Reconstructing Empedocles' Thought

Chiara Ferella

doi:10.1017/9781009392600

To understand Empedocles' thought, one must view his work as a unified whole of religion and physics. Only a few interpreters, however, recognise rebirth as a positive doctrine within Empedocles' physics and attempt to reconcile its details with the cosmological account. This study shows how rebirth underlies Empedocles' cosmic system, being a structuring principle of his physics. It reconstructs the proem to his physical poem and then shows that claims to disembodied existence, individual identity and personal survival of death(s) prove central to his physics; that knowledge of the cosmos is the path to escape rebirth; that purifications are essential to comprehending the world and changing one's being, and that the cosmic cycle, with its ethical import, is the ideal backdrop for Empedocles' doctrine of rebirth. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

‘[A] rich and rewarding study of some very challenging source material. … prudent scholars will have to pay due attention to Ferella’s insightful and thought-provoking work.’

Tom Mackenzie Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Contents

Reconstructing Empedocles’ Thought
pp i-ii
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Reconstructing Empedocles’ Thought - Title page
pp iii-iii
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Dedication
pp v-vi
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Contents
pp vii-vii
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Acknowledgements
pp viii-viii
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Introduction
pp 1-23
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Chapter 1 - Reconstructing Empedocles’ On Nature
pp 24-61
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Chapter 2 - The Proem to On Nature
pp 62-137
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Chapter 3 - Daimones between Plato and Pythagoras
pp 138-184
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Chapter 4 - Divine Beings
pp 185-216
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Chapter 5 - Changes of Form, Personal Survival and Rebirth
pp 217-245
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Chapter 6 - Knowing Nature as a God
pp 246-306
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Chapter 7 - Cosmic Cycle, Moral Import and Rebirth
pp 307-362
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Chapter 8 - Epilogue
pp 363-371
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Bibliography
pp 372-395
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Index
pp 396-404
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Contents

Reconstructing Empedocles’ Thought
pp i-ii

Reconstructing Empedocles’ Thought - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-vii

Acknowledgements
pp viii-viii

Introduction
pp 1-23

Chapter 1 - Reconstructing Empedocles’ On Nature
pp 24-61

Chapter 2 - The Proem to On Nature
pp 62-137

Chapter 3 - Daimones between Plato and Pythagoras
pp 138-184

Chapter 4 - Divine Beings
pp 185-216

Chapter 5 - Changes of Form, Personal Survival and Rebirth
pp 217-245

Chapter 6 - Knowing Nature as a God
pp 246-306

Chapter 7 - Cosmic Cycle, Moral Import and Rebirth
pp 307-362

Chapter 8 - Epilogue
pp 363-371

Bibliography
pp 372-395

Index
pp 396-404

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Reconstructing Empedocles' Thought

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