Ancient Greek Philosophy, 2nd Edition

Book description

This book discusses the principal fragments of the early Greek thinkers like Anaximander, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Parmenides and many others, who predate Plato and Aristotle. The author contends that pre-Platonic Greek philosophy is not to be looked at as a matter of mere historical interest. Although their work survives only in fragments, they have been the subject of study and reflection by the whole western philosophical tradition. Therefore the second edition of Ancient Greek Philosophy: Thales to Socrates covers the gamut of western thought from the pre-Socratic to the Socratic in order to provide us with an in-depth introduction to the whole of classical Greek philosophy.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Contents
  4. Preface
  5. Chronolgy
  6. Sources
  7. PART I: THE IONIANS
    1. 1. The Milesians
      1. Thales of Miletus
      2. Water
      3. Soul and Motion
      4. The Gods Anaximander
      5. Apeiron as Arche
      6. The Elements
      7. Cosmic Justice
      8. World Formation
      9. Anaximenes
      10. Air as Arche
      11. The Stability of the Earth
      12. Change as Alteration
      13. Meteorology
      14. The Soul
      15. Divinity
      16. Postscript to Milesian Thought: Philosophy as Science
    2. 2. Heraclitus of Ephesus
      1. Characteristics of His Style
      2. Interpreting Heraclitus
      3. Doctrines
      4. A Logos of the Logos
  8. PART II: THE ITALIANS
    1. 3. Pythagoreans
      1. Pythagoras and Pythagoreans
      2. Immortality and Transmigration
      3. Animal Sacrifice and Vegetarianism
      4. Philosophy as Contemplation
      5. Mathematics and Music
      6. Things are Numbers
      7. Pythagorean Cosmology
    2. 4. Philolaus of Croton
      1. Philolaus
      2. The Argument of B2
      3. The Soul
    3. 5. Parmenides of Elea
      1. Life and Work
      2. The One
      3. Is or Is Not
      4. Thinking and Being
      5. The Signs
      6. Aristotle’s Criticism
      7. Parmenides’ Influence
    4. 6. Zeno of Elea
      1. Zeno and Parmenides
      2. Arguments against Plurality
      3. Arguments against Motion
      4. Zeno’s Influence
  9. PART III: THE PLURALISTS
    1. 7. Empedocles of Acragas
      1. Life and Works
      2. Nature: The Roots
      3. The Cosmic Cycle
      4. Mixture
      5. Purifications
      6. Empedocles’ Dualism
    2. 8. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae
      1. Life and Works
      2. Matter
      3. Mind
      4. Cosmogony and Cosmology
      5. Physiological Doctrines
      6. Anaxagoras and Empedocles
    3. 9. The Atomists
      1. The Founders and their Doctrines
      2. Atoms
      3. The Void
      4. Formation of Compounds
      5. Chance and Necessity
      6. Democritean Ethics
      7. Ethics and Physics
  10. PART IV: THE SOPHISTS AND SOCRATES
    1. 10. Protagoras and Gorgias
      1. Protagoras, Gorgias and the Sophistic Movement
      2. The Art of Rhetoric
      3. Nature versus Culture
      4. Epistemology
      5. Protagoras on Truth Gorgias
      6. Existence and Non-existence
      7. The Influence of the Sophists
    2. 11. Socrates
      1. Life and Works
      2. The Ethical Turn
      3. Search for Definitions
      4. Socratic Dialectic
      5. Virtue and the Soul
      6. The Medical Analogy
      7. Socrates and the Sophists
      8. Care of the Self
  11. Bibliography
  12. General Index
  13. Index of Fragments
  14. Index of Passages
  15. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Ancient Greek Philosophy, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: January 2014
  • Publisher(s): Pearson India
  • ISBN: 9789332537477