Scientific Materialism I

Antiquity to the 18th Century
Alex Steinberg
Six Sessions
(No session November 24)

This series will introduce seminal moments in the search by humans for understanding the natural world. If there is interest, we will continue in the winter and spring of 2019 considering developments from the Enlightenment to the present day.

Weeks one and two: Science begins. Ancient speculation on the nature of reality in Greek. Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus. We will also discuss some non-Western traditions in early speculation about the nature of reality

Weeks three and four: The first scientists and ancient astronomy. Egyptian and Babylonian contributions. The first Greek scientists: Anaximander, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Euclid, Ptolemy.

Weeks five and six: Scientific Revolution – Copernicus to Newton, Descartes, Diderot and the materialism of the Enlightenment.

Alex Steinberg has previously taught Engels and the Dialectics of Nature at the Brecht Forum. At the Marxist Education Project he has taught Spectres of the Dialectic, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Fascism and the Left Nietzscheans and Dialectics 101, along with organizing a discussion of recent events in Greece and special events on The Radicalism of James Joyce.