LLOYD, G.E.R.,
Magic, Reason and Experience. Studies in the origins and development of Greek science.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (...), 1979. 335p. Paperback. Signature from Michaël Zeeman on free endpaper.
'The Greeks gave us science and philosophy: how on earth did they come to do it? That (…) is the question which Geoffrey Lloyd sets himself in this splendid book. 'The main task is to delineate as carefully as possible the nature of the developments that took place in early Greek thought during the crucial period when science and philosophy were emerging as recognizable inquiries.' The delineation falls into three parts. First, the rejection of magic and supernatural explanation (…). Secondly, the growth of logic: here Dr Lloyd records the slow beginnings of that science, and remarks upon its close connection with rhetoric; but he properly stresses the most astonishing Greek achievement in this field – the development of the notion of an axiomatized system. Thirdly, empirical research: again the feeling for research did not come quickly; but it came surely, and the later advances in medicine (…) and in astronomy provide striking examples of scientific work. In logic and in empirical research, Aristotle (…) is the hero.' (JONATHAN BARNES in Philosophy, 1981, (56,217) p.433).
€ 25.00
(Antiquarian)