A Companion to Ancient Philosophy

A Companion to Ancient Philosophy provides a comprehensive and current overview of the history of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy from its origins until late antiquity. This volume of newly contributed papers is distinctive in including contributions from both rising stars and senior scholars, and in integrating what were until recently characterized as two conflicting traditions, analytic and continental. The papers treat central topics in ancient philosophy, such as the problem of sources or the practice of ancient philosophical commentary, and also explore the development of various disciplines, including mathematics, logic, grammar, physics, and medicine, in their relation to ancient philosophy. Each paper informs the reader of the current state of debate concerning its topic, and pushes the dialogue further by expressing the views of its author. The volume features a lively introduction, bibliographies, chronology, maps, and two indexes, making this book an excellent resource for students and scholars alike. Non–specialists will find this Companion accessible and rewarding, while specialists will be inspired to revisit controversial questions anew.

Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgments. Abbreviations. Chronology. Maps. Introduction. Part I: Early Greek Philosophy. 1. The Beginnings of Science and Philosophy in Archaic Greece (Edward Hussey). 2. Ancient Philosophy and the Doxographical Tradition (Jorgen Mejer). 3. Parmenides and After: Unity and Plurality (Patricia Curd). 4. The Concept of the Universal in Some later Pre–Platonic Cosmologists (Alexandefr P. D. Mourleatos). 5. The Sophistic Movement (Rachel Barney). Part II: Socrates, the Socratics, and Plato. 6. Socrates (Donald R. Morrison). 7. Minor Socratics (Fernanda Declea Caizzi). 8. The Platonic Dialogue (Christopher Gill). 9. Plato′s Ethics: Early and Middle Dialogues (Terry Penner). 10. Plato′s Political Philosophy: the Republic, the Statesman, and the Laws (Melissa Lane). 11. Plato′s Metaphysics and Dialectic (Noburu Notomi). 12. Plato′s Natural Philosophy and Metaphysics (Luc Brisson). Part III: Aristotle. 13. the Aristotelian Way (Pierre Pellegrin). 14. Aristotle′s Logic and Theory of Science (Woflgand detel). 15. Aristotle′ Physics and Cosmology (Istvan Bodnar and Pierree Pellegrin). 16. Aristotle′s Biology and Aristotle′s Philosophy (James G. Lennox). 17. Aristotle′s Psychology (Victor Caston). 18. First Philosophy in Aristotle (Mary Louise Gill). 19. Aristotle′s ethics (Michael Pakaluk). 20. Aristotle′s Political Philosophy (David Keyt). Part IV: Philosophy in the Hellenistic Age. 21. Philosophic Schools in Hellenistic adn Roman Times (Thomas Benatouil). 22. The Problem of Sources (Robert W. Sharples). 23. The New Academy and its Rivals (Carlos Levy). 24. Pyrrhonist (Jacques Brunschwig). 25. Epicureanism (Pierre–Marie Morel). 26. Stoic Logic (Katerina Ierodiakonou). 27. Stoic Ethics (Richard Bett). 28. Hellenistic Cosmopolitanism (Eric Brown). PART V: Middle and Late Platonism. 29. Middle Platonism (Marco Zambon). 30. Plotinus (Luc Brisson and Jean–Francois Pradeau). 31. What was Commentary in Late Antiquity? The Example of the Neoplatonic Commentators (Philippe Hoffmann). Part VI: Culture Philosophy, and the Sciences. 32. Greek Philosophy and Religion (Gabor Betegh). 33. Philosophy of Lange (Deborah K. Modrak). 34. Ancient Medicine and its Contribution to the Philosophical Tradition (Pierre Pellegrin). 35. Greek Mathematics to the Time of Euclid (Ian Mueller). Index Locorum. General Index.

Mary Louise Gill is Professor of Philosophy and Classics at Brown University. She is the author of Aristotle on Substance: The Paradox of Unity (1989), Unity , Identity, and Explanation in Aristotle′s M e taphysics (co–edited with Theodore Scaltsas and David Charles, 1994), Self–Motion: From Aristotle to Newton (co–edited with James G. Lennox, 1994), and Plato: Parmenides (with Paul Ryan, 1996). Pierre Pellegrin is Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. His authored works include Aristotle′s Classification of Animals (1986), and Aristote: Le Philosophe et les Savoirs (2002).

“This Companion does a good job of introducing students to the study of ancient philosophy…This book will give students a sense of what working in the area of ancient philosophy involves and may encourage them to develop some of the requisite skills themselves rather than simply furnish another source for regurgitation.” ( The Classical Review , Vol 58 No. 1 2008) "[T]he Companion draws together a wealth of material, presented in accordance with the most recent scholarly standards for the interpretation of ancient philosophical texts. The Companion will be an excellent source–book for students interested in the study of ancient philosophy, as well as for scholars who are rethinking their views on well–known problems by considering the new perspectives offered." ( Bryn Mawr Classical Review )