Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (Sather Classical Lectures)
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Manufacturer: University of California Press
EAN (European Article Number): 9780520253643
Number of Items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
Author: David Sedley
Publisher: University of California Press
Edition: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 213
Publication Date: 2008-01-16
Reading Level: 296
Description: The world is configured in ways that seem systematically hospitable to life forms, especially the human race. Is this the outcome of divine planning or simply of the laws of physics? Ancient Greeks and Romans famously disagreed on whether the cosmos was the product of design or accident. In this book, David Sedley examines this question and illuminates new historical perspectives on the pantheon of thinkers who laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Versions of what we call the "creationist" option were widely favored by the major thinkers of classical antiquity, including Plato, whose ideas on the subject prepared the ground for Aristotle's celebrated teleology. But Aristotle aligned himself with the anti-creationist lobby, whose most militant members--the atomists--sought to show how a world just like ours would form inevitably by sheer accident, given only the infinity of space and matter. This stimulating study explores seven major thinkers and philosophical movements enmeshed in the debate: Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Socrates, Plato, the atomists, Aristotle, and the Stoics.
Customer Reviews
Review Summary: An excellent introduction to Creation and Evolution!
Date: 2008-05-31
Details: If one is interested in the roots of the Creation-Evolution controversy, this is the book to read. I suspected for a long time that theories to explain the origin of the world must have existed in Greek Philosophy, but I did not know any accessible introduction for the non-specialist. I am very glad that philosopher David Sedley openened up the world of Greek philosophy for all those who never dared to read Socrates, Plato, and Aristotles.
But Sedley did not write a general introduction to Greek philosophy. His unique focus is the origin and the nature of the world. He describes those ideas with modern concepts such as: 'creationism', 'design argument', 'Scientific Creationism', 'The origin of species', and 'atheism'. I wonder if it is anachronistic to use modern concepts to describe ideas of 2300 years old? I think the use of those modern concepts contributes unmistakably to the accessibility of Greek philosophers to us. They come closer to us. We recognize our own concerns with evolution and creation.
Is ancient atheistic theorizing relevant today? Surely, this is relevant and important, because it shows modern readers that explaining the world without invoking of gods existed more than 2000 years before Darwin! Darwin was not the first to propose a non-theistic ('atheistic') explanation of the origin of species.
Similarly, 'fine tuning' of the physical world is not a modern invention. We find it in Greek philosophy 300 years BC. The examples of 'design' are marvelous. I recommend the book if only for the beautiful examples of fine tuning.
From now on, teaching the theory of evolution to the public should start with David Sedley's 'Creationism and its critics in Antiquity'.
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