1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910512010203321

Autore

Gregory Andrew <1960->

Titolo

The presocratics and the supernatural : magic, philosophy and science in early Greece / Andrew Gregory

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Bloomsbury, 2013

ISBN

1-4725-0415-1

1-4725-5584-8

1-4725-0416-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (290 p.)

Disciplina

182

Soggetti

Pre-Socratic philosophers - Greece

Philosophy, Ancient

Supernatural

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Natural and Supernatural -- The Literary and Philosophical Background -- Magic and Its Practice in Presocratic Greece -- Milesian Pantheism -- Xenophanes and the Drive Towards a Unitary God -- The Hippocratics and the Sacred Disease -- Empedocles -- The Pythagoreans -- Leucippus and Democritus -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines the relationship between magic, philosophy and the investigation of nature in presocratic Greece. Did the presocratic thinkers, often praised for their rejection of the supernatural, still believe in gods and the divine and the efficacy of magical practices? Did they use animism, astrology, numerology and mysticism in their explanations of the world? This book analyses the evidence in detail and argues that we need to look at each of these beliefs in context