I have not read this book, but I'm interested in finding out more about it. Has anyone out there had a shot at it?
Information from Amazon.com: Review
"Sedley's argument is subtle and expert. . . . The brilliance of this book is that Sedley lets the Greeks talk to us and, surprisingly, we can understand what they're saying."--Nature
Product Description
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.
From the Inside Flap
"David Sedley's treatment of ancient views on intelligent design will transform our current thinking."--Thomas Johansen, author of Plato's Natural Philosophy: A Study of the Timaeus-Critias
"Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity has the qualities of a classic. Powerfully organised round an enthralling theme, it is singularly rich in execution. The author's unsurpassed command of his material is matched by the clarity, originality, and imaginative detail of his arguments. The book is as accessible as it is authoritative. It speaks to everyone interested in Greek philosophy, and very many of its readers will go back to it again and again."--Sarah Broadie, author of Aristotle and Beyond: Essays on Metaphysics and Ethics
About the Author
David Sedley is Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of many books, including Plato's Cratylus (2003) and The Midwife of Platonism: Text and Subtext in Plato's Theaetetus (2004), and is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy.
Life Science
Comments
That does look interesting...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | June 16, 2008 11:45 AM
Thanks for the tip! I will put it on my To Be Read list.
It looks to be interesting, and there's got to be a couple of satisfying moments where's it's pointed out that they knew more an better science and philosophy in the Iron Age than Dembski and the DI know today.
Posted by: J-Dog | June 16, 2008 12:07 PM
This one is on my list too, but I haven't even purchased it yet. It looks like it might be a good review of some of the ideas that laid the foundations for the current arguments we're embroiled in.
Posted by: Laelaps | June 16, 2008 1:07 PM
you see, this battle's been ragin'/since Zeus was on the bottle/'tween Science like Democritus/and Faith like Aristotle ...
Posted by: skyotter | June 16, 2008 3:38 PM