TWO RELIGIONS OF MATERIALISM: LUCRETIUS AND LEM

• Authors: Okolowski P.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The author presents in this paper (and in few others) the philosophy of Stanislaw Lem as Neo-Lucretianism and calls Lem as a Lucretius of the 20th century. The article demonstrates pararell strains in their views on death. Lem - the atheist in common parlance - on Christian point of view is the man of 'strange faith'. There is an eschatology in his outlook, though warldly (finitistic?) one, which has clearly Lucretian nature. In opinion of both there are two attributes of the Cosmos: extermination (Lucretius says 'mors inmortalis', Lem - holocaust) and creation. Mortal human finds comfort in an idea that 'other worlds' come into being in dead Cosmos eternally and 'different minds' are born in them. Eschatological hope lies in thought that antonymous values will be always realized because each kind of mind realizes some part of the class of them. Lem's naturalism breaks in this point.

Keywords

EN

: LEM STANISLAW; ESCHATOLOGY; LUCRETIUS; MATERIALISM; NATURALISM

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: University of Warsaw, Institute of Philosophy
• Journal: Edukacja Filozoficzna
• Year: 2008
• Issue: 46
• Pages: 123-136
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Okolowski P.

• P. Okolowski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Filozofii, Zaklad Filozofii Religii, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 3, 00-047 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA053612