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A History of Greek Philosophy #1
A History of Greek Philosophy, Volume 1: The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans
All volumes of Professor Guthrie's great history of Greek philosophy have won their due acclaim. The most striking merits of Guthrie's work are his mastery of a tremendous range of ancient literature and modern scholarship, his fairness and balance of judgement and the lucidity and precision of his English prose. He has achieved clarity and comprehensiveness.
556 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 1962
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About the author
W.K.C. Guthrie
72 books51 followersWilliam Keith Chambers Guthrie was a Scottish classical scholar, best known for his History of Greek Philosophy, published in six volumes between 1962 and his death.
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March 31, 2019
مرور دنیای فلسفه ی باستان، آنهم در عصر ملطیان و پیش از سقراط، موجبات ارتباط بهتر با تمام دوره های بعدی فلسفه خواهد شد.
نظام شناختی و بسیاری از مفاهیم مطرح در فلسفه سقراط و افلاطون و ارسطو تا کانت و هگل و ... در همین دوره تدوین شده است. عصری برای شکل گیری دانش، جهان شناسی، فرآیند تفکر.
طالس نخستین چهره در فلسفه این دوران هست که جهان را بر عنصر آب استوار می سازد، آناکسیمانداروس، و آناکسیمنس جهان را بر هوا یا (aer) استوار ساختند. آرخه و آپیرون، از اصطلاحاتی ست برای تعریف جوهر ازلی کائنات که از آن تشکیل یافته است.
فلسفه فیثاغوری نسبت به ملطی نبوغ بسیار برجسته تری دارد. پی ریزی بسیار از اصول ریاضی و هندسه، به دانش شناختی آنها بسیار کمک کرده است. فیثاغورس جهان را بر پایه ی اعداد تعریف می کند و اشیا را همان اعداد می داند.فیلسوفان پس از وی فواصل موسیقایی و نت و هارمونی را نیز یکی از لوازم تعریف جهان قرار می دهند.
شخصیت های برجسته ی بعدی آلکمایون و کسنوفانس هستند که بیشتر بر زمینه ی الهیات و شناخت پیش می روند.
بزرگترین و تاثیرگذارترین چهره در فلسفه یونان باستان، (به نظر من) هراکلیتوس است، کسی که با جسارت و وسعت دانش خود، لوگوس و شناخت جهان را به بهترین نحو ارائه می کند، بسیاری از باورهای قدیم در فلسفه ی وی رنگ می بازد، او با تحقیر انسان و با بیانی استعاری که همین نوع بیان موجب بدفهمی فلسفه ی وی شده است، فلسفه ی خود را آغاز می کند.
آتش می تواند به عنوان لوگوس هراکلیتوس شناخته شود،
جهان دارای چرخه ای ابدیست، که هر پدیده ای به خاطر وجود ضدش به وجود آمده و بر اثر تعادل بین آن دو جهان حیات خود را ادامه می دهد. خورشید آتش خود را از رطوبت می گیرد و آن را در کاسه ی خود تبدیل به آتش گداخته می کند، ستارگان و ماه نیز همین ماهیت را دارند. هیچ چیزی در جهان پایدار نیست و هر چیز در تغییری دائمیست، مثال رودخانه که هرگز نمی توان دوبار در آن گام نهاد، گویای این نگرش است.
بنا به زعم نویسنده هراکلیتوس از فلسفه ی زرتشتی تاثیر بسیار پذیرفته است.
کتاب با ترجمه ای مناسب و آسان فهم ارائه شده اما فاجعه ای که این کتاب دچار آن شده، اشتباهات تایپی و ارجاعی ست، گویا این کتاب نسخه خوان نداشته تا شماره صفحات ارجاعی را تکمیل کند و به همین خاطر خالی مانده است، در هر پاراگراف کتاب بیش از سه تا چهار غلط تایپی می توان یافت. امیدوارم در چاپهای بعدی این ایرادات رفع شوند، تا این ترجمه ی مناسب، بیشتر به دل بنشیند.
صرفا برای همین اغلاط 4 ستاره می دهم وگرنه حق کتاب به نظرم 5 ستاره بود.
98/01/11
September 13, 2010
W. K. C. Guthrie’s incredible series “A History of Greek Philosophy” begins here with Volume I: “The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans”. Originally published in 1962, this volume, and the series continues to be reprinted today, and for good reason. Professor Guthrie manages to make the entire subject very readable and very informative. He provides tremendous notes as well as insights into his reasoning as to why he considers the information he provides to be correct. This is very important to the subject overall, but especially when covering the early philosophers, most of whom are only known through the words of others.
At first glance this book appears to be a very weighty 500 pages, but once one starts reading it they realize that Professor Guthrie is able to discuss the subject matter in a fairly easy to understand way. That is not to say that there aren’t areas which are more difficult to follow due to the contrary information which different sources provide, but Professor Guthrie manages to navigate these areas with skill and without leaving the reader behind.
The volume opens with a couple of introductory chapters and then proceeds to take on the earliest philosophers, The Milesians. This chapter looks at Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes and though the information is scant, Guthrie collects the small fragments from many sources to put together a picture of these three very early philosophers.
