Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
Cosmology and Biology in Ancient Philosophy
In antiquity living beings are inextricably linked to the cosmos as a whole. Ancient biology and cosmology depend upon one another and therefore a complete understanding of one requires a full account of the other. This volume addresses many philosophical issues that arise from this double relation. Does the cosmos have a soul of its own? Why? Is either of these two disciplines more basic than the other, or are they at the same explanatory level? What is the relationship between living things and the cosmos as a whole? If the cosmos is an animate intelligent being, what is the nature of its thoughts and actions? How do these relate to our own thoughts and actions? Do they pose a threat to our autonomy as subjects and agents? And what is the place of zoogony in cosmogony? A distinguished international team of contributors provides original essays discussing these questions.
- ddot; Argues for a fresh approach to ancient biology and cosmology as interconnected disciplines · Brings together leading specialists in the field · Focuses on philosophical issues arising from the relation between ancient biology and cosmology
Reviews & endorsements
'For all its value and richness, [this] is definitely a book very much worth reading for every historian of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy.' Damian Fernandez Beanato, Metascience
Product details
March 2023Paperback
9781108812597
323 pages
230 × 150 × 20 mm
0.476kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction. The intersection of biology and cosmology in ancient philosophy Ricardo Salles
- 1. Souls and cosmos before Plato: five short doxographical studies André Laks
- 2. The ensouled cosmos in Plato's Timaeus: biological science as a guide to cosmology? Barbara Sattler
- 3. Platonic 'desmology' and the body of the World Animal (Tim. 30c-34a) Dimitri el Murr
- 4. The world-soul takes command. The doctrine of the world-soul in the Epinomis of Philip of Opus and in the Academy of Polemon John Dillon
- 5. Begotten and made: creation as cosmogony in Middle Platonism George Boys-Stones
- 6. The De Motu Animalium on the movement of the heavens John M. Cooper
- 7. Biology and cosmology in Aristotle James G. Lennox
- 8. Recapitulation theory and transcendental morphology in antiquity James Wilberding
- 9. The Stoics' empiricist model of divine thought George Boys-Stones
- 10. Why is the cosmos intelligent? Stoic cosmology and Plato, Timaeus 30a2-c1 Ricardo Salles
- 11. Cardiology and cosmology in post-Chrysippean Stoicism Emmanuele Vimercati
- 12. The agency of the world Katja Maria Vogt
- 13. God and the material world: biology and cosmology in Galen's physiology R. J. Hankinson
- 14. At the intersection of cosmology and biology: Plotinus on nature Lloyd P. Gerson
- 15. Is the heaven an animal? Avicenna's celestial psychology between cosmology and biology Tomasso Alpina.
