Anaximander in Context: New Studies in the Origins of Greek Philosophy (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy) [Paperback]

Dirk L. Couprie (Author), Gerard Naddaf (Author), Robert Hahn (Author)

Book Description

Series: SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy | Publication Date: October 2002

Places the development of Anaximander's thought squarely within social, political, cosmological, astronomical, and technological contexts.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Promoting a new, broadly interdisciplinary horizon for future studies in early Greek philosophy, Dirk L. Couprie, Robert Hahn, and Gerard Naddaf establish the cultural context in which Anaximander's thought developed and in which the origins of Greek philosophy unfolded in its earliest stages. In order to better understand Anaximander's achievement, the authors call our attention to the historical, social, political, technological, cosmological, astronomical, and observational contexts of his thought. Anaximander in Context brings to the forefront of modern debates the importance of cultural context, and the indispensability of images to clarify ancient ideologies.

About the Author

Dirk L. Couprie is an independent researcher and former Associate Professor at the University of Leiden. Robert Hahn is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is the author of several books, including Anaximander and the Architects: The Contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural Technologies to the Origins of Greek Philosophy, also published by SUNY Press. Gerard Naddaf is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at York University. He is the translator and editor of Plato the Mythmaker by Luc Brisson.

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791455386
• ISBN-13: 978-0791455388
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,428,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clearly cosmic, February 7, 2003

By 

jon leffler (glendale heights, il United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anaximander in Context: New Studies in the Origins of Greek Philosophy (Suny Series, Ancient Greek Philosophy) (Hardcover)

Anaximander in Context stands to become a very influential book. Most importantly, it allows Hahn to develop further his outstanding and original thesis introduced in Anaximander and the Architects: The Contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural Technologies to the Origins of Greek Philosophy. Hahn's thesis urged us to re-consider the importance of cultural context in the origins and early development of Greek philosophy, and in particular the technologies of monumental temple building to the technological elements in Anaximander's early philosophical speculations. Now, Hahn is joined by Naddaf and Couprie to press further the importance of "context" to unfold Anaximander's originality. All three monographs reflect upon the role that Egypt played, as part of the background, but each study reaches deeply into the Greek tradition from which Anaximander's originality emerged. While all three studies breathe a fresh air into a time-worn subject, Hahn's essay is both the boldest and yet most reasonable. The impact of monumental temple projects overwhelmed the archaic communities. A key theme of early Greek philosophy is the search for the "One over Many" and Hahn shows how modular construction of temples succeeded by adopting precisely this technique in building, and how Anaximander made use of this technique. Moreover, in a previously unexplored way, Hahn shows further how Anaximander's vision of the cosmos was "cosmic architecture." The architects wrote prose treatises on their works, presumably to show how to construct the house of the cosmic powers, while Anaximander was something of an architectural historian of the cosmos, explaining in his prose treatise(s) how the cosmic architecture came about, that is, the house that is the cosmos.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anaximander and the Architects, November 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Anaximander in Context: New Studies in the Origins of Greek Philosophy (Suny Series, Ancient Greek Philosophy) (Hardcover)

For anyone familiar with scholarship on ancient Greek philosophy, Hahn's Anaximander and the Architects is a breath of fresh air. So many of the old studies view the origins of philosophy as if they are exploring brains-in-a-jar, rather than individuals who are motivated and stimulated by practical problems to think abstractly. Hahn reminds us that short of war, monumental temple building was the most overwhelming project that was taken on by archaic Greek communities. The projects required a great variety of technological skills -- planning, quarrying, transporting, installing, and finishing the enormous stones; they demanded vast organization of resources and work forces. And we should not forget that the temples literally transformed the ancient landscapes, and thus affected the mentality of the people who dwelled in these communities. The projects in building gigantic temples offered to these early Greek communities a kind of experimental science; trial and error was displayed for the community like never before. In that cultural environment, the speculative thought of the natural philosophers has its origins. For those studying ancient Greek philosophy, this book is a must-read.