Rejoicing Sphairos, Wandering Daimon, and Other Living Beings

Vojtěch Hladký Ph.D.

doi:10.5771/9783495992937

Summary

The book consists of several thematically interconnected studies on Empedocles that deal with his natural philosophy and related religious topics. It offers a detailed reconstruction of the Sphairos, which is argued to be a giant organism, that is, a structured body with distinguishable parts. This interpretation is supported by some parallels from earlier thinkers and by the history of reception of the Sphairos in the work of later ancient philosophers. Other chapters explain in detail Empedocles’ account of the origin of life, embryology, and other biological topics. These innovative scientific ideas are moreover related to some of Empedocles’ non-standard religious views, especially his concept of the transmigrating souls.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2025
ISBN-Print: 978-3-495-99292-0
ISBN-Online: 978-3-495-99293-7
Publisher: Karl Alber, Baden-Baden
Series: International Pre-Platonic Studies
Volume: 8
Language: English
Pages: 245
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis No access Pages 1 - 12
I. Introduction: Empedocles and His Elementary Principles No access Pages 13 - 26
1. 1. The Divine Sphairos No access
2. 2. Predecessors of the Sphairos No access
3. 3. Mixing, zoogony, and cosmogony No access
4. 4. The Inner Structure of the Sphairos No access
1. 1. The Sphairos and the Aristotelian Tradition No access
2. 2. The Sphairos according to Neoplatonic Interpretations No access
3. 1. 3.1. Timaeus No access
  2. 3.2. Statesman No access
  3. 3.3. Symposium No access
1. 1. The Mysterious Origins of the Transmigration of Souls in Greece No access
2. 2. Empedocles No access
3. 3. Philolaus and the Pythagoreans No access
4. 4. Plato No access
5. 5. Problems of Monism and Dualism, Immanence and Transcendence No access
1. 1. 1.1. Empedocles’ Proto-evolution No access
  2. 1.2. The origin of plants No access
  3. 1.3. A Correspondence between the Elements and Living Beings No access
  4. 1.4. The Cognition of Living Beings and Panpsychism No access
2. 2. Embryology No access
3. 3. Eschatology No access
4. 4. Analogy No access
Bibliography No access Pages 201 - 228
Index locorum No access Pages 229 - 242
General index No access Pages 243 - 245