First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This first of two volumes on the Greeks by Rush Rhees addresses the central philosophical question: In what sense does philosophy investigate reality? In answering this question, Rhees brings the work of the Presocratics into close relation with contemporary philosophy. D.Z. Phillips's editorial commentary is particularly helpful in assisting the reader with their bearings as they approach the text and in elucidating the developments in Rhees's thinking. How is the philosophical investigation of reality different from that of science and can it be said that science investigates aspects of reality, whereas philosophy investigates reality as such? In this first volume Rhees affirms that most of the Presocratics seemed to be seeking a science of being qua being, looking for an essence of reality that simply is. Rhees asks, if the existence of reality cannot be denied, then how can it be asserted either? Does it make sense to say that reality exists? If we speak of something existing, we speak of the conditions of its existence that are independent of the 'something' in question, so how can this be said about reality? What conditions can be other than reality itself? Rhees argues that whatever unity reality has, it cannot be the unity of a thing. Rhees brings out how individual Presocratics are aware of their predecessors' difficulties, only to fall prey to new difficulties of their own. Rhees suggests that what is philosophically deep in their questionings can be found in discussing the relation of discourse and reality. Does what we say to each other depend on an underlying logic that determines what can and cannot be said, or on a system of unchanging meanings; or is the distinction between sense and nonsense rooted in our actual ways of thinking and acting? In discussing these Wittgensteinian themes, Rhees is not simply elucidating the Presocratics but is in dialogue with them.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This two volume set of Rush Rhees's In Dialogue with the Greeks brings together Rhees's work on the Presocratics and on Plato. The first volume addresses the central philosophical question: In what sense does philosophy investigate reality? In answering this question Rhees brings the work of the Presocratics into close relation with contemporary philosophy. The second volume takes up the questions bequeathed by the first. If reality does not have the unity of a thing, can it have any kind of unity at all? The alternative seems to be that reality has the unity of a form. In this second volume Rhees brings the perspective of a modern Wittgensteinian philosopher to bear on the dialogues of Plato concluding that language is not a collection of isolated games, rather we speak in the course of lives that we lead and what we say has its meaning from the place it occupies in the course of a life. D.Z. Phillips' editorial commentary is particularly helpful in assisting the reader with their bearings as they approach the text and elucidating the developments in Rhees's thinking.

This first of two volumes on the Greeks by Rush Rhees addresses the central philosophical question: In what sense does philosophy investigate reality? In answering this question, Rhees brings the work of the Presocratics into close relation with contemporary philosophy. D.Z. Phillips's editorial commentary is particularly helpful in assisting the reader with their bearings as they approach the text and in elucidating the developments in Rhees's thinking. How is the philosophical investigation of reality different from that of science and can it be said that science investigates aspects of reality, whereas philosophy investigates reality as such? In this first volume Rhees affirms that most of the Presocratics seemed to be seeking a science of being qua being, looking for an essence of reality that simply is. Rhees asks, if the existence of reality cannot be denied, then how can it be asserted either? Does it make sense to say that reality exists? If we speak of something existing, we speak of the conditions of its existence that are independent of the 'something' in question, so how can this be said about reality? What conditions can be other than reality itself? Rhees argues that whatever unity reality has, it cannot be the unity of a thing. Rhees brings out how individual Presocratics are aware of their predecessors' difficulties, only to fall prey to new difficulties of their own. Rhees suggests that what is philosophically deep in their questionings can be found in discussing the relation of discourse and reality. Does what we say to each other depend on an underlying logic that determines what can and cannot be said, or on a system of unchanging meanings; or is the distinction between sense and nonsense rooted in our actual ways of thinking and acting? In discussing these Wittgensteinian themes, Rhees is not simply elucidating the Presocratics but is in dialogue with them.

This second of two volumes on the Greeks by Rush Rhees takes up the questions bequeathed by the previous volume. If reality does not have the unity of a thing, can it have any kind of unity at all? The alternative seems to be that reality has the unity of a form. In this volume Rhees brings the perspective of a modern Wittgensteinian philosopher to bear on the dialogues of Plato. In his treatment of the Georgias and the Symposium Rhees emphasizes Socrates' claim that it is important to seek understanding although one cannot say, in the form of a theory or philosophical thesis, what that understanding amounts to. In considering the Phaedo, Theaetetus, Parmenides and Timaeus, Rhees pursues these questions in a way which relates them to live issues concerning the relation between logic and discourse. Rhees shows that Plato's Forms can neither be thought of by analogy with 'ultimate' particles in physics, nor as fixed concepts that determine what can and cannot be said. Finally, D. Z. Phillips includes two treatments by Rhees of the Republic separated by fifteen years. In the first he criticises Plato for a fixed view that an order predetermines and makes possible growth in understanding, showing how this is the very antithesis of growth. In the second he returns to the tension in Plato's thought between 'answerability to reality' and the view that understanding and growth can only be achieved through a seeking in dialogue. Rhees concludes that language is not a collection of isolated games, rather we speak in the course of lives that we lead and what we say has its meaning from the place it occupies in the course of a life.

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Without robbing boyhood days of their naturalness and reality, we may be sure that long before Jesus knew how and why he differed from his fellows he felt more or less clearly that they were not like him. The resulting sense of isolation was a school for self-mastery, lest isolation foster any such pride or unloveliness as that with which later legend dared to stain the picture of the Lord's youth. -from "The Growth of Jesus" This fanciful 1900 "biography" of the central figure of one of the world's great religions is based as much upon the author's faith as it is any Scriptural or historical sources-indeed, Rhees calls it more "a study rather than a story... a companion to the reading of the gospels." Believers will find comfort in Rhees's soothing, authoritative prose, but this is a vital work for all those who seek to understand the complex society of contemporary Christianity. RUSH RHEES was the third president of the University of Rochester. He wrote extensively on ethics, philosophy, and religion; among his works are Wittgenstein and the Possibility of Discourse and Without Answers.

Without robbing boyhood days of their naturalness and reality, we may be sure that long before Jesus knew how and why he differed from his fellows he felt more or less clearly that they were not like him. The resulting sense of isolation was a school for self-mastery, lest isolation foster any such pride or unloveliness as that with which later legend dared to stain the picture of the Lord's youth. -from "The Growth of Jesus" This fanciful 1900 "biography" of the central figure of one of the world's great religions is based as much upon the author's faith as it is any Scriptural or historical sources-indeed, Rhees calls it more "a study rather than a story... a companion to the reading of the gospels." Believers will find comfort in Rhees's soothing, authoritative prose, but this is a vital work for all those who seek to understand the complex society of contemporary Christianity. RUSH RHEES was the third president of the University of Rochester. He wrote extensively on ethics, philosophy, and religion; among his works are Wittgenstein and the Possibility of Discourse and Without Answers.

In 1933 Ludwig Wittgenstein revised a manuscript he had compiled from his 1930-1932 notebooks, but the work as a whole was not published until 1969, as "Philosophische Grammatik. "This first English translation clearly reveals the central place "Philosophical Grammar "occupies in Wittgenstein's thought and provides a link from his earlier philosophy to his later views.

The work of Simone Weil has not garnered the attention it deserves in the Anglo-American tradition. In this book, Rhees, the noted thinker trained by Wittgenstein, provides the most sustained critique to date of Weil's views on science and religion. In this decidedly Wittgensteinian spin on the philosophy of religion, Rhees' observations on the major themes in Weil's work -- social philosophy, science, ethics, and religion -- are presented. The book shows how Rhees wrestled with difficulties he found in the work of Weil, someone he held in the highest regard.

A specialist in Wittgenstein, Rhees (1905-89) tried diligently to interest English speakers to the work of French philosopher, mystic and left-wing intellectual Weil (1606-43). Here, in the fifth book to publish material from his archive at the University of Wales in Swansea, 14 essays explore her thoughts on social philosophy, science and necessity, and ethics and religion. Phillips adds sketches of Weil and a list of her publications.