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INFINITE WORLDS IN THE THOUGHT OF ANAXIMANDER

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Radim Kočandrle
Radim Kočandrle*
Affiliation:
University of West Bohemia
*
rkocandr@kfi.zcu.cz
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Extract

Some classical authors ascribe to Anaximander of Miletus a belief in the existence of infinite worlds. Their testimonies have provoked an extensive discussion on the question of whether Anaximander spoke of successive or coexistent worlds, or perhaps only one world that undergoes changes. Of course, this subject is related to important aspects of archaic cosmologies. First, we need to investigate whether one can even speak of a notion of coexistent worlds prior to atomist theories. Second, the issue of infinite worlds is closely linked to the nature of Anaximander's scheme of the universe and Ionian cosmologies in general. Finally, this matter has a bearing on the subject of the duration or perishing of the world.

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Type
Research Article
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The Classical Quarterly , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , December 2019 , pp. 483 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2020

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References

1 This article was written with the support of grant project GA CR GA15–08890S. It is a revised version of a previously published Czech article, Kočandrle, R., ‘Anaximandrovy nekonečné světy’ [‘Anaximander's infinite worlds’], Filosofický časopis 4 (2017), 491–512Google Scholar.

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12 Hippol. Ref. 1.6.1 Marcovich = DK 12A11.

13 Ps.-Plut. Strom. 2, in Euseb. Praep. evang. 1.8.2 = DK 12A10.

14 Aet. Plac. 1.3.3 DK = DK 12A14.

15 Arist. Cael. 303b13.

16 Kahn (n. 2), 49.

17 LSJ s.v. οὐρανός.

18 Arist. Cael. 278b8–21.

19 Kahn (n. 2), 34–5.

20 McKirahan (n. 6), 57.

21 Kirk, Raven and Schofield (n. 9), 116–17, 125.

22 LSJ s.v. κόσμος.

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30 Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 1121.10.

31 Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 1121.12 = DK 13A11.

32 Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 1121.17.

33 Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 1121.22 = DK 59A64.

34 Cornford (n. 3), 2.

35 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 202.11 = Wöhrle, G. (ed.), Die Milesier: Anaximander und Anaximenes (Berlin and Boston, 2012)Google Scholar (hereinafter TP2) As152.

36 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 615.13 = DK 12A17 = TP2 As162. Transl. R. McKirahan.

37 Arist. Ph. 203b15 = DK 12A15.

38 Arist. Ph. 208a8–11 = DK 12A14.

39 Aet. Plac. 2.1.3 Mansfeld–Runia = DK 12A17 = Stob. Ecl. 1.22.3b = TP2 Ar145. Transl. Mansfeld–Runia (Mansfeld, J. and Runia, D.T., Aëtiana. The Method and Intellectual Context of a Doxographer, II, The Compendium 2 [Leiden and Boston, 2009]Google Scholar).

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41 Aet. Plac. 2.1.2 Mansfeld–Runia = DK 11A13b. Adapted transl. by Mansfeld–Runia.

