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Article: Hahn, Robert. Anaximander and the Architects: the Contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural Technologies to the Origins of Greek Philosophy.
- Article from:
- The Review of Metaphysics
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Philosophy Education Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SUNY Series in Ancient Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. xxiii + 326 pp. Paper, $27.95--In this book, Robert Hahn proposes an idea deserving serious consideration. One would like to know why western philosophy began where and when it did; that is, on the island of Miletus, roughly 2600 years ago. Hahn proposes that developments in architecture had a decisive impact here. In particular, he argues that Anaximander--who wrote the oldest fragment of philosophy preserved in our tradition--was very much influenced by the architects of his time, who drew, for their part, on Egyptian predecessors.
The evidence, while much of it is ...