It is the following chapter (“Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans”) which is the real meat of this volume. At 200 pages it is a very detailed look at what is known, and not known about the philosophy/religion, its founder, and those who came a bit later. The chapter on The Milesians is easy to follow, partly because so little is known that there aren’t contradicting sources for the most part, but with the Pythagoreans Guthrie has to fight against the biases of the sources in order to reach his conclusions, and he supports those conclusions very well.
After the Pythagoreans, the chapters on Alcmaeon (whom Guthrie separates from the Pythagoreans for good reason) and Xenophane, the poet/philosopher are fairly easy going, quite informative, and even entertaining to a certain degree. The volume then closes with a chapter on Heraclitus, which offers a very strong discussion on the differences of opinion on that philosopher, similar, though certainly not as complex as the chapter on the Pythagoreans.
This is a six volume series, which unfortunately ended with the passing of Professor Guthrie in 1981 and so it ends a bit prematurely but that doesn’t change the value of the volumes which were published. Volume II picks up where this volume leaves off and finishes Guthrie’s discussion of the Presocratics, but this volume can also stand on its own as a tremendous achievement.
At first glance this book appears to be a very weighty 500 pages, but once one starts reading it they realize that Professor Guthrie is able to discuss the subject matter in a fairly easy to understand way. That is not to say that there aren’t areas which are more difficult to follow due to the contrary information which different sources provide, but Professor Guthrie manages to navigate these areas with skill and without leaving the reader behind.
The volume opens with a couple of introductory chapters and then proceeds to take on the earliest philosophers, The Milesians. This chapter looks at Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes and though the information is scant, Guthrie collects the small fragments from many sources to put together a picture of these three very early philosophers.
It is the following chapter (“Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans”) which is the real meat of this volume. At 200 pages it is a very detailed look at what is known, and not known about the philosophy/religion, its founder, and those who came a bit later. The chapter on The Milesians is easy to follow, partly because so little is known that there aren’t contradicting sources for the most part, but with the Pythagoreans Guthrie has to fight against the biases of the sources in order to reach his conclusions, and he supports those conclusions very well.
After the Pythagoreans, the chapters on Alcmaeon (whom Guthrie separates from the Pythagoreans for good reason) and Xenophane, the poet/philosopher are fairly easy going, quite informative, and even entertaining to a certain degree. The volume then closes with a chapter on Heraclitus, which offers a very strong discussion on the differences of opinion on that philosopher, similar, though certainly not as complex as the chapter on the Pythagoreans.
This is a six volume series, which unfortunately ended with the passing of Professor Guthrie in 1981 and so it ends a bit prematurely but that doesn’t change the value of the volumes which were published. Volume II picks up where this volume leaves off and finishes Guthrie’s discussion of the Presocratics, but this volume can also stand on its own as a tremendous achievement.
July 2, 2015
A seriously dense, yet rewarding, book about early days of Greek philosophy. This is the first of total 6-volume "A History of Greek Philosophy" by the author.
This is NOT popular reading. Plenty of scholarly ponderance, weighing the source, etc. Guthrie was full-blown classicist of the 20th century, and it shows.
If you are first-timer in Presocratic Philosophy, there are more suitable books. Among the newer ones is John Barnes' The Presocratic Philosophers; if you're looking for freebie, then John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophers can help. (It's public domain)
Yet... if you are willing to go the extra mile, then Guthrie's book it is. Not only he explained context and subtext of the first Greek philosophers, he never shied to quote his fellow scholars and did philological analysis. He paid attention to difficulties extracting ideas from fragments, and (perhaps most edifyingly) he linked what philosopher influenced whom, what philosopher wrote review on another, etc. Not always easy to read, but once you get the hang of it, it's worthwhile.
Guthrie also didn't transliterate his Greek letters. So it's good to prepare yourself first in that regard.
In the end, only read this if you've been familiar with Greek philosophy for some time.
This is NOT popular reading. Plenty of scholarly ponderance, weighing the source, etc. Guthrie was full-blown classicist of the 20th century, and it shows.
If you are first-timer in Presocratic Philosophy, there are more suitable books. Among the newer ones is John Barnes' The Presocratic Philosophers; if you're looking for freebie, then John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophers can help. (It's public domain)
Yet... if you are willing to go the extra mile, then Guthrie's book it is. Not only he explained context and subtext of the first Greek philosophers, he never shied to quote his fellow scholars and did philological analysis. He paid attention to difficulties extracting ideas from fragments, and (perhaps most edifyingly) he linked what philosopher influenced whom, what philosopher wrote review on another, etc. Not always easy to read, but once you get the hang of it, it's worthwhile.
Guthrie also didn't transliterate his Greek letters. So it's good to prepare yourself first in that regard.
In the end, only read this if you've been familiar with Greek philosophy for some time.
September 6, 2020
The first volume of a magisterial history of Greek philosophy. Guthrie bears the finest traits of the midcentury Anglophone intellectual.
