Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (Sather Classical Lectures)

Sather Classical Lectures

by David N. Sedley

The world is configured in ways that seem systematically hospitable to life forms, especially the human race. Is this the outcome of divine planning or simply of the laws of physics? Ancient Greeks and Romans famously disagreed on whether the cosmos was the product of design or accident. In this book, David Sedley examines this question and illuminates new historical perspectives on the pantheon of thinkers who laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Versions of what we call the "creationist" option were widely favored by the major thinkers of classical antiquity, including Plato, whose ideas on the subject prepared the ground for Aristotle's celebrated teleology. But Aristotle aligned himself with the anti-creationist lobby, whose most militant members—the atomists—sought to show how a world just like ours would form inevitably by sheer accident, given only the infinity of space and matter. This stimulating study explores seven major thinkers and philosophical movements enmeshed in the debate: Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Socrates, Plato, the atomists, Aristotle, and the Stoics.

Genres: Philosophy, Religion

296 pages, Hardcover

First published December 17, 2007

Reviews

[Christian Barrett]

This brief overview introduces readers to conversations about creationism that have been happening for thousands of years. The discussion here is helpful as it works through the philosophical understandings of where the world has come from and where it will go. The intentional reconnections to the Christian worldview are helpful.