Antifonte presocratico

Scholars rarely paid attention to a number of texts that provide information about Antiphon’s interest in cosmology and natural questions. By comparing the surviving evidence with parallels from 5th century BC Presocratics such as Anaxagoras and Democritus, the present paper argues that Antiphon’s cosmological views cannot be regarded in terms of mere dependence from other philosophers. Rather, Antiphon provides a variation on the theme of the origins of the universe. Furthermore, Antiphon’s emphasis on mechanical and naturalistic causes is relevant to understand the sense of physis in his political fragments. A controversial passage from Diodorus Siculus is taken into account as a further possible source.