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Chapter 4 - History peri physeos

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

K. Scarlett Kingsley
K. Scarlett Kingsley
Affiliation:
Agnes Scott College, Decatur
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Summary

The study of nature as an object of scientific interest matured through the investigations of Presocratic philosophers on the observable world. Herodotus is in dialogue with those expanding its domain into the spheres of natural science and the human. Physis embraces the interior and exterior regularities of subjects as diverse as landmasses, rivers, seas, elements, animals, and men. Unique to Herodotus, however, is the use of nature as a category of historical explanation; it is a standard of measurement that permits historical inference.

Keywords

HerodotusHistoriesPresocratichuman naturephysisenvironmental determinismEgyptAirsWatersPlacesHeracles
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Herodotus and the Presocratics
Inquiry and Intellectual Culture in the Fifth Century BCE
 , pp. 117 - 140
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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