Abstract
In this chapter, I deal with the problems that arise when we try to draw a map of Anaximander’s universe, and suggest ways to solve them. In discussing several authors who have studied the subject, I will point out some bothersome inconsistencies and mistakes in their renditions. One problem, however, which has not been noticed before, will prove to be insolvable within the context of the doxographical evidence. I argue that the only way to meet this problem is to look upon it as circumstantial evidence for the supposition that Anaximander never made a three-dimensional model whatsoever of his conception of the universe.
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Notes
- 1.
As stated already in Chap. 8, Rescher distinguishes, rather strangely, between “rings” of fire and “wheels” indicating the airy spaces between the rings, whereas I use both words, as is usually done, as indicating the same phenomenon of Anaximander’s materialized orbits of the celestial bodies. A similar account of the several dimensions, although not in a table, in Naddaf (2001: 19, and 2005: 77 and 78).
- 2.
I explain this rather extensively because I myself was misled by these features of Rescher’s drawing (see Couprie 2009a: 172 and 175). This does, however, not impede my criticism of Rescher’s solution.
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Couprie, D.L. (2011). Anaximander’s Numbers: The Dimensions of the Universe. In: Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 374. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8116-5_9
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