The Presocratic Philosophers

by Jonathan Barnes

Overview

The Presocratics were the founding fathers of the Western philosophical tradition, and the first masters of rational thought. This volume provides a comprehensive and precise exposition of their arguments, and offers a rigorous assessment of their contribution to philosophical thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134965120
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/11/2002
Series:	Arguments of the Philosophers
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	728
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jonathan Barnes

Table of Contents

Preface. Preface to the Revised Edition. Note to Citations. PROLOGUE. 1. The Springs of Reason 2. Anaximander on Nature 3. Science and Speculation 4. The Natural Philosophy of Heraclitus 5. The Divine Philosophy of Xenophanes 6. Pythagoras and the Soul 7. The Moral Law 8. The Principles of Human Knowledge THE SERPENT. 9. Parmenides and the Objects of Inquiry 10. Being and Becoming 11. Stability and Change 12. Zeno: Paradox and Plurality 13. Zeno: Paradox and Progression 14. The Ports of Knowledge Closed PARADISE REGAINED. 15. The Ionian Revival 16. Anaxagoras and the Nature of Stuffs 17. The Corpuscularian Hypothesis 18. Philolaus and the Formal Cause 19. The Logic of Locomotion 20. The Neo-Ionian World Picture 21. The Sophists 22. De Anima 23. Conduct Unbecoming 24. The Bounds of Knowledge EPILOGUE. 25. The Last of the Line Appendix A Sources. Appendix B Chronology. Notes. Bibliography (revised 1981). Indexes. Concordance.

Editorial Reviews

"This is one of the richest recent contributions to Presocratic studies, and by far the most exhilarating. It also rests on considerable erudition, for Barnes has taken careful and appreciative account of the work of a vast range of other scholars in the field, even those who have followed quite different paths from his own."
-"Cambridge Review
"Jonathan Barnes . . . has carried out his large enterprise with scholarly skill, philosophical acuteness, and a degree of brilliant, disciplined imagination that will amaze and delight those of us who were inclined to be skeptical . . . All lovers of the Presocratics will welcome this highly personal, vigorous and stimulating survey of the field from a distinctly philosophical point of view."
-"Journal of Philosophy

From the Publisher