In Ancient Philosophy (2012), Christopher Shields expanded on the coverage of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in his earlier book, Classical Philosophy (2003), to include the philosophy of the Hellenistic era. In this new edition (2023), Shields reaches even further to include material on Neoplatonism and on Augustine and Proclus, capturing-from Thales of Miletus to the end of the sixth century CE-all of what might be called ancient philosophy. It traces the important connections between the periods and individuals of more than 1,200 years of philosophy's history without losing sight of the novelties and dynamics unique to each. The coverage of the Presocratics, Sophists, Plato, and Stoicism has also been expanded so as to highlight Plato's responses to the Sophistic movement in the development of his Theory of Forms. And, finally, a valuable companion volume, with Shields's focused translations of the important sources referred to in Ancient Philosophy, Second Edition, will soon be published, obviating the need for a massive anthology of discordant voices. Ancient Philosophy, Second Edition, retains its helpful structure: each philosophical position receives: (1) a brief introduction, (2) a sympathetic review of its principal motivations and primary supporting arguments, and (3) a short assessment, inviting readers to evaluate its plausibility. The result is a book that brings the ancient arguments to life, making the introduction truly contemporary. It continues to serve as both a first stop and a well-visited resource for any student of the subject. Key updates in the second edition Extends the range of coverage well into the sixth century CE by offering a new chapter on Neoplatonism and early Christian philosophy, featuring discussions of Proclus and Augustine. Explains the conflicts between Plato and the Sophists by highlighting their approaches to rhetoric as an instrument of persuasion, offering a helpful explanation of two senses of argument. Includes new coverage of Plato's argument from the Simplicity of the Soul, Argument from Affinity, and Argument against Rhetoric. Includes coverage of Aristotle's political naturalism . May be used with a soon-to-be-published companion volume of primary source material, all of it translated by Christopher Shields specifically for the reader of this Second Edition.

In Ancient Philosophy (2012), Christopher Shields expanded on the coverage of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in his earlier book, Classical Philosophy (2003), to include the philosophy of the Hellenistic era. In this new edition (2023), Shields reaches even further to include material on Neoplatonism and on Augustine and Proclus, capturing-from Thales of Miletus to the end of the sixth century CE-all of what might be called ancient philosophy. It traces the important connections between the periods and individuals of more than 1,200 years of philosophy's history without losing sight of the novelties and dynamics unique to each. The coverage of the Presocratics, Sophists, Plato, and Stoicism has also been expanded so as to highlight Plato's responses to the Sophistic movement in the development of his Theory of Forms. And, finally, a valuable companion volume, with Shields's focused translations of the important sources referred to in Ancient Philosophy, Second Edition, will soon be published, obviating the need for a massive anthology of discordant voices. Ancient Philosophy, Second Edition, retains its helpful structure: each philosophical position receives: (1) a brief introduction, (2) a sympathetic review of its principal motivations and primary supporting arguments, and (3) a short assessment, inviting readers to evaluate its plausibility. The result is a book that brings the ancient arguments to life, making the introduction truly contemporary. It continues to serve as both a first stop and a well-visited resource for any student of the subject. Key updates in the second edition Extends the range of coverage well into the sixth century CE by offering a new chapter on Neoplatonism and early Christian philosophy, featuring discussions of Proclus and Augustine. Explains the conflicts between Plato and the Sophists by highlighting their approaches to rhetoric as an instrument of persuasion, offering a helpful explanation of two senses of argument. Includes new coverage of Plato's argument from the Simplicity of the Soul, Argument from Affinity, and Argument against Rhetoric. Includes coverage of Aristotle's political naturalism . May be used with a soon-to-be-published companion volume of primary source material, all of it translated by Christopher Shields specifically for the reader of this Second Edition.

This book introduces Thomas Aquinas's own principal fascinations in philosophy: rational theology, metaphysics, human nature, philosophy of mind, and value theory. It offers an introduction to his overarching explanatory framework in a distinctive deployment of an approach familiar from Aristotle.

Aristotle's De Anima has a claim to be the first systematic treatment of issues in the philosophy of mind, and also to be one of the greatest works on the subject. This volume provides an accurate translation of Books II and III, together with some sections of Book I; particular attention has been given to the translation of difficult terms, to help the student of philosophy who does not know Greek. A brief Introduction discusses Aristotle's approach to his subject, while the Notes provide a continuous philosophical commentary on the text. Since the original publication of this volume, Aristotle's philosophy of mind has been the focus of lively scholarly debate; for this revised edition, Christopher Shields has added a substantial review of this recent work, together with a new bibliography.

This book introduces Thomas Aquinas's own principal fascinations in philosophy: rational theology, metaphysics, human nature, philosophy of mind, and value theory. It offers an introduction to his overarching explanatory framework in a distinctive deployment of an approach familiar from Aristotle.

In this extensively revised new edition of his excellent guidebook, Christopher Shields introduces the whole of Aristotle's philosophy, showing how his powerful conception of human nature shaped much of his thinking on the nature of the soul and the mind, ethics, politics, and the arts. Beginning with a brief biography, Shields carefully explains the fundamental elements of Aristotle's thought: his explanatory framework, his philosophical methodology, and his four-causal explanatory scheme. Subsequently he discusses Aristotle's metaphysics, the theory of categories, logical theory, and his conception of the human being as a composite of soul and body. The last part concentrates on Aristotle's value theory as applied to ethics and politics, and assesses his approach to happiness, virtue, and the best life for human beings, before turning to a consideration of Aristotle's theory of rhetoric and the arts, with a special focus on his perennially controversial treatment of tragedy. This second edition includes an expanded discussion of Aristotle's method, and new sections on key issues in perception, thought, akrasia, and mimesis. It concludes with an expanded assessment of Aristotle's legacy, sketching currently emerging Neo-Aristotelian movements in metaphysics and virtue ethics.

The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle reflects the lively international character of Aristotelian studies, drawing contributors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and Japan; it also, appropriately, includes a preponderance of authors from the University of Oxford, which has been a center of Aristotelian studies for many centuries. The volume equally reflects the broad range of activity Aristotelian studies comprise today: such activity ranges from the primarily textual and philological to the application of broadly Aristotelian themes to contemporary problems irrespective of their narrow textual fidelity. In between these extremes one finds the core of Aristotelian scholarship as it is practiced today, and as it is primarily represented in this handbook: textual exegesis and criticism. Even within this more limited core activity, one witnesses a rich range of pursuits, with some scholars seeking primarily to understand Aristotle in his own philosophical milieu and others seeking rather to place him into direct conversation with contemporary philosophers and their present-day concerns. No one of these enterprises exhausts the field. On the contrary, one of the most welcome and enlivening features of the contemporary Aristotelian scene is precisely the cross-fertilization these mutually beneficial and complementary activities offer one another. The volume, prefaced with an introduction to Aristotle's life and works by the editor, covers the main areas of Aristotelian philosophy and intellectual enquiry: ethics, metaphysics, politics, logic, language, psychology, rhetoric, poetics, theology, physical and biological investigation, and philosophical method. It also, and distinctively, looks both backwards and forwards: two chapters recount Aristotle's treatment of earlier philosophers, who proved formative to his own orientations and methods, and another three chapters chart the long afterlife of Aristotle's philosophy, in Late Antiquity, in the Islamic World, and in the Latin West.

This new and updated edition of Christopher Shields and Robert Pasnau's The Philosophy of Aquinas introduces the Aquinas' overarching explanatory framework in order to provide the necessary background to his philosophical investigations across a wide range of areas: rational theology, metaphysics, philosophy of human nature, philosophy of mind, and ethical and political theory. Although not intended to provide a comprehensive evaluation of all aspects of Aquinas' far-reaching writings, the volume presents a systematic introduction to the principal areas of his philosophy and attends no less to Aquinas' methods and argumentative strategies than to his ultimate conclusions. The authors have updated the second edition in light of recent scholarship on Aquinas, while streamlining and refining their presentation of the key elements of Aquinas' philosophy.

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.

This new and updated edition of Christopher Shields and Robert Pasnau's The Philosophy of Aquinas introduces the Aquinas' overarching explanatory framework in order to provide the necessary background to his philosophical investigations across a wide range of areas: rational theology, metaphysics, philosophy of human nature, philosophy of mind, and ethical and political theory. Although not intended to provide a comprehensive evaluation of all aspects of Aquinas' far-reaching writings, the volume presents a systematic introduction to the principal areas of his philosophy and attends no less to Aquinas' methods and argumentative strategies than to his ultimate conclusions. The authors have updated the second edition in light of recent scholarship on Aquinas, while streamlining and refining their presentation of the key elements of Aquinas' philosophy.

Christopher Shields presents the first full study of a key feature of Aristotle's philosophical and scientific investigations: his concern with the homonymy of certain concepts, that is, with the fact that a single concept stands for a multiplicity of kinds of thing. Shields examines how Aristotle seeks order within this multiplicity, in a variety of areas of inquiry, and demonstrates the continuing fruitfulness of his methodology.

