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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88375732497?pwd=YmJ6RHJyMkRjTC9KdHNqRXJQS0xTdz09 | Meeting ID: 883 7573 2497 | Passcode: 496296
The writings of Greek thinkers from before Plato only survive in tantalising fragments, but have been a constant stimulus and resource for later thinkers, ancient, medieval and modern. This course takes a journey from Thales’ flood to Democritus’ atoms via the enigmatic Heraclitus, the mystical Pythagoras and the first great sceptic, Parmenides. We will explore the early origins of the Western scientific tradition, read original text, critique arguments and notice themes and puzzles that continue to inspire scientific and philosophical thought today.
Week 1
Thales: Setting the Scene
This session explores the wider cultural context, in which Greek speakers received the fruits of the science and speculations of earlier cultures. We shall look at Thales’ take on astronomy and ‘speculative’ natural science in a search for the origins of things, along with some later examples of answers to the same questions.
Week 2
Pythagoras: harmony and the transmigration of souls
Pythagoras himself is an almost mythical figure, but his school of mystical mathematicians has exercised a powerful influence on minds and imaginations over the centuries. We will explore some of the ideas associated with his school, including his belief in the transmigration of souls, a novelty in the Hellenic world.
Week 3
Heraclitus and a world in motion
Heraclitus is an important reference point for radical sceptics throughout the ages, with his insistence on a universe in constant flow. We shall explore some of his enigmatic sayings and see how his way of looking at the world has influenced later thinkers.
Week 4
Parmenides and Zeno: the annihilating power of words
Parmenides and Zeno, in different ways provide a first systematic challenge in the West to belief in the world as constructed by the senses. We will explore some of Parmenides’ arguments and Zeno’s paradoxes, attempting to get inside the heads and thought-systems of some influential, but wonderfully counter-intuitive thinking.
Week 5
Empedocles and Democritus: elements or atoms
This session looks at the ideas of two important thinkers whose very different models of the universe have affected the course of science and metaphysics over the last two and a half thousand years. We will explore their ideas and look forward to how those ideas have been taken up by subsequent generations in an attempt to explain everything that happens in the world.
This week we will be exploring some of the thoughts of the early physical philosophers, trying to think ourselves back into the world as they saw it to understand the beginnings of modern science. As some preliminary reading, have a look at this extract from the Babylonian creation myth, a parallel Egyptian creation myth and Aristotle’s account of what he thinks Thales brought to the philosophical table in the 6th Century BCE. Enjoy also Diogenes Laertius’ (3rdCentury CE) much later account of anecdotes about the lives of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and Anaxagoras
Dear all,
Two of these PDF's are for you to do your own follow-up from last week (The extract from the Cambridge Introduction and 'Anaximander and Friends'). The third (Pythagoras and friends) is for the coming week (session 2). Do not feel you have to read all of it, but please look at the introductory pages and have a dip into whatever areas (there are eight) might interest you: 1. Life-Sayings 2. Soul 3. Numbers and Secrets 4. Cosmology 5. Numbers and the World 6. Fun with numbers 7. Politics 8. Legends. For those of you at home, please have this text to hand on your computers and for those in the room, I will provide handouts.
I look forward to catching up with everyone next Wednesday!
John M
Dear all,
Herewith the texts for the next session. Please have a look at as much as you can of the Heraclitus paper. The extract from the Heidegger seminar is just for those of you who are curious to see what twentieth century people have made of it, but don't feel obliged to look to hard!'
Look forward to seeing you all next Wednesday,
John M sj
Please see the files below.
Please see the files below.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
John Moffatt SJ works at the London Jesuit Centre. His first degree was in Classics. He taught in London secondary schools intermittently between 1985 and 2016 and has worked briefly in University Chaplaincy. He has been involved with teenage and adult faith education in Britain and South Africa and has recently completed a doctorate in medieval Islamic philosophy.
