Atomism, Atheism, and the Spontaneous Generation of Human Beings

The Debate over a Natural Origin of the First Humans in Seventeenth-Century Britain

Bibliographic Data

ID4455843
AuthorsMatthew R Goodrum (0000-0003-0913-6070, Indiana University, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume63
Issue2
Pages207-224
Publication date2002-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of Ideas (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5037 • E-ISSN: 1086-3222
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jhi.2002.0011
PMID12192670
OpenAlexW2096345289
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited10

The problem of human origins, of how and when the first humans appeared in the world, has been addressed in a variety of ways in western thought. In the seventeenth century the predominant explanation for the origin of the world and the beings that inhabit it, especially human beings, was based on the biblical account of creation. It was almost universally accepted that humans had been created by a supernatural agent using supernatural means. But alternative explanations for the production of the first humans did exist, according to which the first humans were produced by nature through some form of spontaneous generation. Seventeenth-century proponents of this view differed in their conceptions of how spontaneous generation worked, but all relied heavily upon mechanisms first proposed in antiquity. Some followed the example of Aristotle and other early Greek philosophers, who had described how matter, when subjected to the correct conditions, could produce living beings. 1 Others were influenced by the modifications made to these ideas by medieval Islamic philosophers. 2 [End Page 207] A quite different conception of spontaneous generation was derived from the classical atomists, in part from certain notions attributed to Democritus of Abdera but mainly from the philosophical system of Epicurus

Archaeology · Art · Atheism · Atomism · Epistemology · Literature · Natural (archaeology) · Natural Philosophy · Variety (cybernetics) · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies · Evolution and Science Education · Historical Astronomy and Related Studies · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · History of Medicine Studies · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy

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