The First Philosophers The Presocratics and Sophists

by Waterfield, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780192824547
• ISBN10: 0192824546
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-11-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Aristotle said that philosophy begins with wonder, and the first Western philosophers developed theories of the world which express simultaneously their sense of wonder and their intuition that the world should be comprehensible. But their enterprise was by no means limited to this proto-scientific task. Through, for instance, Heraclitus' enigmatic sayings, the poetry of Parmenides and Empedocles, and Zeno's paradoxes, the Western world was introduced to metaphysics, rationalist theology, ethics, and logic, by thinkers who often seem to be mystics or shamans as much as philosophers or scientists in the modern mould. And out of the Sophists' reflections on human beings and their place in the world arose and interest in language, and in political, moral, and social philosophy. This volume contains a translation of all the most important fragments of the Presocratics and Sophists, and of the most informative testimonia from ancient sources, supplemented by lucid commentary.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	xi
Select Bibliography	xxxiv
Note on the Texts	xli
Timeline	xliii
THE PRESOCRATICS
The Milesians: Thales of Miletus, Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes of Miletus	3	(19)
Xenophanes of Colophon	22	(10)
Heraclitus of Ephesus	32	(17)
Parmenides of Elea	49	(20)
Zeno of Elea	69	(13)
Melissus of Samos	82	(5)
Pythagoras of Croton and Fifth-century Pythagoreanism	87	(29)
Anaxagoras of Clazomenae	116	(17)
Empedocles of Acragas	133	(31)
The Atomists: Leucippus of Abdera, Democritus of Abdera	164	(30)
Diogenes of Apollonia	194	(11)
THE SOPHISTS
Protagoras of Abdera	205	(17)
Gorgias of Leontini	222	(19)
Prodicus of Ceos	241	(10)
Hippias of Elis	251	(7)
Antiphon the Sophist	258	(12)
Thrasymachus of Chalcedon	270	(7)
Euthydemus and Dionysodorus of Chios	277	(23)
Double Arguments	285	(15)
Anonymous and Miscellaneous Texts	300	(15)
Explanatory Notes	315	(22)
Textual Notes	337	(8)
Concordance with Diels/Kranz	345	(5)
Index of Translated Passages	350