Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy Books

Book SynopsisA Plato Reader offers eight of Plato's best-known works--Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, and Republic--unabridged, expertly introduced and annotated, and in widely admired translations by C. D. C. Reeve, G. M. A. Grube, Alexander Nehamas, and Paul Woodruff.The collection features Socrates as its central character and a model of the examined life. Its range allows us to see him in action in very different settings and philosophical modes: from the elenctic Socrates of the Meno and the dialogues concerning his trial and death, to the erotic Socrates of the Symposium and Phaedrus, to the dialectician of the Republic.Of Reeve's translation of this final masterpiece, Lloyd P. Gerson writes, "Taking full advantage of S. R. Slings' new Greek text of the Republic, Reeve has given us a translation both accurate and limpid. Loving attention to detail and deep familiarity with Plato's thought are evident on every page. Reeve's brilliant decision to cast the dialogue into direct speech produces a compelling impression of immediacy unmatched by other English translations currently available."Table of ContentsIntroductionEuthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, RepublicSelect Bibliography

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Frisbee Sheffield argues that the Symposium has been unduly marginalized by philosophers. Although the topic - eros - and the setting at a symposium have seemed anomalous, she demonstrates that both are intimately related to Plato''s preoccupation with the nature of the good life, with virtue, and how it is acquired and transmitted. For Plato, analysing our desires is a way of reflecting on the kind of people we will turn out to be and on our chances of leading a worthwhile and happy life. In its focus on the question why he considered desires to be amenable to this type of reflection, this book explores Plato''s ethics of desire.

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Book Synopsis''We are looking for the things that enable us to live a noble and happy life...and what prospects decent people will have of acquiring any of them.''The Eudemian Ethics is a major treatise on moral philosophy whose central concern is what makes life worth living. Aristotle considers the role of happiness, and what happiness consists of, and he analyses various factors that contribute to it: human agency, the relation between action and virtue, and the concept of virtue itself. Moral and intellectual virtues are classified and considered, and finally the roles of friendship and pleasure. It deals with the same issues as the better-known Nicomachean Ethics, with which it holds three books in common, and its special qualities, as well as the similarities and differences between the two works, are of fundamental concern to anyone interested in Aristotle''s philosophy.This is the first time the Eudemian Ethics has been published in its entirety in any modern language. Anthony Kenny''s fine translation is accompanied by a lucid introduction and explanatory notes, which assist the reader in understanding this important work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsTHE EUDEMIAN ETHICS

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Book SynopsisDoing and Being confronts the problem of how to understand two central concepts of Aristotle''s philosophy: energeia and dunamis. While these terms seem ambiguous between actuality/potentiality and activity/capacity, Aristotle did not intend them to be so. Through a careful and detailed reading of Metaphysics Theta, Beere argues that we can solve the problem by rejecting both actuality and activity as translations of energeia, and by working out an analogical conception of energeia. This approach enables Beere to discern a hitherto unnoticed connection between Plato''s Sophist and Aristotle''s Metaphysics Theta, and to give satisfying interpretations of the major claims that Aristotle makes in Metaphysics Theta, the claim that energeia is prior in being to capacity (Theta 8) and the claim that any eternal principle must be perfectly good (Theta 9).Trade ReviewJonathan Beere's Doing and Being is a thorough, well informed and insightful chapter-by-chapter commentary on the bulk of Aristotle's Metaphysics Theta . * Boris Hennig, Philosophical Quarterly *an excellent textual analysis * Anna Marmadoro, Mind *Table of ContentsPART I: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF METAPHYSICS THETA; PART II: POWERS FOR ACTION AND PASSION; PART III: BEING-IN-ENERGEIA AND BEING-IN-CAPACITY; PART IV: THE PRIORITY AND SUPERIORITY OF ENERGEIA

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Book Synopsis''What exactly is knowledge?''The Theaetetus is a seminal text in the philosophy of knowledge, and is acknowledged as one of Plato''s finest works. Cast as a conversation between Socrates and a clever but modest student, Theaetetus, it explores one of the key issues in philosophy: what is knowledge? Though no definite answer is reached, the discussion is penetrating and wide-ranging, covering the claims of perception to be knowledge, the theory that all is in motion, and the perennially tempting idea that knowledge and truth are relative to different individuals or states. The inquirers go on to explore the connection between knowledge and true judgement, and the famous threefold definition of knowledge as justified true belief. Packed with subtle arguments, the dialogue is also a work of literary genius, with an unforgettable portrait of Socrates as a midwife of wisdom. This new edition uses the acclaimed translation by John McDowell. It includes a valuable introduction that locates the work in Plato''s oeuvre, and explains some of the competing interpretations of its overall meaning. The notes elucidate Plato''s arguments and draw connections within the work and with other philosophical discussions.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Reviewstrongly recommended for undergraduates and anyone with a serious interest in Plato. * Colin Leach, Classics for All *

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Book SynopsisSelected from the Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, Seneca''s Letters from a Stoic are a set of ''essays in disguise'' from one of the most insightful philosophers of the Silver Age of Roman literature. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Latin with an introduction by Robin Campbell.A philosophy that saw self-possession as the key to an existence lived ''in accordance with nature'', Stoicism called for the restraint of animal instincts and the severing of emotional ties. These beliefs were formulated by the Athenian followers of Zeno in the fourth century BC, but it was in Seneca that the Stoics found their most eloquent advocate. Stoicism, as expressed in the Letters, helped ease pagan Rome''s transition to Christianity, for it upholds upright ethical ideals and extols virtuous living, as well as expressing disgust for the harsh treatment of slaves and the inhumane slaughters witnessed in the Roman arenas. Seneca''s major contribution to a seemingly unsympathetic creed was to transform it into a powerfully moving and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind.Robin Campbell''s lucid translation captures Seneca''s humour and tautly aphoristic style. In his introduction, he discusses the tensions between Seneca''s philosophy and his turbulent career as adviser to the tyrannical emperor Nero.Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c.4BC - AD65) was born in Spain but was raised according to the traditional values of the republic of Rome. In AD48 he became tutor to the future emperor Nero and became his principal civil advisor when he took power. His death was eventually ordered by Nero in AD65, but Seneca anticipated the emperor''s decree and committed suicide.If you enjoyed Letters from a Stoic, you might like Marcus Aurelius''s Meditations, also available in Penguin Classics.

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Book SynopsisPhilosophy means “the love of wisdom.” Kreeft uses the dialogues of Socrates to help the reader grow in that love. He says that no master of the art of philosophizing has ever been more simple, clear, and accessible to beginners as has Socrates. He focuses on Plato’s dialogues, the Apology of Socrates, as a lively example to imitate, and a model partner for the reader for dialogue. Kreeft calls it “the Magna Carta of philosophy,” a timeless classic that is “a portable classroom.”

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Book Synopsis From the Introduction:"Neglected for ages by Plato scholars, the Euthydemus has in recent years attracted renewed attention. The dialogue, in which Socrates converses with two sophists whose techniques of verbal manipulation utterly disengage language from any grounding in stable meaning or reality, is in many ways a dialogue for our times. Contemporary questions of language and power permeate the speech and action of the dialogue. The two sophistsEuthydemus and his brother Dionysodorusexplicitly question whether speech has any connection to truth and specifically whether anything can be said about justice and nobility that cannot also be said about their opposites." Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Plato's immediate audience. FeaturesNotes, glossary, and an interpretive essay.

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Book SynopsisFour Island Utopias provides a convenient compilation of four key texts, important for the understanding of utopian thinking in the ancient world and middle ages, along with maps and an extensive introduction to Classical Utopian thought. Ideal for courses in utopian thought.

