Empedocles to Darwin
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Date
2005
Authors
Roux, Suzanne Raymonde
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek
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Abstract
How does the diverse variety of well adapted and apparently purposive creatures come about? Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace answered with their discovery of the theory of evolution by natural selection. More than two thousand years earlier, Greek philosophers had considered this question and in their speculations put forward many of the key concepts of central importance to this great scientific discovery. Empedocles (c490–460BCE) outlined a four stage system of evolution of living things. The system begins with the spontaneous generation of anatomical parts and ends by the chance combination of parts resulting in “whole-natured forms”.
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Keywords
Greek Research, Greece, Australia, language, literature, Suzanne Roux
Citation
Roux, Suzanne 2005. Empedocles to Darwin. In E. Close, M. Tsianikas and G. Frazis (eds.) "Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University April 2003", Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek: Adelaide, 1-16.