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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Ancient Western philosophy to c 500 > General
The Clarendon Aristotle Series is designed for both students and
professionals. It provides accurate translations of selected
Aristotelian texts, accompanied by incisive commentaries that focus
on philosophical problems and issues, The volumes in the series
have been widely welcomed and favourably reviewed. Important new
titles are being added to the series, and a number of
well-established volumes are being reissued with revisions and/or
supplementary material. Christopher Shields presents a new
translation and commentary of Aristotle's De Anima, a work of
interest to philosophers at all levels, as well as psychologists
and students interested in the nature of life and living systems.
The volume provides a full translation of the complete work,
together with a comprehensive commentary. While sensitive to
philological and textual matters, the commentary addresses itself
to the philosophical reader who wishes to understand and assess
Aristotle's accounts of the soul and body; perception; thinking;
action; and the character of living systems. It aims to present
controversial aspects of the text in a neutral, fair-minded manner,
so that readers can come to be equipped to form their own
judgments. This volume includes the crucial first book, which the
original translation in the Clarendon Aristotles Series omitted.
50 years before Philoponus, two Christians from Gaza, seeking to
influence Alexandrian Christians, defended the Christian belief in
resurrection and the finite duration of the world, and attacked
rival Neoplatonist views. Aeneas addresses an unusual version of
the food chain argument against resurrection, that our bodies will
get eaten by other creatures. Zacharias attacks the Platonist
examples of synchronous creation, which were the production of
light, of shadow, and of a footprint in the sand. A fragment
survives of a third Gazan contribution by Procopius. Zacharias
lampoons the Neoplatonist professor in Alexandria, Ammonius, and
claims a leading role in the riot which led to the cleverest
Neoplatonist, Damascius, fleeing to Athens. It was only Philoponus,
however, who was able to embarrass the Neoplatonists by arguing
against them on their own terms. This volume contains an English
translation of the works by Aeneas of Gaza and Zacharias of
Mytilene, accompanied by a detailed introduction, explanatory notes
and a bibliography.
This book examines how ancient authors explored ideas of kingship
as a political role fundamental to the construction of civic unity,
the use of kingship stories to explain the past and present unity
of the polis and the distinctive function or status attributed to
kings in such accounts. It explores the notion of kingship offered
by historians such as Herodotus, as well as dramatists writing for
the Athenian stage, paying particular attention to dramatic
depictions of the unique capabilities of Theseus in uniting the
city in the figure of the 'democratic king'. It also discusses
kingship in Greek philosophy: the Socratics' identification of an
'art of kingship', and Xenophon and Isocrates' model of 'virtue
monarchy'. In turn, these allow a rereading of explorations of
kingship and excellence in Plato's later political thought, seen as
a critique of these models, and also in Aristotle's account of
total kingship or pambasileia, treated here as a counterfactual
device developed to explore the epistemic benefits of democracy.
This book offers a fascinating insight into the institution of
monarchy in classical Greek thought and society, both for those
working on Greek philosophy and politics, and also for students of
the history of political thought.
The volumes of the 'Symposium Aristotelicum' have become the
obligatory reference works for all studies on Aristotle. In this
eighteenth volume a distinguished group of scholars offers a
chapter-by-chapter study of the first book of Aristotle's
Metaphysics. Aristotle presents here his philosophical project as a
search for wisdom, which is found in the knowledge of the first
principles allowing us to explain whatever exists. As he shows, the
earlier philosophers had been seeking such a wisdom, though they
had divergent views on what these first principles were. Before
Aristotle sets out his own views, he offers a critical examination
of his predecessors' views, ending up with a lengthy discussion of
Plato's doctrine of the Forms. Book Alpha is not just a fundamental
text for reconstructing the early history of Greek philosophy; it
sets the agenda for Aristotle's own project of wisdom after what he
had learned from his predecessors. The volume comprises eleven
chapters, each dealing with a different section of the text, and a
new edition of the Greek text of Metaphysics Alpha by Oliver
Primavesi, based on an exhaustive examination of the complex
manuscript and indirect tradition. The introduction to the edition
offers new insights into the question which has haunted editors of
the Metaphysics since Bekker, namely the relation between the two
divergent traditions of the text.
