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Book Cover
E-book
Author Sedley, D. N., author.

Title Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity / David Sedley
Published Berkeley : University of California Press, 2007

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Description 1 online resource (291 pages)
Series Sather classical lectures ; v. 66
The Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature
Sather classical lectures ; v. 66.
Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature.
Contents Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Preface; I / Anaxagoras; Ii / Empedocles; Iii / Socrates; Iv / Plato; V / The Atomists; Vi / Aristotle; Vii / The Stoics; Epilogue: A Galenic Perspective; Bibliography; Index Locorum; General Index
Summary 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 this book, 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 aligned 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 stimulating study explores seven major thinkers and philosophical movements enmeshed in the debate: Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Socrates, PLato, the atomists, Aristotle, and the Stoics
Analysis accident
anaxagoras
ancient greek
ancient rome
anti creationist
antiquity
aristotle
classical antiquity
classical world
controversial
controversy
cosmos
creationism
creationist
disagreement
divine
empedocles
famous philosopher
great thinkers
historical
intelligent design
philosopher
philosophy
plato
scientific
socrates
stoics
teleology
theology
theory
western philosophy
western science
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-255) and indexes
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Philosophy.
philosophy.
PHILOSOPHY -- History & Surveys -- Ancient & Classical.
Philosophy
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2007021528
ISBN 9780520934368
0520934369
9780520253643
0520253647
9780520260061
0520260066
9786612359385
6612359382