of scientific philosophy /
Explaining the Cosmos is a major reinterpretation of Greek scientific thought before Socrates. Focusing on the scientific tradition of philosophy, Daniel Graham argues that Presocratic philosophy is not a mere patchwork of different schools and styles of thought. Rather, there is a discernible and u...
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| Main Authors: | |
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| Corporate Authors: | |
| Published: |
Princeton University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | Princeton, N.J. : |
| Publication Dates: |
[2006] ©2006 |
| Literature type: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Edition: | Course Book. |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400827459 http://www.degruyter.com/doc/cover/9781400827459.jpg |
| Summary: |
Explaining the Cosmos is a major reinterpretation of Greek scientific thought before Socrates. Focusing on the scientific tradition of philosophy, Daniel Graham argues that Presocratic philosophy is not a mere patchwork of different schools and styles of thought. Rather, there is a discernible and unified Ionian tradition that dominates Presocratic debates. Graham rejects the common interpretation of the early Ionians as "material monists" and also the view of the later Ionians as desperately trying to save scientific philosophy from Parmenides' criticisms. In Graham's view, Parmenides plays a constructive role in shaping the scientific debates of the fifth century BC. Accordingly, the history of Presocratic philosophy can be seen not as a series of dialectical failures, but rather as a series of theoretical advances that led to empirical discoveries. Indeed, the Ionian tradition can be seen as the origin of the scientific conception of the world that we still hold today. |
| Carrier Form: | 1 online resource (368 pages) : illustrations |
| ISBN: | 9781400827459 |
| Index Number: | Q127 |
| CLC: | B12 |
| Contents: |
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations and Brief References -- 1. The Ionian Program -- 2. Anaximander s Principles -- 3. Anaximenes Theory of Change -- 4. The Generating Substance Theory as an Explanatory Hypothesis -- 5. Heraclitus s Criticism of Ionian Philosophy -- 6. Parmenides Criticism of Ionian Philosophy -- 7. Anaxagoras and Empedocles: Eleatic Pluralists -- 8. The Elemental Substance Theory as an Explanatory Hypothesis -- 9. The Atomist Reform -- 10. Diogenes of Apollonia and Material Monism -- 11. The Ionian Legacy -- References -- Index Locorum -- General Index. |