Anaximander and the Origins of Greek Cosmology

274 Pages·1960·7.214 MB·English

by  Charles H. Kahn

ANAXIMANDER
AND THE ORIGINS OF
GREEK COSMOLOGY
By CHARLES H. KAHN

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW YORK
1960

ANAXIMANDER
Small portrait relict, probably early Roman Empire
after Hellenistic original
(Museo Nazionale Romano)
ANAXIMANDER AND THE
ORIGINS OF GREEK COSMOLOGY
THE STANWOOD COCKEY LODGE FOUNDATION HAS
GENEROUSLY PROVIDED FUNDS TO ASSIST IN THE
PUBLICATION OF THIS VOLUME
Published 1960, Columbia University Press, New York
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-11677
Published in Great Britain, India, and Pakistan
by the Oxford University Press
London, Bombay, and Karachi
Printed in Great Britain
To Kurt von Fritz

CONTENTS
PREFACE
ABBREVIATIONS AND SHORT TITLES USED IN CITATION
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
INTRODUCTION
The Documentary Evidence for Anaximander’s Views
INTRODUCTION TO THE DOXOGRAPHY II
Theophrastus and His Excerptors, 12. Theophrastus as an
Historian of Early Greek Philosophy, 17. Supplementary Note:
On the Relative Accuracy of Aristotle and Theophrastus in the
Use of Documentary Material, 22.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE DOXOGRAPHY 25
Topics of the Doxography for Anaximander, 26. Abbreviations
of Authors in the Doxography, 27. Correspondence with the
Arrangement in Diels-Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 27.
THE DOXOGRAPHY: TEXTS AND COMMENTARY 28
The Cosmology of Anaximander
I. THE MILESIAN THEORY OF THE NATURAL WORLD 75
Position of the Earth, 76. Form of the Earth, 81. Antipodes,
84. Formation of the Heavens; Stars and Sun; The Moon;
Size, Position, and Distance of the Rings, 85. Meteorology, 98.
Wind; Rain; Lightning and Thunder, 100. Origin of the Sea,
102. Origin of Animal Life; Descent of Man, 109. The ψυχή,
114. Supplementary Note: The Earliest Doctrine of a Spherical
Earth, 115.
II. ELEMENTS AND OPPOSITES: THE MEMBERS OF THE WORLD
The Classic Doctrine, 121. The Origins, 133. Supplementary
Note: On the Chronological Relationship Between Anaxagoras
and Empedocles, 163.
vill CONTENTS
III. ANAXIMANDER'S FRAGMENT: THE UNIVERSE GOVERNED BY LAW 166
The Language of the Fragment, 168. A Literal Interpretation,
178. The Philosophic Sense of the Fragment, 183. Supplemen-
tary Note: The Earlier Interpretations of the Fragment, 193.
Conclusion
MILESIAN SPECULATION AND THE GREEK PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 199
Appendices
I. THE USAGE OF THE TERM KOZMOZ IN EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY 219
II. THE AITEIPON OF ANAXIMANDER 231
NOTE: THE FIRST GREEK PROSE TREATISE 240
Indices
SUBJECTS 243
NAMES AND CITATIONS 245
250
GREEK TERMS