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The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea
by ARTHUR O. LOVEJOY
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 0674361539
- ISBN 13
- 9780674361539
- Seller
-
Wichita, Kansas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Harvard University Press, January 1976. Paper Back. New. The Idea: that the universe is ''composed of an immense, or...infinite number of links ranging in hierarchical order from the meagerest kind of existents...through every possible grade up to the...highest possible kind of creature, between which and the Absolute Being the disparity was assumed to be infinite.'' Of this chain, Alexander Pope wrote thus: ''Vast chain of being! which from God began / Natures aethereal, human, angel, man / beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see / No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee / From thee to nothing...Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd / From Nature's chain whatever link you strike / Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.'' This paradigm of the chain of being pervaded poetry, philosophy, science, theology, and morality alike for centuries, and in these William James Lectures delivered in 1933, it is examined and explicated in a way that remains fresh and fascinating.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Eighth Day Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 13770
- Title
- The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea
- Author
- ARTHUR O. LOVEJOY
- Format/Binding
- Paper Back
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0674361539
- ISBN 13
- 9780674361539
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press
- Place of Publication
- Cambridge, Ma
- Date Published
- January 1976
- Pages
- 382
- Keywords
- philosophy, history of ideas, medieval, worldview, nature, being, paradigms
Terms of Sale
Eighth Day Books
Returns accepted for full refund if not as described.
About the Seller
Eighth Day Books
Biblio member since 2007
Wichita, Kansas
About Eighth Day Books
Eighth Day Books offers an eccentric community of books based on this organizing principle: if a book - be it literary, scientific, historical, or theological - sheds light on ultimate questions in an excellent way, then it's a worthy candidate for inclusion in our catalog.
Glossary
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- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...