Early Greek Philosophy

Front Cover
Penguin, Nov 26, 2002 - Philosophy - 336 pages
The works collected in this volume form the true foundation of Western philosophy—the base upon which Plato and Aristotle and their successors would eventually build. Yet the importance of the Pre-Socratics thinkers lies less in their influence—great though that was—than in their astonishing intellectual ambition and imaginative reach. Zeno's dizzying 'proofs' that motion is impossible; the extraordinary atomic theories of Democritus; the haunting and enigmatic epigrams of Heraclitus; and the maxims of Alcmaeon: fragmentary as they often are, the thoughts of these philosophers seem strikingly modern in their concern to forge a truly scientific vocabulary and way of reasoning.

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Contents

VII
3
VIII
9
IX
18
X
24
XII
28
XIII
36
XIV
40
XV
48
XXIV
174
XXV
176
XXVII
182
XXVIII
183
XXIX
185
XXX
199
XXXI
201
XXXII
203

XVI
75
XVII
77
XIX
92
XX
99
XXI
109
XXII
111
XXIII
162
XXXIII
254
XXXIV
261
XXXV
267
XXXVI
269
XXXVII
274
XXXVIII
281
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About the author (2002)

Jonathan Barnes is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Geneva. He has held visiting posts at the University of Chicago, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and at the University of Texas. He was also a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. His publications include The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle and The PreSocreatic Philosophers.

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