Description
Book SynopsisAn Archaeology of Disbelief traces the origin of secular philosophy to pre-Socratic Greek philosophers who proposed a physical universe without supernatural intervention. Some mentioned the Homeric gods, but others did not. Atomists and Sophists identified themselves as agnostics if not outright atheists, and in reaction Plato featured transcendent spiritual authority. However, Aristotle offered a physical cosmology justified by evidence from a variety of scientific fields. He also revisited many pre-Socratic assumptions by proposing that existence consists of mass in motion without temporal or spatial boundaries. In many ways his analysis anticipated Newton's concept of gravity, Darwin's concept of evolution, and Einstein's concept of relativity. Aristotle's follower Strato invented scientific experimentation. He also inspired the pursuit of science and advocated the rejection of all beliefs unconfirmed by science. Carneades in turn distorted Aristotelian logic to ridicule the god con
Table of Contents00-Title 01-Dedication 02-Table of Contents 03-Preface 04-Introduction I. An Economic Explanation II. Loss of Textual Evidence III. Respectable Remnants IV. Five Secularists Still Available Today 05-Chapter One: The Pre-Socratic Philosophers I. Thales II. Anaximander III. Anaximenes IV. Xenophanes V. Pherecydes VI. Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans VII. Heraclitus VIII. Parmenides IX. Zeno of Elea X. Melissus XI. Empedocles XII. Anaxagoras XIII. Diogenes Apollonius XIV. Leucippus XV. Democritus XVI. Final Considerations 06-Chapter Two: Plato and the Age of Pericles I. Sophists II. Protagoras III. Socrates IV. Plato 07-Chapter Three: Early Aristotle I. Comparison with Plato II. Christian Interpolations III. Physics IV. Metaphysics 08-Chapter Four: Late Aristotle I. De Caelo (On the Heavens) II. On Generation and Corruption III. De Anima (On the Soul) IV. Nicomachean Ethics V. Conclusion 09-Chapter Five: The Lyceum after Aristotle I. Theophrastus II. Strato of Lampsacus 10-Chapter Six: The Epicureans I. Epicurus II. Lucretius 11-Chapter Seven: Skepticism I. Pyrrho II. Arcesilaus III. Carneades 12-Chapter Eight: Cicero I. Academica II. On the Nature of the Gods 13-Epilogue 14-Bibliography Index