42 Stob. Ecl. 1.22.2. = Dox. (1879), 327.

43 Cf. Cornford (n. 3), 3.

44 Cf. McKirahan (n. 6), 53.

45 Aet. Plac. 1.7.12 DK = DK 12A17 = Stob. Ecl. 1.1.29b = TP2 Ar142.

46 Euseb. Praep. evang. 14.16.6 = TP2 Ar104; Ps.-Plut. Plac. 1.7 = TP2 Ar54.

47 Cf. Kirk, Raven and Schofield (n. 9), 124.

48 Stob. Ecl. 1.22.3c = TP2 Ar146.

49 Aet. Plac. 2.1.4 Mansfeld–Runia = DK 12A17 (transl. Mansfeld–Runia).

50 Aet. Plac. 2.1.5 Mansfeld–Runia.

51 Cic. Nat. D. 1.10.25 = DK 12A17.

52 Cornford (n. 3), 11–12.

53 August. De civ. D. 8.2 = DK 12A17 (transl. R. McKirahan).

54 Kahn (n. 2), 48.

55 DL 9.31 = DK 67A1; Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 202.16 = DK 67A21.

56 Hippol. Ref. 1.13.3 = DK 68A40.

57 Couprie (n. 2), 222–3.

58 Aet. Plac. 2.13.7 = DK 12A18; 2.15.6 = DK 12A18; 2.16.5 = DK 12A18; 2.20.1 = DK 12A21; 2.21.1 = DK 12A21; 2.24.2 = DK 12A21; 2.25.1 = DK 12A22; 2.28.1 = DK 12A22; 2.29.1 = DK 12A22; Ach. Tat. Isagoge 19.16 = DK 12A21; Hippol. Ref. 1.6.4–5 = DK 12A11.

59 DL 9.33 = DK 67A1.

60 Aet. Plac. 2.7.2 = DK 67a22; DL 9.32 = DK 67A1.

61 Gregory (n. 10), 133–4, 255, n. 57.

62 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 511.20 = TP2 As155.

63 Arist. Cael. 295b10 = DK 12A26; DL 2.1 Marcovich = DK 12A1; Hippol. Ref. 1.6.3 Marcovich = DK 12A11; Suda s.v. ᾿Αναξίμανδρος = Alfa 1986.1–6 = DK 12A2; Theon of Smyrna, De util. mat. 198.18 = DK 12A26.

64 Arist. Cael. 295b10 = DK 12A26.

65 Couprie (n. 2), 11.

66 Cornford (n. 3), 2.

67 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 615.13 = DK 12A17 = TP2 As162.

68 Arist. Cael. 303b10–13. Modified transl. Guthrie, W.K.C., Aristotle. On the Heavens (Cambridge, MA, 1986)Google Scholar.

69 Arist. Ph. 203b24–8.

70 Gregory (n. 10), 137–42.

71 Kirk, Raven and Schofield (n. 9), 123.

72 Arist. Cael. 279b12–17 = DK 22A10.

73 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 293.14–15.

74 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 293.16–18.

75 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 293.18–294.10.

76 Arist. Cael. 280a12–14.

77 Arist. Cael. 298b26–34.

78 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 561.1–4.

79 Arist. Mete. 353b6 = DK 12A27.

80 Alex. Aphr. In Arist. Mete. 67.3–11 = DK 12A27.

81 Aet. Plac. 2.4.7 Mansfeld–Runia = DK 12A17.

82 Kočandrle, R. and Couprie, D.L., Apeiron. Anaximander on Generation and Destruction (Cham, 2017), 95Google Scholar.

83 Arist. Ph. 203b6 = DK 12A15.

84 Hippol. Ref. 1.6.1 Marcovich = DK 12A11.

85 Hippol. Ref. 1.6.1 Marcovich = DK 12A11.

86 Arist. Ph. 203b11 = DK 12A15.

87 Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 24.16 = DK 12A9 = DK 12B1.

88 Ps.-Plut. Strom. 2 = DK 12A10.

89 LSJ s.v. αἰών.

90 Ps.-Plut. Strom. 2 = DK 12A10.

91 Hippol. Ref. 1.14.5–6 = DK 21A33.

92 Aet. Plac. 2.24.9 = DK 21A41a.

93 Aet. Plac. 4.5 = DK 21B27; Sext. Emp. Math. 10.314 = DK 21B33; Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 188.32 = DK 21B29.

94 Aet. Plac. 2.4.11 = DK 21A37. Transl. Gregory, A., Ancient Greek Cosmogony (London, 2007)Google Scholar. Cf. Cornford (n. 3), 9; Kahn (n. 2), 51–2.

95 Arist. Mete. 352a17.

96 Graham, D.W., Explaining the Cosmos. The Ionian Tradition of Scientific Philosophy (Princeton, 2006), 51–2Google Scholar.

97 Marcus Aurelius, Ad se ipsum 4.46 = DK 22B76.

98 Clem. Al. Strom. 6.17.2 = DK 22B36.

99 Simpl. In Arist. Cael. 561.1–4.

100 Simpl. In Arist. Ph. 1121.12 = DK 13A11.