A01=Francis MacDonald Cornford
Anaximander
Ancient philosophy
Antinomy
Aristotelianism
Aristotle
Atomic theory
Atomism
Author_Francis MacDonald Cornford
Category=QDHA
Charmides (dialogue)
Classical element
Consciousness
Cosmogony
Democritus
Divine law
Empedocles
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Erudition
Existence
Explanation
First principle
God
Henri Bergson
Historiography
Hypothesis
Idealism
Immutability (theology)
Individualism
Jacques Derrida
Leucippus
Lightness (philosophy)
Magic and religion
Materialism
Monism
Mysticism
Mythology
Nature (philosophy)
Neoplatonism
Occult
Occult science
Omnipotence
Oracle
Orphism (religion)
Parmenides
Personal god
Phaedo
Phenomenon
Philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy of religion
Physis
Political philosophy
Polytheism
Pre-Socratic philosophy
Pythagoreanism
Reincarnation
Religion
Religion and mythology
Religious studies
Renunciation
Scholasticism
Sociology of religion
Superiority (short story)
Taoism
The Philosopher
Theism
Theology
Theory
Theurgy
Thought
Timaeus (dialogue)
Truism
Xenophanes
Product details
- ISBN 9780691020761
- Weight: 369g
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 28 Nov 1991
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In this exploration of the "very first utterance of philosophers," F. M. Cornford showed that the remarkable burst of abstract speculation among pre-Socratic thinkers of the sixth century B.C. emerged directly from the religious thought of the preceding era in Greece. Combining profound classical scholarship with striking anthropological and sociological insight, Cornford rejected the post-Darwinian rationalist assumption that religion and philosophy are fundamentally different from each other. His book supplies a needed reminder of the intricate connections between critical scientific thought and social and emotional experience. As he probes the mythic antecedents of such persistent metaphysical concepts as Destiny, God, Soul, Substance, Nature, and Immortality, Cornford warns us that "unless we have some grasp of that history [of myth], we are not likely to understand the speculation, which, however scientific its spirit may be, constantly operates with these religious ideas, and is to a large extent confined in its movement within the limits already traced by them."
Classicists, historians of religion, students of ancient history, and everyone concerned with the subject of myth will find this lucid and highly original work to be a source of rich insights about the organic nature and continuity of Western thought.
