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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Ancient Western philosophy to c 500 > General
This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It
contains classical literature works from over two thousand years.
Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore
shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the
cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical
literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the
mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from
oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of
international literature classics available in printed format again
- worldwide.
Exploring the political ideology of Republicanism under the Roman
emperors of the first century AD, Sam Wilkinson puts forward the
hypothesis that there was indeed opposition to the political
structure and ideology of the rulers on the grounds of
Republicanism. While some Romans wanted a return to the Republic,
others wanted the emperor to ensure his reign was as close to
Republican moral and political ideology as possible. Analysing the
discourse of the period, the book charts how the view of law,
morality and behaviour changed under the various Imperial regimes
of the first century AD. Uniquely, this book explores how emperors
could choose to set their regime in a more Republican or more
Imperial manner, thus demonstrating it was possible for both the
opposition and an emperor to be Republican. The book concludes by
providing evidence of Republicanism in the first century AD which
not only created opposition to the emperors, but also became part
of the political debate in this period.
Aristotle described the scientific explanation of universal or
general facts as deducing them through scientific demonstrations,
that is, through syllogisms that met requirements of logical
validity and explanatoriness which he first formulated. In Chapters
19-23, he adds arguments for the further logical restrictions that
scientific demonstrations can neither be indefinitely long nor
infinitely extendible through the interposition of new middle
terms. Chapters 24-26 argue for the superiority of universal over
particular demonstration, of affirmative over negative
demonstration, and of direct negative demonstration over
demonstration to the impossible. Chapters 27-34 discuss different
aspects of sciences and scientific understanding, allowing us to
distinguish between sciences, and between scientific understanding
and other kinds of cognition, especially opinion. Philoponus'
comments on these chapters are interesting especially because of
his metaphysical analysis of universal predication and his
understanding of the notion of subordinate sciences. We learn from
his commentary that Philoponus believed in Platonic Forms as
inherent in, and posterior to, the Divine Intellect, but ascribed
to Aristotle an interpretation of Plato's Forms as independent
substances, prior to the Demiurgic Intellect. A very important
notion from Aristotle's Posterior Analytics is that of the
'subordination' of sciences, i.e. the idea that some sciences
depend on 'higher' ones for some of their principles. Philoponus
goes beyond Aristotle in suggesting a taxonomy of sciences, in
which the subordinate science concerns the same scientific genus as
the superordinate, but a different species.
Although the Greeks were responsible for the first systematic
philosophy of which we have any record, they were not alone in the
Mediterranean world and were happy to draw inspiration from other
traditions; traditions that are now largely neglected by
philosophers and scholars. This book tells the story of 'Greek
Philosophy', paying due attention to its historical context and the
contributions made by Egyptians, Hebrews, Persians and even
barbarians from northern Europe. Stephen Clark provides a narrative
history of the philosophical traditions that took shape over
several centuries in the Mediterranean world and offers a
comprehensive survey of this crucial period in the history of
philosophy. The book includes a thorough historical and
philosophical overview of all the key thinkers, events and ideas
that characterized the period and explores in detail central themes
such as the contest of gods and giants, the contrast between the
reality and appearance, and the idea of the philosopher. Ideal for
undergraduate students, this concise and accessible book provides a
comprehensive guide to a fascinating period in the history of
philosophy.>
The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many
respects a unique text. Though it has been preserved anonymously,
there remains little doubt that it belongs to Porphyry of Tyre.
Accordingly, it enlarges our knowledge of the views of the most
famous disciple of Plotinus. The text is an important witness to
Platonist discussions on First Principles and on Plato's concept of
Prime Matter in the Timaeus. It contains extensive quotations from
Atticus, Severus, and Boethus. This text thus provides us with new
textual witnesses to these philosophers, whose legacy remains very
poorly attested and little known. Additionally, the treatise is a
rare example of a Platonist work preserved in the Syriac language.
The Syriac reception of Plato and Platonic teachings has left
rather sparse textual traces, and the question of what precisely
Syriac Christians knew about Plato and his philosophy remains a
debated issue. The treatise provides evidence for the close
acquaintance of Syriac scholars with Platonic cosmology and with
philosophical commentaries on Plato's Timaeus.
