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Single Idea 5994

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology ]

Full Idea

The four major disputes in classical cosmology were whether the cosmos is 'open' or 'closed', whether it is explained mechanistically or teleologically, whether it is alive or mere matter, and whether or not it has a beginning.

Gist of Idea

Is the cosmos open or closed, mechanical or teleological, alive or inanimate, and created or eternal?

Source

report of T.M. Robinson (Classical Cosmology (frags) [1997]) by PG - Db (ideas)

Book Ref

'Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy', ed/tr. Zeyl,Donald J. [Fitzroy Dearborn 1997], p.150

A Reaction

A nice summary. The standard modern view is closed, mechanistic, inanimate and non-eternal. But philosophers can ask deeper questions than physicists, and I say we are entitled to speculate when the evidence runs out.

The 16 ideas with the same theme [origins and nature of the universe]:

7608 The world is established, and cannot be moved [Isaiah]
7489 Joshua said, Sun, stand thou still [Anon (Josh)]
1791 He was the first person to say the earth is spherical [Parmenides, by Diog. Laertius]
1794 He was the first to discover the identity of the Morning and Evening Stars [Parmenides, by Diog. Laertius]
1787 Philolaus was the first person to say the earth moves in a circle [Philolaus, by Diog. Laertius]
20911 There are unlimited worlds of varying sizes, some without life or water [Democritus, by Hippolytus]
369 If the Earth is spherical and in the centre, it is kept in place by universal symmetry, not by force [Plato]
309 Clearly the world is good, so its maker must have been concerned with the eternal, not with change [Plato]
402 The Earth must be spherical, because it casts a convex shadow on the moon [Aristotle]
403 The earth must be round and of limited size, because moving north or south makes different stars visible [Aristotle]
14051 A cosmos is a collection of stars and an earth, with some sort of boundary, movement and shape [Epicurus]
20811 Since the cosmos produces what is alive and rational, it too must be alive and rational [Zeno of Citium]
2648 Things are more perfect if they have reason; nothing is more perfect than the universe, so it must have reason [Zeno of Citium]
5715 This earth is very unlikely to be the only one created [Lucretius]
14169 The 'universe' can mean what exists now, what always has or will exist [Russell]
5994 Is the cosmos open or closed, mechanical or teleological, alive or inanimate, and created or eternal? [Robinson,TM, by PG]