Philosophy of nature / Paul Feyerabend ; edited with an introduction by Helmut Heit and Eric Oberheim ; translated by Dorothea Lotter with assistance from Andrew Cross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feyerabend, Paul, 1924-1994, author.

Standardized Title:

Naturphilosophie. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Philosophy of nature.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 260 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

English edition.

Place of Publication:

Malden, MA : Polity, [2016]

Contents:

1 Presuppositions of Myths, and the Knowledge of their Inventors 5

1.1 Stone Age Art and Knowledge of Nature 9

1.2 Megalithic Astronomy (Stonehenge) 15

1.3 Critique of Primitivist Interpretations of the Prehistoric Era 22

1.4 The Dynamic Worldview of Stone Age Humans 26

2 The Structure and Function of Myths 34

2.1 Theories of Myth 36

2.2 The Theory of Nature Myths and Structuralism 46

3 Homer's Aggregate Universe 50

3.1 The Paratactic World of Archaic Art 51

3.2 Worldview and Knowledge in Homer's Epics 65

3.3 Views of Reality and the Language of Science: Some Basic Considerations 77

4 Transition to an Explicitly Conceptual Approach to Nature 87

4.1 The New World of the Philosophers: Advantages and Disadvantages 91

4.2 Historical Factors for the Emergence of Philosophy 96

4.3 Predecessors in Hesiod's and Oriental Cosmogonies 104

5 Philosophy of Nature through Parmenides 113

5.1 Hesiod and Anaximander: Changing Worldviews 114

5.2 Xenophanes: Critic of Religion and Epistemologist 134

5.3 Parmenides: The Origins of Western Philosophy of Nature 147

6 Western Philosophy of Nature from Aristotle to Bohr 158

6.1 Aristotle's Research Program 159

6.2 Descartes: The Mathematical Approach to Nature 169

6.3 Galileo, Bacon, Agnppa: Empiricism without Foundations 173

6.4 Hegel: The Dynamics of Concepts 185

6.5 Newton, Leibniz, Mach; Problems of Mechanism 192

6.6 Einstein, Bohr, Bohm: Signs of a New Era 197

7 Conclusion 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780745651590

0745651593

OCLC:

927619878