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Early Greek Philosophy, Volume II: Beginnings and Early Ionian Thinkers, Part 1
The fragments and testimonia of the early Greek philosophers (often labeled the Presocratics) have always been not only a fundamental source for understanding archaic Greek culture and ancient philosophy but also a perennially fresh resource that has stimulated Western thought until the present day. This new systematic conception and presentation of the evidence differs in three ways from Hermann Diels’s groundbreaking work, as well as from later it renders explicit the material’s thematic organization; it includes a selection from such related bodies of evidence as archaic poetry, classical drama, and the Hippocratic corpus; and it presents an overview of the reception of these thinkers until the end of antiquity.
Volume I contains introductory and reference materials essential for using all other parts of the edition. Volumes II–III include chapters on ancient doxography, background, and the Ionians from Pherecydes to Heraclitus. Volumes IV–V present western Greek thinkers from the Pythagoreans to Hippo. Volumes VI–VII comprise later philosophical systems and their aftermath in the fifth and early fourth centuries. Volumes VIII–IX present fifth-century reflections on language, rhetoric, ethics, and politics (the so-called sophists and Socrates) and conclude with an appendix on philosophy and philosophers in Greek drama.
Volume I contains introductory and reference materials essential for using all other parts of the edition. Volumes II–III include chapters on ancient doxography, background, and the Ionians from Pherecydes to Heraclitus. Volumes IV–V present western Greek thinkers from the Pythagoreans to Hippo. Volumes VI–VII comprise later philosophical systems and their aftermath in the fifth and early fourth centuries. Volumes VIII–IX present fifth-century reflections on language, rhetoric, ethics, and politics (the so-called sophists and Socrates) and conclude with an appendix on philosophy and philosophers in Greek drama.
- GenresPhilosophyClassics
400 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2016
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120 people want to read
About the author
Glenn W. Most
68 books9 followersGlenn Warren Most is an American classicist and comparatist originating from the US, but also working in Germany and Italy.
Most studied classics at Harvard University from 1968 on and received a B.A. Summa Cum Laude in Classics (Latin) in 1972. He then took a Masters course at Corpus Christi College at Oxford University until 1973, when he continued at the Department of Comparative Literature of Yale University, receiving a M. Phil. in 1978. Two years later, he received a Ph.D. under Paul De Man with a thesis called "The Bait of Falsehood: Studies in the Rhetorical Strategy of Poetic Truth in the Romantic Period". Simultaneously, from 1976 to 1978, he studied classics at the Philologisches Seminar of University of Tübingen and was awarded D.Phil. under Richard Kannicht with a thesis entitled "Pindar's Truth: Unity and Occasionality in the Epinician Ode".
In 1980, Most was appointed Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Classics at Princeton University and remained in this position until 1985. In 1982/83, he was at the American Academy in Rome. In 1985/86, he taught at the Università degli Studi di Siena, from then until 1987 as visiting professor at the University of Michigan. In 1987, he followed a call from the Universität Innsbruck, becoming Ordentlicher Universitätsprofessor für Klassische Philologie und Altertumskunde. In 1988/89, he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In 1991, Most moved to a full professorship for Ancient Greek language and literature at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, where he taught until 2001. During these years, Most also was guest professor at the University of Michigan and professor at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. In 1994, Most was the first classicist to receive the Leibniz-Preis of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Since 2001, he is teaching as Professor of Ancient Greek at the Scuola Normale at Pisa.
Most's work ranges from Greek to Latin authors, from literature to philosophy, and from history and methodology of classical studies to modern literary theory and reception history. In particular, he studies the relationship of the modern towards the ancient world, including New Testament topics such as the story of Doubting Thomas.
Most studied classics at Harvard University from 1968 on and received a B.A. Summa Cum Laude in Classics (Latin) in 1972. He then took a Masters course at Corpus Christi College at Oxford University until 1973, when he continued at the Department of Comparative Literature of Yale University, receiving a M. Phil. in 1978. Two years later, he received a Ph.D. under Paul De Man with a thesis called "The Bait of Falsehood: Studies in the Rhetorical Strategy of Poetic Truth in the Romantic Period". Simultaneously, from 1976 to 1978, he studied classics at the Philologisches Seminar of University of Tübingen and was awarded D.Phil. under Richard Kannicht with a thesis entitled "Pindar's Truth: Unity and Occasionality in the Epinician Ode".
In 1980, Most was appointed Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Classics at Princeton University and remained in this position until 1985. In 1982/83, he was at the American Academy in Rome. In 1985/86, he taught at the Università degli Studi di Siena, from then until 1987 as visiting professor at the University of Michigan. In 1987, he followed a call from the Universität Innsbruck, becoming Ordentlicher Universitätsprofessor für Klassische Philologie und Altertumskunde. In 1988/89, he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In 1991, Most moved to a full professorship for Ancient Greek language and literature at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, where he taught until 2001. During these years, Most also was guest professor at the University of Michigan and professor at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. In 1994, Most was the first classicist to receive the Leibniz-Preis of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Since 2001, he is teaching as Professor of Ancient Greek at the Scuola Normale at Pisa.
Most's work ranges from Greek to Latin authors, from literature to philosophy, and from history and methodology of classical studies to modern literary theory and reception history. In particular, he studies the relationship of the modern towards the ancient world, including New Testament topics such as the story of Doubting Thomas.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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November 5, 2024(به اطلاع من) کاملترین مجموعهی جملات منسوب به فلاسفهی متقدم یونانی و شهادتهای متاخرین دربارهی اونها به زبان انگلیسی روان.
جلد دوم: ملطیها (Miletians). دربارهی فرسیدس، تالس، آناکسیماندر و آناکسیمنس. اولین کسانی که به تعبیر امروزی نگاه نویی به جهان اطراف خودشون داشتن و پلی زدن بین تئوگونیا (خدازایی) به سبک شعرایی چون هزیود و هومر و کوسموگونیا (جهانزایی) به شکلی کاملن طبیعتگرایانه.
جلد دوم: ملطیها (Miletians). دربارهی فرسیدس، تالس، آناکسیماندر و آناکسیمنس. اولین کسانی که به تعبیر امروزی نگاه نویی به جهان اطراف خودشون داشتن و پلی زدن بین تئوگونیا (خدازایی) به سبک شعرایی چون هزیود و هومر و کوسموگونیا (جهانزایی) به شکلی کاملن طبیعتگرایانه.
May 7, 2021
An excellent second volume in this series which collects original source material for the earliest Greek philosophers. The first half provides a curated selection of prose and poetry providing a flavor of the mythological, theological, and cultural background against which Greek philosophy arose. The second half provides ancient fragments, anecdotes, and attestations of the triumvirate of early Milesian thinkers: Thales, Anaximander, and Aniximanes. The presentation of material is clear and clean, and the few footnotes are thoughtful and brief. Altogether an enjoyable and enlightening read.
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January 30, 2021I think this book will very interest for me.
March 12, 2022
Excellent Resource for studying Heraclitus. Would recommend. I'm not as familiar with Xenophanes. Greek/Latin on one side, translation (with generous interpretative notes) on the other side.
November 1, 2025
About the book
The book is structurally well organised and has an understandable translation.
It's not an explanation of the philosophers's doctrines, but a doxography of them, their reception and their character. It is an amazing resource for accessing early Greek thinkers's doctrines, but not for understanding them in a systematised way. I would suggest reading it together with a guiding book, one which may provide more explanations about this work. (I understand that that obviously is not the objective of this book)
My experience
I thought (by the impression I got from reading Plato) that the first philosophers thought deeply about the nature of the soul, virtue, what is the best life, government, what is good, etc., but I was surprised: they didn't, at least the first 4, think about those things, but about the nature and origin of the world.
One can see how, as one studies later pre-socratic philosophers, their doctrine and reception records are more numerous, and so the subjects they wondered about were more and more about the nature of the world. Studying the first philosophers chronologically is a timeline of how the spark of curiosity about the world's nature and the attempt to explain it burned more intensely.
The book is structurally well organised and has an understandable translation.
It's not an explanation of the philosophers's doctrines, but a doxography of them, their reception and their character. It is an amazing resource for accessing early Greek thinkers's doctrines, but not for understanding them in a systematised way. I would suggest reading it together with a guiding book, one which may provide more explanations about this work. (I understand that that obviously is not the objective of this book)
My experience
I thought (by the impression I got from reading Plato) that the first philosophers thought deeply about the nature of the soul, virtue, what is the best life, government, what is good, etc., but I was surprised: they didn't, at least the first 4, think about those things, but about the nature and origin of the world.
One can see how, as one studies later pre-socratic philosophers, their doctrine and reception records are more numerous, and so the subjects they wondered about were more and more about the nature of the world. Studying the first philosophers chronologically is a timeline of how the spark of curiosity about the world's nature and the attempt to explain it burned more intensely.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews