A Short History of Greek Philosophy

by John Marshall

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Classics, Greece, Amazon

135 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2009

About the author

John Marshall (1845-1915), a graduate of Oxford and Edinburgh universities, was a professor of classical literature and ancient history (1877-) at Yorkshire College (now known as Leeds University), England.
John^^^^^^^^^^Marshall (10^)

Reviews

[Miltiadis Michalopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise but very thorough examination of the 5 centuries of Ancient Greek Philosophy. Very good remarks especially on the sophists and the Pythagoreans. I also enjoyed the chapters on Epicurus and of course the Stoics.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history is indeed very short with a brief overview of various philosophers and related philosophical thoughts...

[James Dempsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely 1891 walkthrough. Touched on the Sophists, Protagoras and Gorgias, and Aristotle.

[Muhammad Raza Hayder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although provides a bird eye of ancient greek philosophical hierarchy and culture, somewhat not for a beginner in terms of writing style. One may be well aware of complex descriptive style of writing, as the writer has barely let the reader allow any ease. Furthermore, philosophical positions could’ve been more elaborate and explanatory.

[Beth. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a base overview of each Greek philosopher, I'd say it is a useful resource and introduction.

However, Marshall had an opportunity with what was recalled to go slightly deeper on the subject but I suppose everyone's interpretation of short history varies between authors.

[Lacey Wittmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so informative .

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful overview if you keep the author's religious perspective in mind.

[Babs M · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay but learned much more and understood more in my college class on Ancient Greek Philosophy. I had a great professor though so that made it a class I enjoyed.

[Iami Menotu · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overview

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Review by Anthony T. Riggio of “A Short History of Greek Philosophy” by John Marshall
(Originally published in 1891) 7-28-15

I down loaded this book from Kindle, it was a freebie, and I always had an interest in Philosophy but never really studied it except for an introductory college course. My instructor, was a worthless egotist who was one of the worst teacher I ever had and his main preoccupation was convincing us there was no God.

We never covered the Greek philosophers and I now understand his purpose as an avowed atheist.

This book on Greek Philosophy is not a cake walk read and will require the reader to take their time reading and using the Kindle dictionary often. What surprised me is the level of mono theism proposed in each of the philosophical schools covered. Several philosophers are covered including those expected, to wit. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and several schools emerged from their teachings.

Philosophy is such a broad discipline and covers everything from mathematics to astral observations as well as the conduct of man. I was pleasantly surprised that every one of the Greek Philosophers believed in One God as the creator of everything. I learned that Philosophy is a search for the truth ergo the One Truth, to wit, God. Out of this came such additional studies as logic and rhetoric, known as “skills” in Philosophy. I could not help thinking of priests or rabbi’s and lawyers. One searches for truth, the other argues for convincing the audience of a particular thing to believe. As a person trained in the Law, this was of interest to me and I was able to identify with the “skill” portion. Lawyers like Retoriticians seek a different kind of truth; for lawyers it is legal guilt as opposed to moral guilt.

It was also interesting to me that many of these schools of thought were developing ideas from 450 BC and 300BC. This was probably about the time that the ‘Old testament” was being put together from oral histories. Furthermore, I found it interesting that the thoughts and conclusions arrived at by these Greek thinkers are so congruous with the morality of the biblical scholars ( no wonder I was never exposed to these thoughts by my subjective Philosophy instructor).

There is a lot of material in this short history and probably will become a reference book for me and I believe most readers will agree. While I enjoyed and often struggled with some of the arguments, I believe I got a lot out of reading this work. I would recommend this book with the appropriate caveats.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was certainly a comprehensive book to know very briefly about some important thoughts of ancient Greek philosophy. I appreciated that this was the first book I read about ancient Greek philosophy before diving into this area, because it really helped to see what could be something truly meaning for growth and what would just be nothing but a waste of time. One problem I did find during this process is that for books like this considering the lack of inconsistency among chapters, it would be very harder to leave anything memorable after reading it. The most could just possibly be some very central and important ideas from philosophers like Plato or Aristotle.

[Aparna Nayak · Rating 3 out of 5]

W.T Stace is much better.