Retrieving the Ancients : An Introduction to Greek Philosophy

by Roochnik, David

• ISBN13: 9781405108621
• ISBN10: 1405108622
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Retrieving the Ancients tells the story of the first philosophers in the West. Beginning with Thales, who correctly predicted an eclipse in 585 BC, and culminating in a discussion of the works of Aristotle, who died in 322 BC, Roochnikrs"s work provides a clear and engaging introduction to one of the most fertile periods in the history of human thought. The author presents the history of Greek philosophy as an unfolding conversation, with the key thinkers engaged with and responding to their predecessors. Elegantly and compellingly written, Roochnik demonstrates the abiding relevance of this conversation to the modern reader. In retrieving the ancients, he argues, we help to illuminate ourselves.

Author Biography

David Roochnik is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston University. His previous publications Of Art and Wisdom: Plato’s Understanding of Techne (1996) and Beautiful City: The Dialectical Character of Plato’s Republic (2003). In addition to his scholarly work in the field of ancient Greek philosophy, he has also published a short story and has recently completed a novel.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(10)
Two Reasons to Study Ancient Greek Philosophy	1	(5)
The Organization and Strategy of This Book	6	(5)
1 The Presocratics	11	(55)
Preliminaries	11	(1)
Before the Beginning: Hesiod	12	(5)
The Ionian Philosophers of the Sixth Century	17	(14)
a) The Beginning: Thales of Miletus	17	(4)
b) The First Debate: Anaximander v. Anaximenes	21	(4)
c) Sixth-Century Rationalism: Xenophanes and Pythagoras	25	(5)
d) The Crisis of Sixth-Century Philosophy	30	(1)
Heraclitus and Parmenides: Extreme Solutions	31	(18)
a) Heraclitus: Lover of Flux	31	(10)
b) Parmenides: Champion of Being	41	(8)
Fifth-Century Elementalism	49	(17)
a) Democritus: Atomic Theory	50	(8)
b) Empedocles: Evolution	58	(4)
c) Anaxagoras	62	(4)
2 The Sophists and Socrates	66	(25)
A New Beginning: The Sophists	66	(2)
Protagoras	68	(8)
Gorgias	76	(4)
Socrates	80	(11)
3 Plato	91	(68)
Preliminaries	91	(2)
Plato's Critique of the Presocratics	93	(8)
Plato's Critique of the Sophists	101	(14)
a) The "Self-Reference" Argument	101	(2)
b) The Reductio ad Absurdum	103	(4)
c) "What is it?"	107	(7)
d) "The Old Quarrel": Philosophy v. Sophistry	114	(1)
Recollection	115	(11)
a) The Phaedo	115	(4)
b) The Meno	119	(7)
The Divided Line and the Form of the Good	126	(8)
a) The Divided Line	126	(6)
b) The Form of the Good	132	(2)
Eros	134	(12)
The Political Implications of the Forms	146	(13)
4 Aristotle	159	(71)
Preliminaries	159	(5)
Aristotle's Conception of Nature	164	(21)
a) "By Nature"	164	(9)
b) Form and Matter	173	(4)
c) The Four Causes	177	(8)
Aristotle's Psychology	185	(14)
Teleological Ethics	199	(15)
a) Moral Virtue	199	(11)
b) Intellectual Virtue	210	(4)
Natural Politics	214	(11)
a) The Political Animal	214	(6)
b) Best Life; Best City	220	(5)
Conclusion	225	(5)
References	230	(5)
Index	235