Svět iónských archaických kosmologií – Kočandrle Radim (2023)

Ionian archaic cosmologies are among the oldest interpretations of the universe. They represent a conception of the Earth, sky, and celestial bodies presented by Ionian thinkers at the dawn of philosophy in the 6th century BC: the Milesians Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes, as well as Xenophanes of Colophon and Heraclitus of Ephesus. However, we can learn about the cosmology of Ionian archaic thinkers almost exclusively from the accounts of later authors. Although they cannot be sufficiently reconstructed, it is possible to uncover some common elements. Among them, the meteorological nature of these concepts stands out. The origin of celestial bodies was usually explained in connection with the ignition of evaporated moisture. The celestial bodies were subsequently described in analogy with meteorological phenomena and were believed to orbit only above the Earth. However, the presented book points out that the meteorological nature of Ionian archaic cosmologies and the orbits of celestial bodies only above the Earth's surface are characteristic features of the Earth, considered the lower dimension of the entire universe. According to this conception, the area of the sky extends upward from the Earth's surface, and the space of the entire universe lies only between the sky and the Earth. Anaximander's cosmology, however, differed from this prevailing interpretation, which in the Ionian tradition...