On Lucretius’s poem about Epicurean science: On the Nature of Things a.k.a. De Rerum Natura from the 1st century BC.

How does the world work? Lucretius presents a system that is surprisingly modern, and raises philosophical issues that are still on point today: What are the basic building blocks of the universe? How could these give rise to minds? What ethical views does a mechanistic world-view imply?

Continued on part two, or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now, as well as the Citizen-only follow-up discussion.

Sponsors: Get two months free of a vibrant online learning community at skillshare.com/PEL. Explore Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save at thelifeyoucansave.org/pel.

Please support PEL and check the PEL Store for our 2019 Wall Calendar, tutoring and more.