Commentary

This paraphrase reports Aristotle's account of Anaximander's view that the earth needs no support because it remains in the centre of the cosmos, equally distant from every point of the heavens. Aristotle presents the argument as an early attempt to explain the earth's stability by its position rather than by a supporting medium. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield treat the doctrine as a notable step away from the Milesian picture of the earth floating on water. Charles Kahn argues that the central position of the earth is part of a wider geometrical conception of the cosmos, in which symmetry and balance govern the structure of the heavens. Jonathan Barnes notes that Aristotle is critical of the argument, and that his report should be read with that in mind. Guthrie observes that the explanation by symmetry is one of the earliest uses of a principle of equilibrium in Greek cosmology. The sentence is a paraphrase of a critical report, and it should be labelled as such.