Authors:
- Proposes a completely new interpretation of the key word Apeiron in Anaximander’s philosophy
- Highlights the central role of the boundless power of nature, phusis
- Offers an explanation of Anaximander’s conception of generation and destruction on the basis of the first-ever philosophical text
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Philosophy (BRIEFSPHILOSOPH)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This book offers an innovative analysis of the Greek philosopher Anaximander’s work. In particular, it presents a completely new interpretation of the key word Apeiron, or boundless, offering readers a deeper understanding of his seminal cosmology and, with it, his unique conception of the origin of the universe.
Anaximander traditionally applied Apeiron to designate the origin of everything. The authors’ investigation of the extant sources shows, however, that this common view misses the mark. They argue that instead of reading Apeiron as a noun, it should be considered an adjective, with reference to the term phusis (nature), and that the phrase phusis apeiros may express the boundless power of nature, responsible for all creation and growth.
The authors also offer an interpretation of Anaximander's cosmogony from a biological perspective: each further step in the differentiation of the phenomenal world is a continuation of the original separation of a fertile seed.
This new reading of the first written account of cosmology stresses the central role of the boundless power of nature. It provides philosophers, researchers, and students with a thought-provoking explanation of this early thinker's conception of generation and destruction in the universe.
Authors and Affiliations
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Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Radim Kočandrle, Dirk L. Couprie
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Apeiron
Book Subtitle: Anaximander on Generation and Destruction
Authors: Radim Kočandrle, Dirk L. Couprie
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Philosophy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49754-9
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-49753-2Published: 09 January 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-49754-9Published: 03 January 2017
Series ISSN: 2211-4548
Series E-ISSN: 2211-4556
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 112
Topics: Classical Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics, Ontology