Lucretius in the Modern World by Wr Johnson
Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things", one of the glories of Latin literature, provides a vivid poetic exposition of the doctrines of the Greek atomist, Epicurus. The poem played a crucial role in the reinvention of science in the seventeenth century, its influence on the French Enlightenment was powerful and pervasive, and it became a major battlefield in the wars of religion with science in nineteenth-century England. But in the twentieth century, despite its vital contributions to modern thought and civilisation, it has been largely neglected by common readers and scientists alike. This book offers an extensive description of the poem, with special emphasis on its cheerful version of materialism and on its attempt to devise an ethical system that suits such a universe. It surveys major relevant texts form the eighteenth and ninetheenth centuries (Dryden, Diderot, Voltaire, Tennyson, Santayana) and speculates on why Lucretius and the ancient scientific tradition he championed has become marginalised in the twentieth century. It closes with a discussion of what value the poem has for students of science and technology in the new century: what advice it has to offer us about how to go about reinventing our machines and our morality.W.R.Johnson is the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the University of Chicago's Department of Classics. Among his works are Horace and the Dialectic of Freedom: Readings in Epistles 1 and Horace and the Dialectic of Freedom: Readings in Epistles 2.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780715628829 |
| ISBN 10 | 0715628828 |
| Title | Lucretius in the Modern World |
| Author | Wr Johnson |
| Series | Classical Inter Faces |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2000-07-28 |
| Number of pages | 174 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |