2006-10-30 14:00:13 · 3 answers · asked by george 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
It means "On the nature of things", and it's a poem by Lucretius Carus (ca. 94 BC- ca. 49 BC) a Roman poet and philosopher.
The main purpose of the work was to free men's minds of superstition and the fear of death. It achieves this through expounding the philosophical system of Epicurus, whom Lucretius apotheosizes. Lucretius identifies superstition with the notion that the gods/supernatural powers created our world or interfere with its operations in any way. Fear of such gods is banished by showing that the operations of the world can be accounted for entirely in terms of the regular but purposeless motions of tiny atoms and agglomerations of atoms in interaction in empty space, instead of in terms of the will of the gods
2006-10-30 14:16:55 · answer #1 · answered by Fer 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all, recognize that this is Latin, and in ancient Rome, writers often used V's in place of U's. So this should read "RERUM NATURA." It means "the nature of things."
2006-10-30 22:53:51 · answer #2 · answered by mle_trogdor2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes...It means "De rervm natvra - On the nature of things" (title of Marcus Aurelius's magnum opus).
2006-10-30 22:29:23 · answer #3 · answered by Nix 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