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Classics of Philosophy: Volume I: Ancient and Medieval
Classics of Philosophy: Volume I, Ancient and Medieval covers the works of philosophers from Thales to William of Ockham. Ideal for courses in ancient or ancient and medieval philosophy, it includes twenty-nine worksseven of them completeby thirteen philosophers as well as fragments from the Pre-Socratics. A lucid introduction, including a brief biographical sketch, accompanies each of the featured philosophers.
Also look for Classics of Philosophy: Volume II, Modern and Contemporary, which covers the works of philosophers from Descartes to Rawls. In addition, there is a single-volume edition available that combines Volume I and Volume II, providing the most comprehensive anthology of writings in western philosophy in print.
- GenresPhilosophy
459 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 1997
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December 19, 2014
This books is easy to consider a must read for any serious student of ancient philosophy. You would think based on that opening statement that it deserves more than a three star rating. To explain this I will start with the reasons for the lower rating and then conclude with the ideas and organization that I found necessary to making the opening statement.
First, this book is overwhelming. Reading one page of this book is equivalent to reading four pages of a normal print book. The print is probably a size 6, or smaller, font. As a result, it normally takes me, on average, one minute and fifteen seconds to normally read a comparative page of philosophical writing. In contrast, this books, on average, takes approximately five minutes to read each page. If you do the math, and trust me I have done the math, this book takes 38 hours and 15 minutes to read; that is the equivalent of roughly a 2,300 page book.
The next negative factor about this book is typographical errors. I can understand the difficulty in editing a book of this size, but I do not think that can be used as an excuse for some of the numerous typographical errors throughout the reading. I can claim that perhaps the translations were directly taken from the sources, but there is still the ability of the person editing the text to make a note or point out the inconsistencies caused by the errors in the comprehension of the material read.
The above problem with typographical errors leads directly to the next problematic issue, viz., the failure to include some kind of notes or reference to the text to explicitly explain what is being said. This is kind of a double edge sword. I know at times I get frustrated by footnotes (notably when having to turn to the back of a section instead the bottom of the page. At the same time, there is a risk of a passage not fully being understood as it is written due to errors of understanding.
Enough about the negatives, now the good point to be made.
The greatest thing about this book is that each reading is carefully selected from, what appears to be, the most clear translation of the original text. This is extremely helpful as trying to read a translation made in the grammar used in the late 19th, and early 20th century, can make reading a painful experience.
Next, each reading is prefaced by a short biography that includes the major ideas of the philosopher/writer. This preface goes a long way in explaining some of the reason why a person might write in a certain way, or be focused on a particular subject.
Lastly, is the choice of writing eo ipso . Each writer is given no special consideration, other than their own merit. No writing is seen as particularly more useful than another, and, for the most part, each writers are given equal consideration.
It is truly fascinating to see how philosophy has both evolved and stayed the same for over 2,500 years. Reading some of the thoughts of ancient philosophers, and then comparing them to some modern ideas, is always interesting. You find connections that exist, but that people are unaware have already been made, because they are ignorant of the fact these connections were already made.
I will keep this book, and refer to it often when topics that were discussed in ancient time take on a seemingly "new" approach in modern thought. Perhaps by looking at what these ancients philosophers already discovered, a broader, and more diverse understanding, of any topic can be made more clear, and looked at from numerous different possibilities.
First, this book is overwhelming. Reading one page of this book is equivalent to reading four pages of a normal print book. The print is probably a size 6, or smaller, font. As a result, it normally takes me, on average, one minute and fifteen seconds to normally read a comparative page of philosophical writing. In contrast, this books, on average, takes approximately five minutes to read each page. If you do the math, and trust me I have done the math, this book takes 38 hours and 15 minutes to read; that is the equivalent of roughly a 2,300 page book.
The next negative factor about this book is typographical errors. I can understand the difficulty in editing a book of this size, but I do not think that can be used as an excuse for some of the numerous typographical errors throughout the reading. I can claim that perhaps the translations were directly taken from the sources, but there is still the ability of the person editing the text to make a note or point out the inconsistencies caused by the errors in the comprehension of the material read.
The above problem with typographical errors leads directly to the next problematic issue, viz., the failure to include some kind of notes or reference to the text to explicitly explain what is being said. This is kind of a double edge sword. I know at times I get frustrated by footnotes (notably when having to turn to the back of a section instead the bottom of the page. At the same time, there is a risk of a passage not fully being understood as it is written due to errors of understanding.
Enough about the negatives, now the good point to be made.
The greatest thing about this book is that each reading is carefully selected from, what appears to be, the most clear translation of the original text. This is extremely helpful as trying to read a translation made in the grammar used in the late 19th, and early 20th century, can make reading a painful experience.
Next, each reading is prefaced by a short biography that includes the major ideas of the philosopher/writer. This preface goes a long way in explaining some of the reason why a person might write in a certain way, or be focused on a particular subject.
Lastly, is the choice of writing eo ipso . Each writer is given no special consideration, other than their own merit. No writing is seen as particularly more useful than another, and, for the most part, each writers are given equal consideration.
It is truly fascinating to see how philosophy has both evolved and stayed the same for over 2,500 years. Reading some of the thoughts of ancient philosophers, and then comparing them to some modern ideas, is always interesting. You find connections that exist, but that people are unaware have already been made, because they are ignorant of the fact these connections were already made.
I will keep this book, and refer to it often when topics that were discussed in ancient time take on a seemingly "new" approach in modern thought. Perhaps by looking at what these ancients philosophers already discovered, a broader, and more diverse understanding, of any topic can be made more clear, and looked at from numerous different possibilities.
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