Natural philosophy and natural science in ancient greek thought

A survey of the views of the ancient greek philosophers on nature. We will study the natural philosophy of the Presocratics, Plato's views on nature as well as Aristotle's foundation of natural science.

Objectives

The course aims at familiarizing the students with (a) the basic concepts, principles and the main currents in ancient greek natural science (b) the search, evaluation and use of sources and information concerning the corpus of ancient greek philosophical and scientific texts.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course

Syllabus

1. Ιntroduction. The origins of ancient greek philosophy and the search for the principles of nature. 2. The Milesian philosophers. 3. Parmenides and the problem of natural change. 4. Empedocles. 5. The natural philosophy of the Atomists. 6. The platonic natural world in the "Timaeus". 7. Aristotle's natural shcience 1. 8. Aristotle's natural science 2. 9. Aristotle's psychology as natural science.