The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, established in 1849, has evolved into
the world's most venerable and extensive series of editions of
Greek and Latin literature, ranging from classical to Neo-Latin
texts. Some 4-5 new editions are published every year. A team of
renowned scholars in the field of Classical Philology acts as
advisory board: Gian Biagio Conte (Scuola Normale Superiore di
Pisa) Marcus Deufert (Universitat Leipzig) James Diggle (University
of Cambridge) Donald J. Mastronarde (University of California,
Berkeley) Franco Montanari (Universita di Genova) Heinz-Gunther
Nesselrath (Georg-August-Universitat Goettingen) Dirk Obbink
(University of Oxford) Oliver Primavesi (Ludwig-Maximilians
Universitat Munchen) Michael D. Reeve (University of Cambridge)
Richard J. Tarrant (Harvard University) Formerly out-of-print
editions are offered as print-on-demand reprints. Furthermore, all
new books in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana series are published as
eBooks. The older volumes of the series are being successively
digitized and made available as eBooks. If you are interested in
ordering an out-of-print edition, which hasn't been yet made
available as print-on-demand reprint, please contact us:
[email protected] All editions of Latin texts published in
the Bibliotheca Teubneriana are collected in the online database
BTL Online.
Edwin Hartman offers an account of his intellectual journey from
Aristotle to organization theory to business ethics to an
Aristotelian approach to business ethics. Aristotle's work in
metaphysics and psychology offers some insights into the
explanation of behavior. Central to this sort of explanation is
characteristically human rationality. Central to successful
organizations is characteristically human sociability. That human
beings are by nature rational and sociable is the basis of
Aristotle's ethics. Though a modern organization is not a polis in
Aristotle's sense, it has good reason to treat people as rational
and sociable on the whole, and thereby to preserve the organization
as a commons of people linked by something much like Aristotle's
account of strong friendship. Organizations that are successful in
this respect, particularly those that deal with a nationally
diverse workforce, may offer a far-reaching and attractive model.
The present book is the English version of a monograph 'Die
aristotelische Syllogistik', which first appeared ten years ago in
the series of Abhand 1 lungen edited by the Academy of Sciences in
Gottingen. In the preface to the English edition, I would first
like to express my indebtedness to Mr. J. Barnes, now fellow of
Oriel College, Oxford. He not only translated what must have been a
difficult text with exemplary precision and ingenuity, but followed
critically every argument and check ed every reference. While
translating it, he has improved the book. Of those changes which I
have made on Mr. Barnes' suggestion I note only the more important
ones on pages 4, 12, 24sq, 32, 39, 6lsq, and 158. Since the second
edition of the German text appeared in 1963 some further reviews
have been published, or come to my notice, which I have 2 been able
to make use of in improving the text of this new edition. I must
mention here especially the detailed critical discussions of my
results and arguments published by Professor W. Wieland in the
Philosophische Rundschau 14 (1966), 1-27 and by Professor E.
Scheibe in Gnomon 39 (1967), 454-64. Both scholars, while agreeing
with the main drift and method of my interpretation, criticise some
of my results and disagree with some of my arguments. It would not
be possible to discuss these technical matters here with the
necessary thoroughness."
Consensus holds that Lucretius admired the literary prestige of
Homeric epos, the form that Ennius famously introduced to Latin
literature. However, some hold that Lucretius disagreed with
Ennius' quasi-Pythagorean claim to be Homer reborn, and so uniquely
qualified to adapt Homeric poetry to the Latin language. Likewise,
received wisdom holds that Lucretius followed in the path of poets
writing in the wake of Ennius' Annales, most of whom employed an
Ennian style. However, throughout the De Rerum Natura, Lucretius'
use of Ennius' Annales as a formal model for a long discursive poem
in epic meter was neither inevitable nor predictable, on the one
hand, nor meaningful in the simple way that critical consensus has
always maintained. Jason Nethercut posits that Lucretius selected
Ennius as a model precisely to dismantle the values for which he
claimed Ennius stood, including the importance of history as a
poetic subject and Rome's historical achievement in particular. As
the first book to offer substantial analysis of the relationship
between two of the ancient world's most impactful poets, Ennius
Noster: Lucretius and the Annales fills an important gap not only
in Lucretian scholarship, but also in our understanding of Latin
literary history.
This volume presents, in Syriac and English, Job of Edessa's
encyclopedic work covering all manner of scientific topics. It will
be of interest to readers interested in Aristotelianism and the
intellectual climate of the Middle East around the ninth century.
Nietzsche and Classical Greek Philosophy: Beautiful and Diseased
explains Friedrich Nietzsche's ambivalence toward Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle. Daw-Nay N. R. Evans Jr. argues that Nietzsche's
relationship to his classical Greek predecessors is more subtle and
systematic than previously believed. He contends that Nietzsche's
seemingly personal attacks on his philosophical rivals hide
philosophically sophisticated disputes that deserve greater
attention. Evans demonstrates how Nietzsche's encounters with
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle reveal the philosophical influence
they exercised on Nietzsche's thought and the philosophical
problems that he sought to address through those encounters. Having
illustrated Nietzsche's ambivalence Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle,
Evans draws on Nietzsche's admiration for Heraclitus as a
counterpoint to Plato to suggest that the classical Greek
philosophers are just as important to Nietzsche's thought as their
pre-Socratic precursors. This book will appeal to those interested
in continental philosophy, ancient philosophy, and German studies.
In Friendship, Italian philosopher Claudia Baracchi explores the
philosophical underpinnings of friendship. Tackling the issue of
friendship in the era of Facebook and online social networks
requires courage and even a certain impertinence. The friendship
relationship involves trust, fidelity, and availability for
profound sharing. Sociologists assure us this attitude was never
more improbable than in our time of dramatic anthropological
reconfiguration. Research on friendship cannot therefore ignore
ancient thought: with unparalleled depth, Friendship examines the
broader implications of relationship, both emotional and political.
Today, the grand socio-political structures of the world are
trembling. The hold of valued paradigms that traditionally
positioned individuals, determined their destinies, and assigned
them their roles and reciprocal responsibilities is becoming
uncertain. In these many global shifts, previously unforeseen
possibilities for individual and collective becoming are unleashed.
Perhaps friendship has to do with worlds that are not: that are not
yet, and that should be desired all the more. Focusing on the works
of Aristotle, Baracchi explores ancient reflections on friendship,
in the belief that they have much to teach us about our
relationships in the present day.
"Parmenides is one of Plato's most challenging and interesting
dialogues. By means of a conversation with the aged philosopher
Parmenides, Plato conducts a detailed critical examination of a
central tenet of his own philosophy, the Theory of Forms.
Parmenides then introduces a series of exercises in dialectic
centered on the idea of 'the one'. Many scholars contend that this
critique and subsequent intellectual exercise is designed to pave
the way for a more mature understanding and defense of the Theory
of Forms, but it continues to be a subject of much speculation and
fascination. Despite or perhaps because of its complexity,
Parmenides is a key work illuminating the later thought of one of
the world's most influential philosophers.
This new edition introduces the reader to the philosophy of early
Christianity in the second to fourth centuries AD, and
contextualizes the philosophical contributions of early Christians
in the framework of the ancient philosophical debates. It examines
the first attempts of Christian thinkers to engage with issues such
as questions of cosmogony and first principles, freedom of choice,
concept formation, and the body-soul relation, as well as later
questions like the status of the divine persons of the Trinity. It
also aims to show that the philosophy of early Christianity is part
of ancient philosophy as a distinct school of thought, being in
constant dialogue with the ancient philosophical schools, such as
Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, and even Epicureanism and
Scepticism. This book examines in detail the philosophical views of
Christian thinkers such as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Basil, and Gregory of Nyssa, and
sheds light in the distinct ways they conceptualized traditional
philosophical issues and made some intriguing contributions. The
book's core chapters survey the central philosophical concerns of
the early Christian thinkers and examines their contributions.
These range across natural philosophy, metaphysics, logic and
epistemology, psychology, and ethics, and include such questions as
how the world came into being, how God relates to the world, the
status of matter, how we can gain knowledge, in what sense humans
have freedom of choice, what the nature of soul is and how it
relates to the body, and how we can attain happiness and salvation.
This revised edition takes into account the recent developments in
the area of later ancient philosophy, especially in the philosophy
of Early Christianity, and integrates them in the relevant
chapters, some of which are now heavily expanded. The Philosophy of
Early Christianity remains a crucial introduction to the subject
for undergraduate and postgraduate students of ancient philosophy
and early Christianity, across the disciplines of classics,
history, and theology.
The importance of Stoicism for Gilles Deleuze's Logic of Sense and
Michel Foucault's Hermeneutics of the Subject and The Care of the
Self is well known. However, few students of either classics or
philosophy are aware of the breadth of French and Italian
receptions of Stoicism. This book firstly presents this broad field
to readers, and secondly advances it by renewing dialogues with
ancient Stoic texts. The authors in this volume, who combine
expertise in continental and Hellenistic philosophy, challenge our
understanding of both modern and ancient concepts, arguments,
exercises, and therapies. It conceives of Stoicism as a vital
strand of philosophy which contributes to the life of contemporary
thought. Flowing through the sustained, varied engagement with
Stoicism by continental thinkers, this volume covers Jean-Paul
Sartre, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, Alain
Badiou, Emile Brehier, Barbara Cassin, Giorgio Agamben, and Pierre
Hadot. Stoic sources addressed range from doxography and well-known
authors like Epictetus and Seneca to more obscure authorites like
Musonius Rufus and Cornutus.
