Hellenistic Philosophy

by John Sellars

John Sellars presents a broad and lively introduction to Hellenistic philosophy (c.330-30 BC). This was a rich period for philosophy, with the birth of Epicureanism and Stoicism, alongside the activities of Platonists, Aristotelians, and Cynics. Sellars offers accessible coverage of all areas from epistemology to ethics and politics.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published July 26, 2018

Reviews

[Massimo Pigliucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read only one book about practical Greek philosophy (i.e., about Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism, and so forth) then this better be the one. John Sellars is a serious scholar of the subject, but also a very engaging popular writer. Hellenistic Philosophy combines the rigor of scholarship with the fun of a book for a general audience. Unlike standard treatments of this subject matter, the volume is not organized by philosophical school, or chronologically. Rather, Sellars devotes each chapter to a major theme and then compares the various schools with respect to that theme. That way you'll learn how the Hellenistic philosophers thought about knowledge, the nature of the world, the self, ethics, free will, the limits of being human, and the nature of political communities. Even though I am fairly familiar with all of the above, this is one of the most heavily annotated books in my e-library. And it was great fun to read!

[Matt]

Sellars writes about a very complex topic with wonderful clarity. The sources for Hellenistic philosophy are scattered, fragmentary, and explication is made harder because of the polemical bias of many sources. Sellars wields a sharp wit to interpret this challenging material and the result is a clear and helpful introduction on the topic. The footnotes with ancient citations and scholarly literature (mostly in English) make this book suitable for upper level undergraduates or graduate students looking to get a foothold in this field. At the same time, the clarity and practical perspective makes this a book that even a non-specialist can use (so long as you don’t despair at the many, many different philosophers that will be named!) There is also a helpful introduction that offers a cursory survey of the prosopography of this field as well as introducing each school.

Rather than divide the book up into distinct chapters devoted to each school—like Long’s 1974 introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy—Sellars divides them by topic, covering topics like physics, logic, epistemology, ethics, etc. Each chapter then draws a thread through the topic that links all three of the main schools. This approach seems wise, as the divisions between schools are often overemphasized by earlier scholarship (probably because of the polemical conflict between schools that dominates the scarce sources for this topic.) Something that stuck out for me was how important Cicero is for the study of Hellenistic philosophy. He appears in almost every chapter and for some topics he is our primary source. The book closes with a really interesting appendix on the relationship between Hellenistic Philosophy and Buddhism.

[VII · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really care about the philosophers of that era and I chose to read this after researching which books that cover them are the most reputable. This and Antony Long's came up and I chose this because it's more recent. I have nothing negative to say, but it's just a standard textbook, which means that it was quite boring to me.