Anaximander A Re-assessment

Anaximander, the sixth-century BCE philosopher of Miletus, is often credited as being the instigator of both science and philosophy. The first recorded philosopher to posit the idea of the boundless cosmos, he was also the first to attempt to explain the origins of the world and humankind in rational terms. Anaximander's philosophy encompasses theories of justice, cosmogony, geometry, cosmology, zoology and meteorology.

Anaximander: A Re-assessment draws together these wide-ranging threads into a single, coherent picture of the man, his worldview and his legacy to the history of thought. Arguing that Anaximander's statements are both apodeictic and based on observation of the world around him, Andrew Gregory examines how Anaximander's theories can all be construed in such a way that they are consistent with and supportive of each other. This includes the tenet that the philosophical elements of Anaximander's thought (his account of the apeiron, the extant fragment) can be harmonised to support his views on the natural world. The work further explores how these theories relate to early Greek thought and in particular conceptions of theogony and meterology in Hesiod and Homer.

Andrew Gregory is Reader in History of Science, with expertise in ancient and early modern science, ancient philosophy, and the relation of magic and science, University College, London, UK.

1. The Unlimited: The nature of the apeiron - unlimited in all ways? - Why the apeiron and not an element? - The apeiron and the separation of opposites - Graham and generating substance theory - Is the apeiron divine? - Theology and divinity in other early Greek thinkers - Pantheism - Does the apeiron 'steer'? - Steering in other presocratic cosmologies - Plato's evidence on 'steering'
2. The extant fragment - justice and time - Paying penalty and retribution for injustice - the notion of invariance in Anaximander - Early ideas of physical law - Mathematical law and civil law analogues - opposites or the apeiron paying penalty? - An alternative view: synchronic rather than diachronic retribution according to necessity - what sort of necessity? - Synchronic retribution and how it fits with Anaximander's other views
3. Cosmogony The initial stages - formation of heaven and earth - ongoing rather than unique processes - Issues in the philosophy of cosmogony - Cosmogony prior to Anaximander - One cosmos or many worlds? - Many co-existent worlds - Many successive worlds - The possibility of vortices - The evidence of Aristotle and the doxographers - One stable cosmos
4. Cosmology: The distribution of the stars and planets - The nature of their orbits - The size of the heavenly bodies - The nature of the earth - The stability of the earth debate - Is the earth drying up?
5. Zoogony: Translation of the relevant fragments - The Caddis fly life cycle - A natural, observed account of the origin of life? - What Anaximander gets out of the Caddis fly cycle - Evolution or intelligent design by 'steering'? - The origins of life and the origins of the cosmos for Anaximander
6. Meteorology: Natural explanation of meteorological phenomena - Anaximander and Hesiod - Anaximander and Homer - Anaximander and oriental influences - A tradition begun by Anaximander? - How good an explanation of the phenomena? / 7. Anaximander and his place in early Greek thought / Anaximander as first philosopher or first scientist - Modern critiques of such views - Anaximander and 'the enquiry concerning nature' - Anaximander and invariance - Anaximander and a coherent, natural world view - Anaximander and his influence - Anaximander and his critics
Conclusion: Anaximander and observation - A stable cosmos - Synchronic retribution - The apeiron, pantheism and 'steering' - Anaximander against Homer and Hesiod - Anaximander's world view - Anaximander in Greek thought