Creatures Born of Mud and Slime

The Wonder and Complexity of Spontaneous Generation
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4214-2381-4
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 145 mm x 218 mm, Gewicht: 318 g

Reihe: Singleton Center Books in Premodern Europe

How did the concept of spontaneous generation survive for so long?

We accept that, at some point in the history of our universe, living creatures emerged from nonliving matter. Yet from the time of Aristotle until the late nineteenth century, many people believed in spontaneous generation, that living creatures sprang into existence from rotting material. As Daryn Lehoux explains in this fascinating book, spontaneous generation was perhaps the last stand of the ancient scientific worldview.

In Creatures Born of Mud and Slime, Lehoux shows that—far from being a superstitious, gullible, or simplistic belief—spontaneous generation was a sophisticated and painstakingly grounded fact that stood up to the best scientific testing. Starting with the ancient Greeks’ careful and detailed investigations into how animals are generated straight through to the early modern period, Lehoux brings to life the intellectual contexts, rivalries, observational evidence, and complex and fascinating theories that were used to understand and explain the phenomena.

The book highlights both the weirdness and the wonder that lie at the heart of investigations into nature. Lehoux concludes with a new look at a set of conflicting experiments that demonstrate that even the best scientific evidence can end up muddying what we take to be the truth about the world. Creatures Born of Mud and Slime is a compelling look at how we understand conceptions of scientific change, truth, and progress.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lehoux, Daryn

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle
2. Aristotle and Observational Confidence
3. A Blossoming of Creatures
4. Inheritance and Innovation
5. Interlude
6. Toward a Showdown
Conclusion
Notes

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Lehoux, Daryn
Daryn Lehoux is a professor of classics and philosophy at Queen’s University. He is the author of What Did the Romans Know? An Inquiry into Science and Worldmaking and Astronomy, Weather, and Calendars in the Ancient World: Parapegmata and Related Texts in Classical and Near-Eastern Societies.