Single Idea 7464

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 1. History of Ideas]

Full Idea

Candidates for the most important idea in human history are: mimetic thinking (imitation), the soul, the experiment, the One True God, the heliocentric universe, and evolution.

Gist of Idea

The big idea: imitation, the soul, experiments, God, heliocentric universe, evolution?

Source

Peter Watson (Ideas [2005], Ch.03)

Book Reference

Watson,Peter: 'Ideas: from fire to Freud' [Phoenix 2006], p.72


A Reaction

From this list I would choose the heliocentric universe, because it so dramatically downgraded the importance of our species (effectively we went from everything to nothing). We still haven't recovered from the shock.