In this extensively revised new edition of his excellent guidebook, Christopher Shields introduces the whole of Aristotle's philosophy, showing how his powerful conception of human nature shaped much of his thinking on the nature of the soul and the mind, ethics, politics, and the arts. Beginning with a brief biography, Shields carefully explains the fundamental elements of Aristotle's thought: his explanatory framework, his philosophical methodology, and his four-causal explanatory scheme. Subsequently he discusses Aristotle's metaphysics, the theory of categories, logical theory, and his conception of the human being as a composite of soul and body. The last part concentrates on Aristotle's value theory as applied to ethics and politics, and assesses his approach to happiness, virtue, and the best life for human beings, before turning to a consideration of Aristotle's theory of rhetoric and the arts, with a special focus on his perennially controversial treatment of tragedy. This second edition includes an expanded discussion of Aristotle's method, and new sections on key issues in perception, thought, akrasia, and mimesis. It concludes with an expanded assessment of Aristotle's legacy, sketching currently emerging Neo-Aristotelian movements in metaphysics and virtue ethics.

Christopher Shields presents the first full study of a key feature of Aristotle's philosophical and scientific investigations: his concern with the homonymy of certain concepts, that is, with the fact that a single concept stands for a multiplicity of kinds of thing. Shields examines how Aristotle seeks order within this multiplicity, in a variety of areas of inquiry, and demonstrates the continuing fruitfulness of his methodology.

Aristotle's "De Anima" has a claim to be the first systematic treatment of issues in the philosophy of mind, and also to be one of the greatest works on the subject. This volume provides an accurate translation of Books 2 and 3, together with some sections of Book 1. Particular attention has been given to the translation of difficult terms, to help the student of philosophy who does not know Greek. A brief introduction discusses Aristotle's approach to his subject, while notes provide a continuous philosophical commentary on the text. Since the original publication of this volume, Aristotle's philosophy of mind has been the focus of lively scholarly debate; for this revised edition, Christopher Shields has added a substantial review of this recent work, together with a new bibliography.

Fifteen leading philosophers explore a set of themes from the pioneering work of Gail Fine and Terence Irwin, in ancient philosophy but also in later periods and in systematic philosophy. The contributors discuss knowledge, rhetoric, freedom and practical reason, virtue and the good life, ethics and politics in Plato and Aristotle and beyond. The editors offer an introduction charting the scholarly contributions of Fine and Irwin and assessing their individual and joint impact, together with a complete bibliography of their writings.

The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle reflects the lively international character of Aristotelian studies, drawing contributors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and Japan; it also, appropriately, includes a preponderance of authors from the University of Oxford, which has been a center of Aristotelian studies for many centuries. The volume equally reflects the broad range of activity Aristotelian studies comprise today: such activity ranges from the primarily textual and philological to the application of broadly Aristotelian themes to contemporary problems irrespective of their narrow textual fidelity. In between these extremes one finds the core of Aristotelian scholarship as it is practiced today, and as it is primarily represented in this Handbook: textual exegesis and criticism. Even within this more limited core activity, one witnesses a rich range of pursuits, with some scholars seeking primarily to understand Aristotle in his own philosophical milieu and others seeking rather to place him into direct conversation with contemporary philosophers and their present-day concerns. No one of these enterprises exhausts the field. On the contrary, one of the most welcome and enlivening features of the contemporary Aristotelian scene is precisely the cross-fertilization these mutually beneficial and complementary activities offer one another. The volume, prefaced with an introduction to Aristotle's life and works by the editor, covers the main areas of Aristotelian philosophy and intellectual enquiry: ethics, metaphysics, politics, logic, language, psychology, rhetoric, poetics, theology, physical and biological investigation, and philosophical method. It also, and distinctively, looks both backwards and forwards: two chapters recount Aristotle's treatment of earlier philosophers, who proved formative to his own orientations and methods, and another three chapters chart the long afterlife of Aristotle's philosophy, in Late Antiquity, in the Islamic World, and in the Latin West.

"The many moods of THE SLIP, from fabulous to funny to frenetic, announce the arrival of a promising new voice that can express, with consummate sensitivity and verve, the sorrows and celebrations of our complicated queerness. When Michael Montlack writes, he can make us sing or break our hearts. Each poem is a veritable 'kiss of the artist'--passionate and memorable."--Rigoberto Gonzalez, author of OTHER FUGITIVES AND OTHER STRANGERS. "With pitch-perfect pacing and an intimate colloquial voice, THE SLIP reads as engagingly novelistic even as these memoiristic vignettes are untamed by wit and scathing humor. Ouch. The poems are at once revealing yet winningly imaginative as they reignite myth--there's even a bisexual Orpheus here who helps Montlack to rewrite the past while instructing, bruising, and exposing suburbia's lingering melancholy."--Peter Covino, author of CUT OFF THE EARS OF WINTER, winner of PEN/America Osterweil Prize. "Michael Montlack's THE SLIP situates us in the middle of a life, threading together joys and sorrows. Some of the comic moments will truly make you laugh out loud. And at times, you'll get horribly wistful. Such is the richness of this collection."--D. A. Powell, author of CHRONIC.