Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought PDF Author: R. J. Hankinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199246564
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
R. J. Hankinson traces the history of ancient Greek thinking about causation and explanation, from its earliest beginnings through more than a thousand years to the middle of the first millennium of the Christian era. He examines ways in which the Ancient Greeks dealt with questions about how and why things happen as and when they do, about the basic constitution and structure of things, about function and purpose, laws of nature, chance, coincidence, and responsibility.

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought PDF Author: R. J. Hankinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199246564
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Get Book Here

Book Description
R. J. Hankinson traces the history of ancient Greek thinking about causation and explanation, from its earliest beginnings through more than a thousand years to the middle of the first millennium of the Christian era. He examines ways in which the Ancient Greeks dealt with questions about how and why things happen as and when they do, about the basic constitution and structure of things, about function and purpose, laws of nature, chance, coincidence, and responsibility.

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought PDF Author: R. J. Hankinson
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191519219
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
R. J. Hankinson traces the history of ancient Greek thinking about causation and explanation, from its earliest beginnings around 600 BC through to the middle of the first millennium of the Christian era. The ancient Greeks were the first Western civilization to subject the ideas of cause and explanation to rigorous and detailed analysis, and to attempt to construct theories about them on the basis of logic and experience. Hankinson examines the ways in which they dealt with questions about how and why things happen as and when they do, about the basic constitution and structure of things, about function and purpose, laws of nature, chance, coincidence, and responsibility. Such diverse questions are unified by the fact that they are all demands for an account of the world that will render it amenable to prediction and control; they are therefore at the root of both philosophical and scientific enquiry. Hankinson draws on a wide range of original sources, in philosophy, natural sciences, medicine, history, and the law, in order to create a synoptic picture of the growth and development of these central concepts in the Graeco-Roman world.

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought PDF Author: R. J. Hankinson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191597572
Category : Causation
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
This work traces the history of ancient Greek thought about causation and explanation. It examines ways in which they dealt with questions about how and why things happen, about the constitution and structure of things, laws of nature, and more.

Reason and Analysis in Ancient Greek Philosophy

Reason and Analysis in Ancient Greek Philosophy PDF Author: Georgios Anagnostopoulos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400760043
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This distinctive collection of original articles features contributions from many of the leading scholars of ancient Greek philosophy. They explore the concept of reason and the method of analysis and the central role they play in the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They engage with salient themes in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political theory, as well as tracing links between each thinker’s ideas on selected topics. The volume contains analyses of Plato’s Socrates, focusing on his views of moral psychology, the obligation to obey the law, the foundations of politics, justice and retribution, and Socratic virtue. On Plato’s Republic, the discussions cover the relationship between politics and philosophy, the primacy of reason over the soul’s non-rational capacities, the analogy of the city and the soul, and our responsibility for choosing how we live our own lives. The anthology also probes Plato’s analysis of logos (reason or language) which underlies his philosophy including the theory of forms. A quartet of reflections explores Aristotelian themes including the connections between knowledge and belief, the nature of essence and function, and his theories of virtue and grace. The volume concludes with an insightful intellectual memoir by David Keyt which charts the rise of analytic classical scholarship in the past century and along the way provides entertaining anecdotes involving major figures in modern academic philosophy. Blending academic authority with creative flair and demonstrating the continuing interest of ancient Greek philosophy, this book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all those studying and researching the origins of Western philosophy.

Thinking about Causes

Thinking about Causes PDF Author: Peter Machamer
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN: 0822971119
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Emerging as a hot topic in the mid-twentieth century, causality is one of the most frequently discussed issues in contemporary philosophy. Causality has been a central concept in philosophy as well as in the sciences, especially the natural sciences, dating back to its beginning in Greek thought. David Hume famously claimed that causality is the cement of the universe. In general terms, it links eventualities, predicts the consequences of action, and is the cognitive basis for the acquisition and the use of categories and concepts in the child. Indeed, how could one answer why-questions, around which early rational thought begins to revolve, without hitting on the relationships between reason and consequence, cause and effect, or without drawing these distinctions? But a comprehensive definition of causality has been notoriously hard to provide, and virtually every aspect of causation has been subject to much debate and analysis.Thinking About Causes brings together top philosophers from the United States and Europe to focus on causality as a major force in philosophical and scientific thought. Topics addressed include: ancient Stoicism and moral philosophy; the case of sacramental causality; traditional causal concepts in Descartes; Kant on transcendental laws; the influence of J. S. Mill's politics on his concept of causation; plurality in causality; causality in modern physics; causality in economics; and the concept of free will.Taken together, the essays in this collection from the Pittsburgh -Konstanz series provide the best current thinking about causality, especially as it relates to the philosophy of science.

Wounded Heroes

Wounded Heroes PDF Author: Marina McCoy
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199672784
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
McCoy examines how Greek epic, tragedy, and philosophy offer important insights into the nature of human vulnerability, especially how Greek thought extols the recognition and proper acceptance of vulnerability. Beginning with the literary works of Homer and Sophocles, she also expands her analysis to the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle.

Aristotle's Concept of Chance

Aristotle's Concept of Chance PDF Author: John Dudley
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438432283
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 487

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Book Description
This landmark book is the first to provide a comprehensive account of Aristotle's concept of chance. Chance is invoked by many to explain order in the universe, the origins of life, even human freedom and happiness. An understanding of Aristotle's concept of chance is indispensable for an appreciation of his views on nature and ethics, views which have had a tremendous influence on the development of Western philosophy. Author John Dudley analyzes Aristotle's account of chance in the Physics, the Metaphysics, in his biological and ethical treatises, and in a number of his other works as well. Important complementary considerations such as Aristotle's criticism of Presocratic philosophers, particularly Empedocles and Democritus, Plato's concept of chance, the chronology of Aristotle's works, and the relevance of Aristotle's work to evolution and quantum theory are also covered in depth. This is an essential book for scholars and students of Western philosophy.

Aristotle on Religion

Aristotle on Religion PDF Author: Mor Segev
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108415253
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Provides a comprehensive account of the socio-political role Aristotle attributes to traditional religion, despite rejecting its content.

The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and India

The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and India PDF Author: Richard Seaford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108499554
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Explains for the first time the genesis and early form of both Indian and Greek philosophy, and their striking similarities.

Concepts of Space in Greek Thought

Concepts of Space in Greek Thought PDF Author: Keimpe Algra
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004320873
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Concepts of Space in Greek Thought studies ancient Greek theories of physical space and place, in particular those of the classical and Hellenistic period. These theories are explained primarily with reference to the general philosophical or methodological framework within which they took shape. Special attention is paid to the nature and status of the sources. Two introductory chapters deal with the interrelations between various concepts of space and with Greek spatial terminology (including case studies of the Eleatics, Democritus and Epicurus). The remaining chapters contain detailed studies on the theories of space of Plato, Aristotle, the early Peripatetics and the Stoics. The book is especially useful for historians of ancient physics, but may also be of interest to students of Aristotelian dialectic, ancient metaphysics, doxography, and medieval and early modern physics.