| Description |
1 online resource (380 pages) : illustrations, maps |
| Contents |
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction. The Ancient Near East, Science, and Nature -- Part I. Historiography -- Part II. Cuneiform Knowledge and Its Interpretive Framework -- Part III. Rationality, Analogy, and Law -- Part IV. The Cuneiform World of Observation, Prediction, and Explanation -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index |
| Summary |
In the modern West, we take for granted that what we call the 'natural world' confronts us all and always has - but 'Before Nature' explores that almost unimaginable time when there was no such conception of 'nature' - no word, reference, or sense for it. Before the concept of nature formed over the long history of European philosophy and science, our ancestors in ancient Assyria and Babylonia developed an inquiry into the world in a way that is kindred to our modern science. With 'Before Nature, ' Francesca Rochberg explores that Assyro-Babylonian knowledge tradition and shows how it relates to the entire history of science. From a modern, Western perspective, a world not conceived somehow within the framework of physical nature is difficult - if not impossible - to imagine |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Science -- Assyria
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Assyro-Babylonian literature -- History and criticism
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Philosophy of nature -- Assyria
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Learning and scholarship -- Assyria
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Astronomy, Assyro-Babylonian.
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SCIENCE -- General.
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Assyro-Babylonian literature
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Astronomy, Assyro-Babylonian
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Learning and scholarship
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Philosophy of nature
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Science
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Middle East -- Assyria
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| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780226406275 |
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022640627X |
|
9780226406138 |
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022640613X |
|
