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Author: John Masson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atomism
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Author: John Masson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atomism
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Author: John Masson
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780331644920
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Excerpt from The Atomic Theory of Lucretius: Contrasted With Modern Doctrines of Atoms and Evolution In modern scientific thought we find a parallel which helps us to realize how Lucretius's atomic theory taught him to regard Nature, and how his conception of Matter developed into a naive theory of Evolution. Recent inquiry and Specula tion regarding the process of Evolution, the. Origin of Life and the potency of Matter, as illustrated by Tyndall's famous Presidential address, will enable us to realize more clearly, by comparison, what Lucretius's actual belief on these points was. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author: John Masson
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9781330402535
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Excerpt from The Atomic Theory of Lucretius: Contrasted With Modern Doctrines of Atoms and Evolution It is strange that the Greek atomic theory, of which Lucretius is the sole exponent, has not, long before this, been set in a clear and detailed form before the English reader. In Professor Veitch's little book ('Lucretius and the Atomic Theory,' 1875), only fifteen pages (pp. 10-25) deal with Lucretius's theory of atoms, and that only in a general way, while the rest of the volume is occupied with a very able criticism of modern Materialism. The scope of Professor Sellar's work does not allow him to enter at all minutely into the science of Lucretius, though his chapter on the connecting links between Lucretius's science and his poetry is most valuable. Zeller has indeed given us in his 'Pre-Socratic Philosophy' an admirable sketch of the system of Democritus, but his account of the later development of the atomic theory in the hands of Epicurus is by no means equally complete. Lange's short chapters on Democritus, Epicurus, and Lucretius in his 'History of Materialism' contain acute enough criticism, though in Ins statement of facts Lange is by no means so trustworthy as Zeller. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author: John Masson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783337883089
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Author: John Masson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781515129783
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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The most fierce and fiery discussions on theological matters resolve themselves into disputes about words is a commonplace; but such a work as this anew proves that the same to a very great extent applies in philosophy. Men differ as they do, largely because they use terms differently, and refuse to look patiently from each other's point of view. Mr. F. Harrison warmly insists, for example, that there is no need for Comtists to spell humanity with a big H, however enthusiastic they may be; while his opponents triumphantly insist that to be consistent they must do so; and Sir James Stephen refuses to regard this assertion as aught but nonsense. One cannot regard the writings of Lucretius, or the theory of atoms which he propounded, without being at once pulled up in front of the question, What is matter? and the somewhat warm replies of modern philosophers do not tend to make matters easier. Yet here lies the whole gist of the subject. Mr. Masson is not ambitious enough to aim at an exhaustive definition on his own account, but he points out with no little discrimination the defects in the definitions of Professors Huxley and Tyndall, and other writers of our day, as well as in the conclusions of thinkers like Mr. Picton; and he deserves all praise for the careful and thoughtful style in which he has analyzed the doctrines of the Epicurean philosophy, and more especially-as he was in duty bound to do-the doctrines of Lucretius. He shows in the clearest manner that Lucretius - pace Mr. Robert Buchanan and those who lead or follow him-was no cut and dry materialist, but something so different that he may well be regarded as the teacher of ideas in effect identical with those which are in our own day revolutionizing science and philosophy. Lucretius held, in reality, something in common with the 'mind-stuff of Professor Clifford, for if he persists in regarding matter as dead, his theory of atoms includes soul-atoms, in some of which volition is vested; and in these are logically found the bases for free-will, which no mere materialist could assert. Will, with Lucretius, is held so to act on matter that Mr. Masson ingenuously writes: "Lucretius' conception of Declination as a movement so exceedingly slight, the tiny soul-atom swerving from the straight line "not more than the least possible" degree at the impulse of its own Freewill-does not this come pretty near to Herschel's "no greater force than is required to remove a single material molecule from its place through a space inconceivably minute" (p. 117)? This, which seems formally mechanical, is in reality moral. Of course Mr. Masson dwells, as he could not help doing, on the grand lacuna in the philosophy of Lucretius-his total failure to account for consciousness. Lucretius admitted no more than sensation, which he holds is felt in the body as a whole, and not in any part separately, and yet he insisted on the sense of free-will. But Mr. Masson has made it clear that Lucretius, if he did not clearly formulate all his conceptions, perceived the necessity of founding on personal experience; and if he did not see his way to accept the immortality of the soul, this was a defect, for the principle of free-will logically implied it. One of the happiest summaries of the points of relationship between Lucretius and Professor Clifford and his school of thinkers is thus given by Mr. Masson: 'The reasoning of both is based on the same principle, and both apply it with equal boldness. The question is an instructive one. In both cases materialism, finding itself hard pressed, escapes as it were by a back-door, and, in so doing, unconsciously confesses its own powerlessness to account, unaided, for the origin of life and thought. In one point the pagan has the advantage of the modern philosophy, in showing none of the bitterness against all forms of religious belief.... -The British Quarterly Review, Volume 80 [1884]
Author: John MASSON (M.A.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 249
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Author: John Masson
Publisher: Nabu Press
ISBN: 9781289892586
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 284
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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Author: John Masson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atomism
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Author: John Veitch
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781017912081
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Ada Palmer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674967089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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After its rediscovery in 1417, Lucretius’s Epicurean didactic poem De Rerum Natura threatened to supply radicals and atheists with the one weapon unbelief had lacked in the Middle Ages: good answers. Scholars could now challenge Christian patterns of thought by employing the theory of atomistic physics, a sophisticated system that explained natural phenomena without appeal to divine participation, and argued powerfully against the immortality of the soul, the afterlife, and a creator God. Ada Palmer explores how Renaissance readers, such as Machiavelli, Pomponio Leto, and Montaigne, actually ingested and disseminated Lucretius, and the ways in which this process of reading transformed modern thought. She uncovers humanist methods for reconciling Christian and pagan philosophy, and shows how ideas of emergent order and natural selection, so critical to our current thinking, became embedded in Europe’s intellectual landscape before the seventeenth century. This heterodoxy circulated in the premodern world, not on the conspicuous stage of heresy trials and public debates, but in the classrooms, libraries, studies, and bookshops where quiet scholars met the ideas that would soon transform the world. Renaissance readers—poets and philologists rather than scientists—were moved by their love of classical literature to rescue Lucretius and his atomism, thereby injecting his theories back into scientific discourse. Palmer employs a new quantitative method for analyzing marginalia in manuscripts and printed books, exposing how changes in scholarly reading practices over the course of the sixteenth century gradually expanded Europe’s receptivity to radical science, setting the stage for the scientific revolution.
