The Greek Concept Of Nature

by Naddaf, Gerard

• ISBN13: 9780791463734
• ISBN10: 0791463737
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-30
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

In The Greek Concept of Nature, Gerard Naddaf utilizes historical, mythological, and linguistic perspectives to reconstruct the origin and evolution of the Greek concept of phusis. Usually translated as nature, phusis has been decisive both for the early history of philosophy and for its subsequent development. However, there is a considerable amount of controversy on what the earliest philosophers-Anaximander, Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus, and Democritus-actually had in mind when they spoke of phusis or nature. Naddaf demonstrates that the fundamental and etymological meaning of the word refers to the whole process of birth to maturity. He argues that the use of phusis in the famous expression Peri phuseos or historia peri phuseos refers to the origin and the growth of the universe from beginning to end. Naddaf's bold and original theory for the genesis of Greek philosophy demonstrates that archaic and mythological schemes were at the origin of the philosophical representations, but also that cosmogony, anthropogony, and politogony were never totally separated in early Greek philosophy. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Gerard Naddaf is Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at York University in Toronto

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(10)
1 The Meaning of Peri Phuseos	11	(26)
2 Cosmogonic Myth as an Antecedent to Peri Phuseos Writings	37	(26)
3 Anaximander's Historia Peri Phuseos	63	(50)
4 The Historia Peri Phuseos from Xenophanes to the Atomists	113	(50)
Conclusion	163	(4)
Notes	167	(54)
Bibliography	221	(16)
Index of Concepts and Proper Names	237	(14)
Index of Classical Passages Cited	251