The first collection of essays devoted to the Arabic philosopher
Averroes's brilliant Commentary on Plato's "Republic," which
survived the medieval period only in Hebrew and Latin translations.
The first collection of essays devoted entirely to the medieval
philosopher Averroes's Commentary on Plato's "Republic" includes a
variety of contributors from across several disciplines and
countries. The anthology aims to establish Averroes as a great
philosopher in his own right, with special and unique insight into
the world of Islam, as well as a valuable commentator on Plato. A
major feature of the book is the first published English
translation of Shlomo Pines's 1957 essay, written in Hebrew, on
Averroes. The volume explores many aspects of Averroes's
philosophy, including its teachings on poetry, philosophy,
religion, law, and government. Other sections trace both the
inspiration Averroes's work drew from past philosophers and the
influence it had on future generations, especially in Jewish and
Christian Europe. Scholars of medieval philosophy, ancient
philosophy, Jewish studies, and the history of political thought
more generally will find important insights in this volume. The
anthology is also intended to provide the necessary background for
teachers aiming to introduce Averroes's commentary into the
classroom. With the Republic regularly appearing near the top of
lists of the most frequently taught books in the history of
philosophy, this volume shows how the most important medieval
commentary on it deserves a place in the curriculum as well.
Book 2 of the Physics is arguably the best introduction to
Aristotle's work, both because it explains some of his central
concepts, such as nature and the four causes, and because it asks
questions that are still debated today: Is chance something real?
If so, what? Can nature be explained by chance, necessity and
natural selection, or is it purposive? Philoponus' commentary is
not only a valuable guide, but also a work of Neoplatonism with its
own views on causation, the Providence of Nature, the problem of
evil and the immortality of the soul. Includes notes on the text,
and English-Greek glossary and index.
In each of Plato's "dialogues of definition" (Euthyphro, Laches,
Meno, Charmides, Lysis, Republic I, Hippias Major), Socrates
motivates philosophical discussion by posing a question of the form
"What is F-ness?" Yet these dialogues are notorious for coming up
empty. Socrates' interlocutors repeatedly fail to deliver
satisfactory answers. Thus, the dialogues of definition are often
considered negative- empty of any positive philosophical content.
Justin C. Clark resists the negative reading, arguing that the
dialogues of definition contain positive "Socratic" answers. In
order to see the positive theory, however, one must recognize what
Clark calls the "dual function" of the "What is F-ness?" question.
Socrates is not looking for a single type of answer. Rather,
Socrates is looking for two distinct types of answers. The "What is
F-ness?" question serves as a springboard for two types of
investigation- conceptual and causal. The key to understanding any
of the dialogues of definition, therefore, is to decipher between
them. Clark offers a way to do just that, at once resolving
interpretive issues in Socratic philosophy, providing systematic
interpretations of the negative endings, and generating important
new readings of the Charmides and Lysis, whilst casting further
doubt on the authenticity of the Hippias Major.
Plato is a well-known critic of rhetoric, but in the Phaedrus, he
defends the art of rhetoric, arguing that it can be perfected with
the aid of philosophy. In Reason, Rhetoric, and the Philosophical
Life in Plato's Phaedrus, Tiago Lier provides a new and
comprehensive interpretation of this important dialogue. He argues
that Plato's defense of rhetoric is based on philosophy's ethical
nature, and that philosophy is a way of life rather than a body of
knowledge. For Plato, an essential element of both rhetoric and the
philosophical life is that every use of speech, whether to persuade
or to learn, depends upon the psychology of the speaker and the
audience. Lier shows how Socrates develops a dynamic account of
this psychology over the course of the dialogue in order to help
Phaedrus understand how he is personally engaged in, and shaped by,
every act of communication. Only when we grasp the tension between
eros and logos will we discover the limitations of the art of
rhetoric and that rhetoric alone cannot show us what we truly
desire. Instead, Lier concludes, the greatest power of speech is to
reveal to ourselves our own desires and understanding of our place
in the world. This continual self-reflection is the philosophical
life around which Socrates and Plato fashion their distinctive
forms of rhetoric. The insights developed in this book will be of
particular relevance to students and scholars of ancient
philosophy, classics, and rhetorical theory, but it will also be of
interest to those working in political science, literary studies,
and communication studies.
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