Vývoj předsókratovských kosmologií a pojetí prostoru

The cosmologies of the pre-Socratics are usually considered to be independent, distinctive conceptions. Within the framework of these cosmologies, however, David J. Furley was able to differentiate “linear” and “centrifocal” conceptions, while Daniel W. Graham distinguished “meteorological” and “lithic” models; by way of these, they pointed out the common features of individual cosmologies and at the same time showed how they had evolved. It is, however, possible to conclude that they are both discussing the same thing. Pre-Socratic cosmologies, that is to say, experienced a significant development that was based on a change in the concept of the space of the universe. While in the Ionian archaic cosmologies of the 6th century BCE the space of the universe usually extended only between the flat Earth and the heaven, in the following century it was already being extended around the entire Earth. This led to a change not only in the concept of celestial bodies and their orbits, but in additional cosmological aspects as well. The cause of this development was Parmenides’ conception of the space of the universe, consisting of a spherical heaven with a spherical Earth in its center.