Posidonius of Apamea · Philosophy

The Last Polymath of the Stoa

Posidonius of Apamea - the one man who measured the sun, mapped the tides, wrote fifty-two books of history, and taught Cicero and Pompey - held that philosophy and the sciences are not rivals but one connected inquiry: the philosopher supplies the causes, the special sciences supply the phenomena.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Posidonius, the last great polymath of the Stoa, treated all knowledge as one connected whole: the special sciences (astronomy, geography, history) establish the phenomena , while philosophy (physics) gives the causes . Explain why he thought the sciences and philosophy need each other, in your own wo…

Leads to Aristotle.

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