Highly informative and broad with more insight for the contemporary reader than the commonplace observations of earlier generations of scholars. But also not afraid to explore detours or attempt a poetic turn of phrase. Those glimpses of personality that the efficiency of modern academia can no longer tolerate. That and the poetic genius of its subject matter makes this one a pleasure to read.
To write with awe of subject matter and traces of wit, that is what makes a classic. And that is perhaps a tour-de-force classic in scholarship are no longer possible. I doubt any of the official Cambridge History books published in the last twenty years attempt the half the jokes Guthrie does, or would dare insinuate a major scholar in the field was mentally incapable of handling any textual evidence just because one of his arguments was particularly obtuse.
As for the subject of this book, Western philosophy still rests in the cradle of the Presocratics. Even if we delude ourselves into thinking we have evolved beyond it. We are merely their children.
Highly informative and broad with more insight for the contemporary reader than the commonplace observations of earlier generations of scholars. But also not afraid to explore detours or attempt a poetic turn of phrase. Those glimpses of personality that the efficiency of modern academia can no longer tolerate. That and the poetic genius of its subject matter makes this one a pleasure to read.
To write with awe of subject matter and traces of wit, that is what makes a classic. And that is perhaps a tour-de-force classic in scholarship are no longer possible. I doubt any of the official Cambridge History books published in the last twenty years attempt the half the jokes Guthrie does, or would dare insinuate a major scholar in the field was mentally incapable of handling any textual evidence just because one of his arguments was particularly obtuse.
As for the subject of this book, Western philosophy still rests in the cradle of the Presocratics. Even if we delude ourselves into thinking we have evolved beyond it. We are merely their children.
December 13, 2021
Unfortunately for Guthrie, merely acknowledging that the genesis of philosophy shouldn’t be treated as a hermetic phenomena is not enough to explain why Thales didn’t, in fact, “fall out of the sky, ejaculating as he hit the ground, that the arche is water”. Recognising that the formation of the polis, the Homeric tradition, early lyric poetry and its educational function in the transmission and debate over the normative notions of arête were paramount in developing philosophical speculation as something divorced from the utilitarian-orientation of past ‘pure thought’ is absolutely necessary for any history of the pre-Socratics. Read Jaeger or Kuhn or Snell instead. (Still, not that bad really when it comes to outlining what has been said and what exists of these philosophers’ writing.)
January 9, 2021
You can't do it better. Heraclitus, Empedocles & Pythagoras especially.
February 13, 2013
Really good book. So far I'm a Heraclitus fan, with all his contradictions - "in drawing apart, it draws together" and "Immortal mortals and mortal immortals: living the death of these, and dying the life of those."
Pythagoras and his beans gave me hours of amusement and several interesting conversations with workmates and friends.
Pythagoras and his beans gave me hours of amusement and several interesting conversations with workmates and friends.
April 10, 2020
Kaynak olarak kullanmak için mükemmel bir kitap. Herakleitos’a kadar anlatıyor. Fakat elinize alıp baştan sonra kadar okuyacağınız bir kitap değil lakin felsefeyle ilgilenen, felsefeyle ilgili yazılar yazan birinin elinin altında olması gereken bir kitap. Dili gayet anlaşılır. Okudum, kenara atayım diyebileceğiniz bir kitap da değil, bir ansiklopedi gibi diyebiliriz.
June 13, 2014
Just not what I was looking for. I was hoping to read about the beliefs of the philosophers but too much time is spent on analyzing sources and lecturing on the history of philosophers and their schools, had to quit half way through
August 18, 2016
Un llibre escrit amb amor i passió per un autor que té un coneixement profund de la filosofia antiga. Enganxa i aprens. Qualsevol cosa menys un manual.
April 5, 2020
Compared to other Presocratic scholars, Guthrie does a thorough overview of Thales to Heraclitus in this volume. With references to the conjectures of other scholars for a birdseye objective view at their fragments, this book is perfect as an introductory to them. Not suitable for those looking for a quick rundown as the minutia level of details Guthrie goes into can seem quite overscrupulous.
January 21, 2022
This is a scholarly book and some of the discussion of the early scientific ideas is particularly dense. But you will get an rich survey of pre-Socratic thinkers and their theories of the basic stuff of the cosmos, the Pythagoreans and their weird reverence for beans, Xenophanes, and Heraclitus. Guthrie frequently refers to Aristotle as a source.
February 25, 2022
El manual perfecto para aprender sobre la historia de la filosofía.
El autor escribe citando correctamente, con detalles, de manera muy clara y amena.
Para cualquier persona interesada en la filosofía, este libro es el adecuado.
El autor escribe citando correctamente, con detalles, de manera muy clara y amena.
Para cualquier persona interesada en la filosofía, este libro es el adecuado.
April 26, 2020
The lack of documentation and the complete ignorance of the way people used to see things three millennia ago is of no concern for this bureaucrat and his self-importance.
July 1, 2021
👍👍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2016
Excellent recap.
February 3, 2022
Divan i detaljan pregled početaka filozofije.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews