Table of Contents

Text
Commentary
Appendix A: Lucretius on the Clinamen and 'Free Will'
Appendix B: What sort of a Reductionist was Epicurus? The Case of the Swerve
Appendix C: The Feminine Principle: Gender in the De rerum natura

About the Author

Don Fowler was Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1980 until his death on 15 October 1999

Reviews

It will be an essentail reference work for everyone who works on the areas of Epicurean philosophy that Lucretius addresses in DRN ii 1-332. In addition to the usual sort of detailed textual analysis contained in a commentary, this volume distinguishes itself by containing extensive argumentation on how to interpret Lucretius' position on philosophical issues raised in DRN ii 1-332. Ancient Philosophy This volume should not be consulted only by people interested in issues of atomic motion. Fowler's excellent treatment of Lucretius' 'semi-personification' of Nature at DRN ii 168 would be useful for people working on other sections of DRN. Ancient Philosophy ... this book will be indispensable for researchers who work on DRN ii 1-332. I would not be surprised if more than fifty-five years pass again before another commentary on this part of the De Rerum Natura appears that improves significantly on it. Ancient Philosophy The substantial commentary combines lucid passages of philosophical reconstruction with generous and learned philological analysis. Greece & Rome In Lucretius on Atomic Motion Don Fowler produces a commentary on Lucretius like no other. His commentary achieves the status of a meta-commentary ... what makes this commentary claim our attention is the range of texts, both poetic and philosophical, ancient and modern, that Fowler brings to bear in revealing the deep background -and the later fortune- of Lucretius' poem ... What is certain is that Don Fowler never veered from his devotion to reconstructing the argument, background and motivation of the most difficult stretch in Lucretius' poem and that his success in this will not be matched again. Diskin Clay, Times Literary Supplement ...endlessly learned and humane commentary. Theresa Urbainczyk