Cosmology (Topoi D-I-1)

At the beginning of the European philosophical tradition, and throughout the Presocratic period, cosmology was the par excellence philosophical topic. Theories about the history of the world order, the arrangement of the world’s basic stuffs, and the forces effective on them, as well as the principles regulating cosmic processes, constituted the primary framework of philosophical speculation. Cosmological considerations remained relevant, all through the ancient philosophical tradition, to such different domains as metaphysics, philosophy of nature, philosophical psychology, and even to theory of action, and ethics.

From the same roots, mathematical astronomy developed and gradually emancipated itself. The research conducted by the group focused on the way in which ancient cosmological theories are related to scientific theories and to philosophical discussions.