The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Science (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

This Book Provides A Comprehensive Overview Of The Key Themes In Greek And Roman Science, Medicine, Mathematics, And Technology. A Distinguished Team Of Specialists Engage With Topics Including The Role Of Observation And Experiment, Presocratic Natural Philosophy, Ancient Creationism, And The Special Style Of Ancient Greek Mathematical Texts, While Several Chapters Confront Key Questions In The Philosophy Of Science Such As The Relationship Between Evidence And Explanation. The Volume Will Spark Renewed Discussion About The Character Of 'ancient' Versus 'modern' Science, And Will Broaden Readers' Understanding Of The Rich Traditions Of Ancient Greco-roman Natural Philosophy, Science, Medicine, And Mathematics--page [4] Of Coner. Edited By Liba Taub. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 289-318) And Indexes. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series information 4 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Table of Contents 7 List of Contributors 9 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 On ‘Nature’ 17 The Problem with ‘Science’ 18 The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Science 21 About the Cover Image 23 Notes 24 1 Presocratic Natural Philosophy 27 Presocratic Philosophy? Presocratic Science? 27 The Milesians and Xenophanes: Measure, Order, and Inquiry 29 Heraclitus and Parmenides: Logos, Being, and Doxa 35 Later Natural Philosophy: Anaxagoras and Empedocles 38 The Later Fifth Century: Atomism, Diogenes of Apollonia, Philolaus 42 Conclusion 45 Notes 46 2 Reason, Experience, and Art: The Gorgias and On Ancient Medicine 51 Reason vs. Experience 51 The Language of Experience 53 Early Medicine 56 On Ancient Medicine and Experience 58 On Ancient Medicine and Reason 60 Reason vs. Experience Reconsidered 61 Experience outside Medicine 64 Aristotle and Plato on Experience 67 Notes 68 3 Towards a Science of Life: The Cosmological Method, Teleology, and Living Things 70 The Significance of the Phenomena of Life and Early Greek Cosmologists 70 Plato: Creation and Cosmological Teleology 74 Aristotle: Reduced Ambition, Separation of Sciences, and Natural Teleology 81 Rejection of Methodological Monism and the Per Se Perspective 82 Rejection of Organic Holism and Agent-Centred Teleology 83 Rejection of Ultimate Philosophical Ambition 84 Notes 86 4 Aristotle on the Matter for Birth, Life, and the Elements 91 Introduction 91 Generation of Animals 93 The Body of an Organism as Matter in the De Anima 96 The Matter for Elemental Transformation 100 Conclusion 108 Notes 108 5 From Craft to Nature: The Emergence of Natural Teleology 114 Three Early Teleologists 114 Plato 117 Aristotle 122 The Priority of Form 122 Final Causation in Craft and Nature 124 Hypothetical Necessity 126 Two Differences between Craft and Natural Teleology: How Important Are They? 128 Notes 130 6 Creationism in Antiquity 133 Science and Theology 133 The Atomist Alternative 134 Socrates 135 Plato as Creationist 137 Cosmogonic Reasoning 139 Explaining Imperfections 140 Anaxagoras’ Anthropogony 143 Anaxagorean Mind 146 Anthropogony in the Timaeus 149 Divine Engineering 151 Notes 152 7 What’s a Plant? 153 Introduction 153 A Plant Named Coral 153 Aristotle’s Definition 156 Once More, with Feeling 160 The Role of Analogy in Embryological Writings 165 Conclusions 169 Notes 169 8 Meteorology 172 Astro-Meteorology and Weather Signs 173 Meteorology and the Inquiry into Nature 175 The Backlash against Meteorology 178 Aristotle’s Meteorology 179 Hellenistic Meteorology 189 Notes 192 9 Ancient Greek Mathematics 197 Sources for Theoretical Mathematics 198 Mathematical Practices 202 Structures 206 Arguments 209 Constructions 212 Operations and Procedures 215 Conclusion 218 Notes 218 10 Astronomy in Its Contexts 220 Defining ‘Astronomy’ 220 ‘Saving the Phenomena’ 223 The Place of Astronomy 225 Sensible Models 227 Theoretical and Practical Astronomy 230 Astronomy and Philosophy: the Astronomer as Philosopher 233 Notes 236 11 Ancient Greek Mechanics and the Mechanical Hypothesis 241 A Brief History of the Discipline of Mechanics in Ancient Greece 242 How Many Philosophers Does it Take to Haul a Ship? 247 The Mechanical Hypothesis in Late Antiquity 254 Notes 258 12 Measuring Musical Beauty: Instruments, Reason, and Perception in Ancient Harmonics 260 Introduction: Musical Listening in Ancient Greece 260 The Basic Intervals and the ‘Rational’ Assumption 262 The Smaller Intervals and the ‘Linear’ Assumption 264 Coping with Real Music: Rationalism and Empiricism 265 Beyond the Numbers: ‘Dynamic’ Conceptions of Melody 268 The Quarrel over Intervals: Reason vs. Perception 271 A New Balance 274 Reason Knows Best: Neoplatonism and Early Christianity 276 Notes 277 13 Ancient Greek Historiography of Science 280 Uncertain Origins 280 In Search of the First Discoverers 282 From art (techne ̄) to science (episte ̄me ̄) 283 History of Knowledge in the Lyceum 286 Eudemus’ Histories of Exact Sciences 288 History of Knowledge after the Lyceum 294 Notes 297 Bibliography 301 Ancient and Medieval Authors 301 Collections 301 Abū’l-’Abbās al-Faḍl ibn Ḥātim al-Nairīzī 302 Anaxagoras 302 Anonymus Londiniensis 302 Apollonius of Perga 302 Archimedes 302 Aristarchus 302 Aristophanes 302 Aristotle 303 Diogenes Laertius 303 Diophantus 303 Empedocles 303 Epicurus 303 Euclid 303 Eudemus of Rhodes 304 Euripides 304 Galen 304 Geminus 304 Georgios Pachymeres (1242–1310) 304 Heraclides of Pontus 304 Herodotus 304 Hesiod 304 Hippocrates 305 Lucian 305 Menelaus of Alexandria 305 Meno 305 Nemesius 305 Nicolaus Damascenus 305 Pappus of Alexandria 305 Philoponus 305 Plato 305 Pliny the Elder 306 Porphyry 306 Proclus 306 Pseudo-Aristotle 306 Ptolemy 306 St Gregory of Nyssa 307 Seneca 307 Sextus Empiricus 307 Simplicius 307 Theodosius 307 Theon of Smyrna (Mathematical knowledge useful for reading Plato) 307 Theophrastus 308 Vegetius 308 Xenophanes 308 Modern Authors 308 Index Locorum 331 General Index 344