Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

by Osborne, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780192840943
• ISBN10: 0192840940
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This is a book about the invention of Western philosophy, and the first thinkers to explore ideas about the nature of reality, time, and the origin of the universe. It begins with the finding of the new papyrus fragment of Empedocles' poem, and uses the story of its discovery andinterpretation to highlight the way our understanding of early philosophers is marked by their presentation in later sources.Generations of philosophers, both ancient and modern, have traced their inspiration back to the presocratics, even though we have very few of their writings left. In this book, Catherine Osborne invites her readers to dip their toes into the fragmentary remains of thinkers from Thales to Pythagoras,Heraclitus to Protagoras, to try to fill in the bits of a jigsaw that has been rejigged many times and in many different ways.

Author Biography

Catherine Osborne has been a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (since 2003), Reader in the School of Archaeology, Classics, and Oriental Studies at the University of Liverpool from 2000 to 2003, and before that Reader in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wales, Swansea. Her publications include Rethinking Early Greek Philosophy (1987) and Eros Unveiled: Plato and the God of Love (1994), as well as the chapter on Heraclitus in the Routledge History of Philosophy, Volume 1 and many articles on a wide range of issues in Ancient Philosophy from the Presocratics to the Early Christian period.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. viii
Map	p. xi
Timelines	p. xii
A note on the pronunciation	p. xiv
Introduction	p. xv
Lost words, forgotten worlds	p. 1
Puzzles about first principles	p. 29
Zeno's tortoise	p. 51
Reality and appearance: more adventures in metaphysics	p. 61
Heraclitus	p. 80
Pythagoras and other mysteries	p. 97
Spin doctors of the 5th century	p. 112
Epilogue	p. 133
Further reading	p. 136
Index	p. 141
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