Masterpiece of historical insight and scientific accuracy and the definitive work on Greek astronomy and the Copernican Revolution. Includes surveys of European and Islamic cosmologies of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

'What is the basic building block of the universe?' Thales of Miletus was the first to ask this fundamental, yet to be answered, question in the sixth century B.C. This book offers an in-depth account of the answers he gave and of his adventure into many areas of learning: philosophy, science, mathematics and astronomy. Thales proved that the events of nature were comprehensible to man and could be explained without the intervention of mythological beings. Henceforth they became subject to investigation, experiment, questioning and discussion. Presenting for the first time in the English language a comprehensive study of Thales of Miletus, Patricia O'Grady brings Thales out of pre-Socratic shadows into historical illumination and explores why this historical figure has proved to be of lasting significance.

This book is written by a philosopher for other philosophers and for that section of the reading public who buy in large quantities and, no doubt, devour with great earnestness the popular books written by scientists for their enlightenment. We common readers, to adapt a phrase from Samuel Johnson, are fitted neither to criticize physical theories not to decide what precisely are their implications. We are dependent upon the scientists for an exposition of those developments which – so we find them proclaiming – have important and far-reaching consequences for philosophy. Unfortunately, however, our popular expositors do not always serve us very well. The two who are most widely read in this country are Sir Arthur Eddington and Sir James Jeans. They are not always reliable guides. Their influence has been considerable upon the reading public, upon theologians, and upon preachers; they have even misled philosopher who should have known better. Accordingly, it has seemed to me to be worth while to examine in some detail the philosophical views that they have put forth and to criticize the grounds upon which these views are based.

In antiquity, the expertise of the Babylonians in matters of the heavens was legendary and the roots of both western astronomy and astrology are traceable in cuneiform tablets going back to the second and first millennia BC. The Heavenly Writing, first publsiehd in 2004, discusses the place of Babylonian celestial divination, horoscopy, and astronomy in Mesopotamian intellectual culture. Focusing chiefly on celestial divination and horoscopes, it traces the emergence of personal astrology from the tradition of celestial divination and the use of astronomical methods in horoscopes. It further takes up the historiographical and philosophical issue of the nature of these Mesopotamian 'celestial sciences' by examining elements traditionally of concern to the philosophy of science, without sacrificing the ancient methods, goals, and interests to a modern image of science. This book will be of particular interest to those concerned with the early history of science.