In Science before Socrates, Daniel W. Graham argues against the belief that the Presocratic philosophers did not produce any empirical science and that the first major Greek science, astronomy, did not develop until at least the time of Plato. Instead, Graham proposes that the advances made by Presocratic philosophers in the study of astronomy deserve to be considered as scientific contributions.

CONTENTS ; Introduction: Cosmic Conjunctions ; 1 Looking for Science ; 1.1 Unfounded speculation ; 1.2 Footnotes to Thales ; 1.3 Footnotes to Pythagoras ; 1.4 Science without knowledge ; 1.5 History of science without history ; 1.6 History of science without science ; 1.7 Old-time history of science ; Notes ; 2 Azure Pastures: An Early Ionian Model ; 2.1 Hesiod's mythical cosmography ; 2.2 Ionian theories ; 2.3 The Meteorological Model ; Notes ; 3 Borrowed Light: The Insights of Parmenides ; 3.1 Fifth-century advances ; 3.2 Three insights: Heliophotism, planetary unification, sphericity ; 3.3 The power of a model ; 3.4 Conjectures ; 3.5 Conceptual advances ; Notes ; 4 Empire of the Sun: Implications of Heliophotism, and a New Model ; 4.1 Antiphraxis and other theoretical implications ; 4.2 A new physics ; 4.3 Anaxagoras' new cosmology and astronomy ; 4.4 The Lithic Model ; Notes ; 5 Darkened Suns and Falling Stars: Heaven-sent Proofs ; 5.1 Lives of the eminent philosophers ; 5.2 Eclipses ; 5.3 The meteor ; 5.4 The comet ; 5.5 The Nile floods ; Notes ; 6 Lunar Revolutions: The Triumph of the New Astronomy ; 6.1 A community effort ; 6.2 Anaxagoras' theory ; 6.3 Other theories of the fifth century ; 6.4 Characteristics of the Lithic Model ; 6.5 The doxography ; 6.6 Plato's heavenly sphere ; 6.7 Aristotle's paradigm ; 6.8 A scientific consensus ; Notes ; 7 The Geometry of the Heavens ; 7.1 The story of early Greek astronomy ; 7.2 Scientific Progress ; 7.3 Historical and Philosophical Significance ; Notes ; Appendix 1: Anaxagoras in the Historiography of Science ; Notes ; Appendix 2: Science and History ; Notes ; Bibliography

"... Graham has written an intriguing book on a much neglected aspect of Presocratic thinking." --Journal of the History of Philosophy "Graham has produced a fascinating and enjoyable challenge to the standard narrative of scientific progress. The passion of his commitment to rehabilitating Parmenides and Anaxagoras as successful scientists is clear throughout."--Jenny Bryan, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "An especially interesting and valuable part of the book is Graham's reflections on the philosophy of science and on the role of historians of science, both of which he gives in the early chapters in a well-reasoned appendix. Highly recommended." --D.E. Hogg, emeritus, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, CHOICE

Selling point: The first book to propose that the early Greek (Presocratic) philosophers made contributions to empirical science, in particular to astronomy. Selling point: Challenges the notion, popular among anti-realists, that scientific knowledge does not achieve true descriptions of the world.

Daniel W. Graham is Professor of Philosophy at Brigham Young University. He has written, translated, or edited seven volumes on ancient philosophy and has published numerous scholarly articles on Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and the Presocratic philosophers. He does research in history of philosophy and history of science. He is president of the International Association for Presoratic Studies and a member of the editorial board of Apeiron.

Selling point: The first book to propose that the early Greek (Presocratic) philosophers made contributions to empirical science, in particular to astronomy. Selling point: Challenges the notion, popular among anti-realists, that scientific knowledge does not achieve true descriptions of the world.