The Greek cosmologists, Volume 1, the formation of the atomic theory and its earliest critics

Furley's study presents a clear picture of the opposing views of the natural world and its contents as seen by philosophers and scientists in classical antiquity. On one side were the materialists whose world was mechanistic, evolutionary, and unbounded, lacking the focus of a natural center. The other side included teleologists, whose world was purposive, non-evolutionary, finite, and centrifocal. This volume takes the reader up to the criticisms of Plato and Aristotle. The second volume will examine Plato and Aristotle's own cosmology and follow the debate to the sixth century. Professor Furley has produced a history of the early views of the physical world whose scope makes this book of major importance. Content: Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface 1 Two pictures of the world 2 The judgement of Socrates 3 The beginning in Miletus 1 The origin of the world: matter alive 2 The dynamics and shape of the world 3 Anaximander and infinity. 4 Two philosophical critics: Heraclitus and Parmenides 1 The value of logos 2 Heraclitus on change 3 The challenge of Parmenides 4 The effects of Parmenides' poem 5 Pythagoras, Parmenides, and later cosmology 1 Mathematics and cosmology 2 The pioneer of the centrifocal universe. 3 Pythagorean fantasie 6 Anaxagoras 1 Anaxagoras 2 Mind as a cosmic agent 3 Anaxagoras'theory of matter 4 The cosmos of Anaxagoras 7 Empedocles and the invention of elements 1 The four roots 2 Love and Strife 3 The formation of the cosmos and its contents. 4 'Mortal kinds in thousands, a wonder to behold' 5 The question of the cosmic cycle 6 Appendix: the action of Love and Strife 8 Later Eleatic critics 1 The paradoxes of plurality 2 Melissus no 9 Leucippus and Democritus 1 The men and their books 2 What is and what is not 3 Atoms. 4 Atoms and mathematics 5 Perceptible qualities of compounds 10 The cosmos of the Atomists 1 The infinite universe 2 The origin of our world 3 The Atomists' theory of motion 11 The anthropology of the Atomists 1 The materialist theory of the psyche. This first volume takes the story from its beginnings in Ionian philosophy as far as the formation of the Atomic Theory and the first criticisms of it by Plato and Aristotle. The second volume will describe the cosmology of Plato and Aristotle, the attempt by Epicurean opponents to revive Atomism and later developments of the debate in classical philosophy and science up to the sixth century of our era. Both are accessible to anyone interested in the history of science and philosophy, even if they have no specialized knowledge of Greek philosophy and no Greek; but professional scholars too will find much of importance to them Furley's study presents a clear picture of the opposing views of the natural world and its contents as seen by philosophers and scientists in classical antiquity. On one side were the materialists whose world was mechanistic, evolutionary, and unbounded, lacking the focus of a natural center. The other side included teleologists, whose world was purposive, non-evolutionary, finite, and centrifocal. This volume takes the reader up to the criticisms of Plato and Aristotle. The second volume will examine Plato and Aristotle's own cosmology and follow the debate to the sixth century. --From publisher's description This book is for anyone interested in the history of science and philosophy, even if they have no specialized knowledge of Greek philosophy. V. 1. The Formation Of The Atomic Theory And Its Earliest Critics. David Furley. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: V. 1, P. 201-210.