title: Empedocles on the Inheritance of Parental Traits by Offspring
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Pimenova, Aleksandra A.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2023-02-21T20:09:32Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2023-02-21T20:09:32Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2022-12
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Pimenova A. A. Empedocles on the Inheritance of Parental Traits by Offspring. Philologia Classica 2022, 17 (2), 226–234. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2022.202
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2022.202
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/39150
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: The paper deals with the embryological teaching of Empedocles, the ancient Greek philosopher
  from Acragas, who lived in the 5th century BC. The article is focused on the mechanisms
  by which children inherit their parents’ features in the doctrine of Empedocles. The available
  fragments and evidence on the teachings of early Greek philosophers often provide distorted
  and sometimes contradictory information. This paper attempts to carefully analyze all the
  evidence regarding inheritance mechanisms and bring it into an agreement with each other
  without resorting to abandoning some of the fragments. The most extensive information is
  provided to us by Censorinus, the 3rd century Roman writer, who in 238 AD wrote the treatise
  De die natali to congratulate his patron Caerelius on his 49th birthday. The article comments
  in detail on the testimony of Censorinus (De die natali, 6. 6 = 31 A 81 DK) concerning Empedocles’
  views on the inheritance of parental traits by children, as well as the contradictory
  messages by Aetius (Aët. 5. 11. 1 = A 81) and Aristotle (De gen. an. I, 18, 723a23; IV, 1, 764a1f.;
  765a 8 = 31 A 81 DK). The analysis conducted by Erna Lesky in her famous monograph of
  1950 was expanded and supplemented in this article. In addition, the study takes into account
  the evidence of cases where children do not resemble their parents. Empedocles justifies these
  cases by popular superstitions, which were widespread in Europe up to the 20th century.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: en
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Philologia Classica;Volume 17; Issue 2
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Presocratic philosophy
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Empedocles
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: embryology
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: inheritance theory
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: Empedocles on the Inheritance of Parental Traits by Offspring
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 15341-Текст статьи-51246-1-10-20230208.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/39150/1/15341-%d0%a2%d0%b5%d0%ba%d1%81%d1%82%20%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b0%d1%82%d1%8c%d0%b8-51246-1-10-20230208.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 650,64 kB