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Book SynopsisAristotle's probing inquiry into some of the fundamental problems of philosophy, The Metaphysics is one of the classical Greek foundation-stones of western thought The Metaphysics presents Aristotle's mature rejection of both the Platonic theory that what we perceive is just a pale reflection of reality and the hard-headed view that all processes are ultimately material. He argued instead that the reality or substance of things lies in their concrete forms, and in so doing he probed some of the deepest questions of philosophy: What is existence? How is change possible? And are there certain things that must exist for anything else to exist at all? The seminal notions discussed in The Metaphysics - of 'substance' and associated concepts of matter and form, essence and accident, potentiality and actuality - have had a profound and enduring influence, and laid the foundations for one of the central branches of Western philosophy. In this editionTable of ContentsThe Metaphysics - Aristotle Translated with an Introduction by Hugh Lawson-TancredPrefaceIntroductionTHE METAPHYSICSBook AlphaBook Alpha the LesserBook BetaBook GammaBook DeltaBook EpsilonBook ZetaBook EtaBook ThetaBook IotaBook KappaBook LambdaBook MuBook NuBibliography

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Book Synopsis"Introducing Plato" begins by explaining how philosophers like Socrates and Pythagoras influenced Plato's thought. It provides a clear account of Plato's puzzling theory of knowledge, and explains how this theory then directed his provocative views on politics, ethics and individual liberty. It offers detailed critical commentaries on all of the key doctrines of Platonism, especially the very odd theory of Forms, and concludes by revealing how Plato's philosophy stimulated the work of important modern thinkers such as Karl Popper, Martha Nussbaum, and Jacques Derrida.

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Book SynopsisEmpedocles played a crucial role in the development of western culture; yet little is known or understood about this man, who lived in Sicily in the fifth-century BC. This is mainly becuase his teaching has been reconstructed by modern shcolars first and formost on the basis of Aristotle''s hostile reports - producing a picture which is disconnected and lacking in depth. Using material never exploited before, Peter Kingsley presents the first full-scale study of Empedocles to situate his fragmentary writings in their original context of philosophy as a way of life, mystery religion and magic, and of the struggle to realize one''s own divinity. This study also explores fresh evidence which proves Empedocles was not an isolated figure and reveals new links between his work and ancient Pythagoreanism. The process of establishing these links now makes it possible to demonstrate, in detail, the Pythagorean origin of Plato''s myths. Kingsley re-examines problems regarding the connections betTrade ReviewHighly polemical new book ... The thesis is argued with immense learning. * Times Higher Education Supplement *An original, lucid and intriguing narrative on Empedocles. * Phronesis *a remarkable, indeed pioneering, book which will compel scholars not only to re-examine the paradigms and traditional sources of evidence upon which they have hitherto relied, but also perhaps to question the category of philosophy itself as a viable notion outside the orbit of mystery, magic and myth ... Kingley's Ancient Philosophy is a brilliant, provocative, occasionally quirky, but gripping, urgent and important story which is bound to delight some and offend others. On these terms, it is a unique pioneering work which has all the ingredients to fall under Meyerhold's definition of a masterpiece. * Kevin Corrigan, University of Saskatchewan, European Review of History *a remarkable achievement: challenging, learned, and at the same time enthralling to read ... A consequence of K.'s approach, and one of the impressive things about his book, is that it is not just a book for the specialist in ancient philosophy. K.'s work will also be important for students of ancient religion and magic and for anyone interested in what made Sicilian and Western Greek culture distinctive in the fifth century. K. writes with elegance and vigour ... anyone with a serious interest in early Greek philosophy should read this book. * Anne Sheppard, Royal Holloway, University of London, The Classical Review, Vol. XLVI, No. 2, '96 *an original, lucid and intriguing narrative on Empedocles ... he has put forward a powerful, wide-ranging and coherent case that deserves a hearing, and at the least, a reassessment of the role of the western Presocratics in the history of philosophy. * Phonesis: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy, Vol. XLI, No. 1 1996 *Reading Kingsley's Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic is like walking into the middle of a rarefied discussion that has been going on for thousands of years. * Bruce Nelson, Parabola *a remarkable achievement: challenging, learned, and at the same time enthralling to read. ... A consequence of K.'s approach, and one of the impressive things about his book, is that it is not just a book for the specialist in ancient philosophy. K.'s work will also be important for students of ancient religion and magic and for anyone interested in what made Sicilian and Western Greek culture distinctive in the fifth century. ... Despite its learning, the book is one of the most readable academic works I have encountered. K. writes with elegance and vigour. ... anyone with a serious interest in early Greek philosophy should read this book. * The Classical Review *a remarkable, indeed pioneering, book which will compel scholars not only to re-examine the paradigms and traditional sources of evidence upon which they have hitherto relied, but also perhaps to question the category of philosophy itself as a viable notion outside the orbit of mystery, magic and myth. The work amasses, for the first time in this form, a truly impressive array of textual, archaeological, and papyrological evidence. ... Kingsley contrives to do this in such an interesting way that the reader is drawn artfully into the process of detection itself as into the unravelling of an urgent mystery. ... it is a unique pioneering work which has all the ingredients to fall under Meyerhold's definition of a masterpiece. * European Review of History, vol.3, no.2 *In this work Kingsley has brought a vast amount of scholarship to bear on the subject. ... Kingsley's work, while firmly rooted in the academic tradition, is unique in teasing out new insights from texts that have been studied but misunderstood for decades. Kingsley's scholarship is wide-ranging and impeccable ... provides a storehouse of new insights and expands our understanding of the complex background of Greek philosophical thought. Without doubt, its central arguments are compelling and backed up with an intimidatingly vast scholarly apparatus. ... this is without question an important volume that will stimulate discussion for many years to come. * Gnosis Magazine, Winter 1997 *This work is without doubt the most important book on Empedocles in recent years and one of the most significant in early Greek thought since the writings of F. Cornford saw the light of day. This book is of great significance for the study of early Greek thought and presents a major transformation of view as far as Empedocles and Pythagoras as well as the relation of Pythagoreanism to Plato are concerned ... the book of Kingsley is of singular importance in the study of the Islamic intellectual tradition, while being of an even greater singificance for the field of Greek and Western philosophy, since it challenges the commonly held view of the whole foundation of Western philosophical thought. * Seyyed Hossein Masr, George Washington University, The Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2 '97 *Dramatic and provocative. He presents a stimulating, learned, and wide-ranging interpretation of Empedocles and Pythagoreanism ... this book provides a great deal of information in a thoroughly original package. * Religious Studies Review *The author has successfully accumulated fairly extensive material and convincing arguements to make his point! * The Journal of Indo-European Studies *Remarkable book...it is good to have his researches gathered in one volume...there can be no doubt that Kingsley's book, precisely in cutting across the narrow boundries of classical studies and departing from the well-worn avenues by which we approach the history of ancient philosophy, poses a serious challenge for most future work in the field...Kingsley's book will be a hard act to follow...I cannot think of many scholars in ancient philosophy who could afford to ignore this book without peril; it is not recommended but required reading! * Ancient Philosophy *In this work Kingsley has brought a vast amount of scholarship to bear on the subject...Kingsley's work...is unique in teasing out new insights from texts that have been studied but misunderstood for decades. Kingsley's scholarship is wide-ranging and impeccable...provides a storehouse of new insights and expands our understanding of the complex background of Greek philosopical thought. Without doubt, its central arguements are compelling, and backed up with an intimidatingly vast scholarly apparatus...this is without question an important volume that will stimulate discussion for many years to come. * Gnosis Magazine *This is a most remarkable book, learned, discursive, but yet sharply focussed, on a subject which might seem to lend itself readily to various sorts of intemperate speculation ... this is splendid book, and one that should generate much discussion. * John Dillon, Trinity College, Dublin, Hermathena, no 164, summer 98 *

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Book Synopsis''The god wanted everything to be good, marred by as little imperfection as possible.''Timaeus, one of Plato''s acknowledged masterpieces, is an attempt to construct the universe and explain its contents by means of as few axioms as possible. The result is a brilliant, bizarre, and surreal cosmos - the product of the rational thinking of a creator god and his astral assistants, and of purely mechanistic causes based on the behaviour of the four elements. At times dazzlingly clear, at times intriguingly opaque, this was state-of-the-art science in the middle of the fourth century BC. The world is presented as a battlefield of forces that are unified only by the will of God, who had to do the best he could with recalcitrant building materials.The unfinished companion piece, Critias, is the foundational text for the story of Atlantis. It tells how a model society became corrupt, and how a lost race of Athenians defeated the aggression of the invading Atlanteans. This new edition combines

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Book SynopsisThis book examines Plato's developing critique of the notions and embodiments of manliness prevalent in his culture (particularly those in Homer), and his attempt to redefine such notions in accordance with his ethical, psychological and metaphysical principles.Trade Review'Hobbs provides a stimulating interpretation of … all Plato's dialogues … in the time-honoured phrase she 'brings Plato to life' and enables us to see what was at stake for him in the discussions of thumos and andreia … Hobbs' book makes fascinating reading both for the classical scholar and for the specialist in modern political philosophy. … a book which is worthy of emulation and which will be hard to better in terms of scholarship, imagination or insight.' PolisTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Preface; Glossary; 1. The puzzle of Plato's thumos; 2. Thumos, andreia and the ethics of flourishing; 3. Arms and the man: andreia in the Laches; 4. Odd virtue out: courage and goodness in the Protagoras; 5. Why should I be good? Callicles, Thrasymachus and the egoist challenge; 6. Heroes and role models: the Apology, Hippias Major and Hippias Minor; 7. The threat of Achilles; 8. Plato's response: the valuable as one; 9. Alcibiades' revenge: thumos in the Symposium; Epilogue: The weaver's art: andreia in the Politicus and Laws; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisTranslated by John Llewelyn Davies and David James Vaughan. With an Introduction by Stephen Watt. The ideas of Plato (c429-347BC) have influenced Western philosophers for over two thousand years. Such is his importance that the twentieth-century philosopher A.N. Whitehead described all subsequent developments within the subject as foot-notes to Plato's work. Beyond philosophy, he has exerted a major influence on the development of Western literature, politics and theology. The Republic deals with the great range of Plato's thought, but is particularly concerned with what makes a well-balanced society and individual. It combines argument and myth to advocate a life organized by reason rather than dominated by desires and appetites. Regarded by some as the foundation document of totalitarianism, by others as a call to develop the full potential of humanity, the Republic remains a challenging and intensely exciting work.

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Book SynopsisVolume III of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy includes the early Ionian thinkers Xenophanes and Heraclitus.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisVolume IV of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy presents Pythagoras and the Pythagorean School, including Hippasus, Philolaus, Eurytus, Archytas, Hicetas, and Ecphantus, along with chapters on doctrines not attributed by name and reception.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a history of spiritual exercises from Socrates to early Christianity, an account of their decline in modern philosophy, and a discussion of the different conceptions of philosophy that have accompanied the trajectory and fate of the theory and practice of spiritual exercises.Trade Review"Hadot's essays exhibit impressive scholarship and a habit of profound reflection. This is not a book for the casual reader but it is an important publication and should be a required text for every student of philosophy, classics and the history of ideas, and for any serious teacher of these subjects." The Tablet "Hadot's work is very engaging, knowledgeable, well written and insightful. I highly recommend this book for both general and professional readers." Richard S. Findler, Phil dept, Slippery Rock University for the History of European Ideas "Recommended for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty." H. L. Shapiro, University of Missouri for ChoiceTable of ContentsTranslator's Note. Introduction. Part I: Method: . 1. Forms of Life and Forms of Discourse in Ancient Philosophy. 2. Philosophy, Exegesis and Creative Mistakes. Part II: Spiritual Exercise: . 3. Spiritual Exercise. 4. Ancient Spirituality and 'Christian Philosophy.'. Part III: Figures: . 5. Figure of Socrates. 6. Marcus Aurelius. 7. Reflections of the Idea of the 'Cultivation of the Self'. Part IV: Themes:. 8. Only the Present is our Happiness. 9. The View From Above. 10. The Sage and the World. 11. Philosophy as a Way of Life. Postscript. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Provides useful tips on how to age well."--Wan Lixin, Shanghai Daily "[A] covetable little translation."--Karen Shook, Times Higher EducationTable of ContentsIntroduction vii How to Grow Old 1 Notes 179 Further Reading 195

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Book SynopsisProviding nearly a hundred pages of additional material, this title offers the English translation of the account of Stoic ethics by Anus Didysmus, sources on Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Scepticism, expanded representation of Plutarch and Cicero, and a fuller representation of papyrological evidence.Trade ReviewThe selections are well chosen, the translation accurate and very readable, and the glossary and indices quite helpful. . . . it is to be recommended for it is the best available. --Peter Preuss, Canadian Philosophical ReviewInwood/Gerson furnish a collection ideal for the classroom. --Steven J. Willett, Syllecta Classica

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Book SynopsisA literal translation, allowing the simplicity and vigor of the Greek diction to shine through.

