The City and the Naturalists: Science, Impiety and Clash of Worlds in Ancient Greece

This study aims to identify traces of Greek cultural diversity, analyze sources of cosmovision clashes, and discuss the social history of “naturalism”. This involves discussing cognitive worldview categories, discussing fundamental categories like nature, society, and humanity, and analyzing deep cultural clashes, such as discourses and accusations of impiety. Employing a cross-disciplinary approach, the methodology integrates philosophical, anthropological, philological, and interpretive analyses of primary and secondary sources. Of fundamental importance for identifying signs of deep cosmovision differences in ancient sources are Bruno Latour’s anthropology of science, Michael Kearney’s worldview categories, and Philippe Descola’s four ontologies (animism, naturalism, totemism, and analogism). Permeating this work is the concept of physis, which, rather than aligning with the modern dichotomy between “Culture” and “out-there-Nature,” embodies in one term the meanings of “genesis,” “development,”and “result.” Through critical analysis of selected passages from Homer’s Odyssey, Hesiod’s Theogony, and Plato’s Phaedo, the semantic field of physis was examined, revealing its central place in understanding Greek genealogical thinking. As a case study of the interrelation between nature and society, this research examined all occurrences of the root phy- in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, illustrating how the ancient city was viewed as an organism, with citizens as cells, and how social disruptions were perceived as collective diseases that only the leader, acting as the city’s physician, could cure. This perspective demonstrates the intertwined character of Greek notions of nature, humanity, and society. Debates employing genealogical thought patterns cover fields as diverse as medicine, politics, meteorology, education, agriculture and human fertility, illustrating the socio-political dimensions of cosmological elaborations by philosophers and educators such as Anaxagoras, Socrates, and elusive groups such as Seers (manteis), Dream-interpreters (oneirokritai), Sorceresses (Pharmakides), Magic-workers (goētes, magoi), and others who, though difficult to define, each had their own cosmology and methods for addressing cosmic disruptions.

Key-words: Nature, Cosmology, Science, Impiety, Cultural Clashes