Anaximander
And the Birth of Science
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics illuminates the nature of science through the revolutionary ideas of the Greek philosopher Anaximander
Over two millennia ago, the prescient insights of Anaximander paved the way for cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. His legacy includes the revolutionary ideas that the Earth floats in a void, that animals evolved, that the world can be understood in natural rather than supernatural terms, and that universal laws govern all phenomena. He introduced a new mode of rational thinking with an openness to uncertainty and the progress of knowledge.
In this elegant work, the renowned theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander’s overlooked influence on modern science. He examines Anaximander not from the point of view of a historian or as an expert in Greek philosophy, but as a scientist interested in the deep nature of scientific thinking, which Rovelli locates in the critical and rebellious ability to reimagine the world again and again. Anaximander celebrates the radical lack of certainty that defines the scientific quest for knowledge.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Theoretical physicist Rovelli (There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important than Kindness) delivers an insightful survey of the scientific contributions of Greek philosopher Anaximander (610–545 BCE). Anaximander, Rovelli contends, generated the "first great conceptual revolution" in science by proposing naturalistic explanations of the universe that refuted common accounts relying on gods and myths. According to Anaximander, the cosmic order came into existence after "hot and cold separated," causing a "ball of flame" to amass around the Earth and dry up the water that originally covered the planet. Though some theories will sound outlandish to modern readers (Anaximander thought that celestial bodies moved on giant wheels "filled with fire"), others are impressively forward-thinking, such as Anaximander's suggestion that Earth is suspended in a void and humans evolved from "fishlike creatures" that adapted to live on land. As Rovelli notes, the only surviving accounts of Anaximander's writings are secondhand, meaning that definitive evidence about his life and work is hard to come by, but Rovelli makes the most of the available evidence in building his case that the philosopher's emphasis on natural causes marked a sea change in human thought. This is a masterful overview of a pivotal figure in scientific history.