Both our view of Seneca's philosophical thought and our approach to
the ancient consolatory genre have radically changed since the
latest commentary on the Consolatio ad Marciam was written in 1981.
The aim of this work is to offer a new book-length commentary on
the earliest of Seneca's extant writings, along with a revision of
the Latin text and a reassessment of Seneca's intellectual program,
strategies, and context. A crucial document to penetrate Seneca's
discourse on the self in its embryonic stages, the Ad Marciam is
here taken seriously as an engaging attempt to direct the
persuasive power of literary models and rhetorical devices toward
the fundamentally moral project of healing Marcia's grief and
correcting her cognitive distortions. Through close reading of the
Latin text, this commentary shows that Seneca invariably adapts
different traditions and voices - from Greek consolations to
Plato's dialogues, from the Roman discourse of gender and
exemplarity to epic poetry - to a Stoic framework, so as to give
his reader a lucid understanding of the limits of the self and the
ineluctability of natural laws.
In this part of the Posterior Analytics, Aristotle elaborates his
assessment of how universal truths of science can be scientifically
explained as inevitable in demonstrative proofs. But he introduces
complications: some sciences discuss phenomena that can only be
explained by higher sciences and again sometimes we reason out a
cause from an effect, rather than an effect from a cause.
Philoponus takes these issues further. Reasoning from particular to
universal is the direction taken by induction, and in mathematics
reasoning from a theorem to the higher principles from which it
follows is considered particularly valuable. It corresponds to the
direction of analysis, as opposed to synthesis. This volume
contains an English translation of Philoponus' commentary, a
detailed introduction, extensive explanatory notes and a
bibliography.
This volume on Greek synchronic etymology offers a set of papers
evidencing the cultural significance of etymological commitment in
ancient and medieval literature. The four sections illustrate the
variety of approaches of the same object, which for Greek writers
was much more than a technical way of studying language.
Contributions focus on the functions of etymology as they were
intended by the authors according to their own aims. (1)
"Philosophical issues" addresses the theory of etymology and its
explanatory power, especially in Plato and in Neoplatonism. (2)
"Linguistic issues" discusses various etymologizing techniques and
the status of etymology, which was criticized and openly rejected
by some authors. (3) "Poetical practices of etymology" investigates
the ubiquitous presence of etymological reflections in learned
poetry, whatever the genre, didactic, aetiological or epic. (4)
"Etymology and word-plays" addresses the vexed question of the
limit between a mere pun and a real etymological explanation, which
is more than once difficult to establish. The wide range of genres
and authors and the interplay between theoretical reflection and
applied practice shows clearly the importance of etymology in Greek
thought.
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This study focuses on the metaphysics of the great Arabic
philosopher Avicenna (or Ibn Sina, d. 1037 C.E.). More
specifically, it delves into Avicenna's theory of quiddity or
essence, a topic which seized the attention of thinkers both during
the medieval and modern periods. Building on recent contributions
in Avicennian studies, this book proposes a new and comprehensive
interpretation of Avicenna's theory of 'the pure quiddity' (also
known as 'the quiddity in itself') and of its ontology. The study
provides a careful philological analysis of key passages gleaned
from the primary sources in Arabic and a close philosophical
contextualization of Avicenna's doctrines in light of the legacy of
ancient Greek philosophy in Islam and the early development of
Arabic philosophy (falsafah) and theology (kalam). The study pays
particular attention to how Avicenna's theory of quiddity relates
to the ancient Greek philosophical discussion about the universals
or common things and Mu'tazilite ontology. Its main thesis is that
Avicenna articulated a sophisticated doctrine of the ontology of
essence in light of Greek and Bahshamite sources, which decisively
shaped subsequent intellectual history in Islam and the Latin West.
In the Politics, Aristotle sets out to discover what is the best
form that the state can take. Similar to his mentor Plato,
Aristotle considers the form that will produce justice and
cultivate the highest human potential; however Aristotle takes a
more empirical approach, examining the constitution of existing
states and drawing on specific case-studies. In doing so he lays
the foundations of modern political science. This Readers Guide is
the ideal companion to this most influential of texts offering
guidance on: Philosophical and historical context Key themes
Reading the text Reception and influence Further reading
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