Monstrosity And Philosophy: Radical Otherness In Greek And Latin Culture

Description

This volume is the first systematic investigation into the concept of monstrosity in ancient philosophy and culture. The Author suggests that far from being a peripheral problem, monstrosity is one of the main conceptual challenges for every philosophical system. Ancient authors explores metaphysics, ontology, theology, politics attempting to respond to the threat presented by the radical alterity of monstrous manifestations, both in nature and in thought. Does order come from, and put an end to, chaos or is chaos the monstrous destiny of any supposed order? Is monstrosity a positive sign of the divine or is it its negation and perversion? Does everything, in nature have a meaning and a purpose and, if so, what is the purpose of monsters? Is monstrosity what we call the lowest level of nature's reassuring hierarchy or does it, more threateningly, speak about the absence of such a hierarchy and the illusion of axiology? These are only some of the questions that ancient authors discussed across the centuries, from the early mythical cosmogonies, through the classic and hellenistic period, up to late antiquity and early Christianism. This book offers a fundamental reading not only of the different answers to these questions, but also of the reasons why and the manners in which they have been asked in different cultural and intellectual contexts. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Copyright......Page 3 Contents......Page 4 Acknowledgements......Page 6 Introduction......Page 8 1 The Myth and the Logos......Page 15 Order and Chaos......Page 20 Mythical Battlefi elds: Monstrosity as a Weapon......Page 26 Causality and Monstrosity: Challenging Zeus......Page 42 Anaxagoras: A Material Origin for Life and Monstrosity......Page 63 Empedocles: Wonders to Behold......Page 70 Democritus: Agonism within Matter......Page 77 3 Plato......Page 85 4 Aristotle......Page 100 An Immanent Causality for an Infinite Universe......Page 137 Zoogony, Monstrosity and Nature’s Normativity......Page 147 Concourses of Nature......Page 160 Lucretius’s Impact on the Augustan Age......Page 168 6 Stoicism......Page 177 Nominalism......Page 179 Good and Evil, Beauty and Ugliness......Page 188 Providence, God and Teleology......Page 212 7 Scepticism......Page 230 The Tropes and the Critique of Essentialism......Page 235 To What Purpose?......Page 246 8 Middle and Neoplatonism......Page 255 The Material World and the Rediscovery of Transcendence......Page 256 Demons......Page 285 The World Order......Page 294 Bibliography......Page 333 Index Locorum......Page 401 Index Verborum......Page 415 Index Rerum......Page 422 Index Nominum......Page 424