Chapter 4 Anaximander’s Fragment: Another Attempt
In: Studies in Early Greek Philosophy
Author:
Jaap Mansfeld
Jaap Mansfeld
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Abstract
I argue for the interpretation of Anaximander’s world as an unstable and dissipative system. The inconsistency found by scholars in Theophrastus/Simplicius’ text disappears when it is realized that the elemental forces of nature do not change into each other. They are in the Infinite in time as well as in space. To some extent preference is given to Aristotle’s evidence over the doxographical vulgate habitually derived from Theophrastus, though of course the Theophrastean passage containing the verbatim quotation remains the primary witness.