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Book SynopsisA translation that offers an introduction presenting both basic information and a sense of scholarly opinion.Trade ReviewA fantastic book. Translation is graceful and elegant yet uncannily accurate. Footnotes very useful, especially for teaching purposes, and the price is surprisingly low. --Eve Browning Cole, University of Minnesota

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Book SynopsisPresents the translation of a dialogue on virtue, wisdom, and the nature of sophistic teaching. This title provides an introduction that illuminates the dialogue's perennial interest, its Athenian political background, and the particular difficulties and ironic nuances of its argument.Trade ReviewA very readable translation that conveys both the philosophical and the dramatic context better than any existing translation. It is extremely accurate in conveying the movement of the argument and in noting significant points of philosophical usage. . . . I am very impressed with the vividness and the easy flow of the prose. --John Cooper, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisA total philosophy of life, death, religion, ethics, and culture promising liberation from the obstacles that stand in the way of our happiness, the teachings of Epicurus claimed many thousand committed followers over the ancient Mediterranean world. This title fills the need for a reliable selection and translation of the main surviving evidence.

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Book SynopsisThis is a translation of Aristotle's text, attempting to provide the reader with an understanding of Aristotle's argument. An introductory essay situates "Politics" in Aristotle's thought, and further information provides the historical background and analytical assistance with particular passages.Trade Review. . . this is an accurate translation which is well-presented and written in reasonably natural English. It makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Politics. . . . of the complete translations I have seen, I would regard this one as first choice for Greekless students at the postgraduate and more advanced undergraduate levels. For these students accuracy is of prime importance, and they should be able to make good use of the introduction and other supporting material that Reeve offers. I would also recommend this version to anyone lacking Greek who wants to do serious scholarly work on the Politics. --R. F. Stalley, in PolisThis is an admirable translation, meticulous in its attention to Aristotle's Greek and judicious in its phrasing and choice of terms. It should prove invaluable to beginning students and scholars alike. --Richard Kraut, Northwestern UniversityThe beautifully crafted English of Reeve's translation is as crisp and lucid as Aristotle's Greek. One is constantly impressed with Reeve's instinct for the right word in rendering the rich vocabulary of Aristotle's thoughts about politics and for his ability to capture the subtleties of Aristotelian syntax. Highly recommended. --David Keyt, University of Washington

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Book SynopsisThis translation of Plato's classic work is published along with an extensive introductory essay, which situates the work in the context of the development of Greek science and discusses points of contemporary interest.Trade ReviewDonald Zeyl's fresh and faithful translation and his lucid, comprehensive commentary will bring the sublime Timaeus to life for contemporary students of cosmology, metaphysics, history of science, and philosophy. --Sarah Broadie, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisThe third edition of The Trial and Death of Socrates presents G. M.A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works. A number of new or expanded footnotes are also included along with a Select Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA treasure-house of vital information, exhaustively and meticulously researched, presented with clarity and verve. Students of Plato's dialogues--and other Socratic writings--will no longer be frustrated by wading through dispersed and difficult to use scholarly tomes to find out about Meno's family and career or Plato's brothers or uncles or who Thucydides son of Melesias was, and his relation to the historian. With philosophical readers foremost in mind, Nails tells all. From now on, anyone reading Plato will always have this book nearby. --John M. Cooper, Princeton UniversityA unique scholarly resource, brimming with information practically inaccessible elsewhere, this painstakingly constructed work keeps one constantly engaged with the historical reality behind Plato's speculative universe. --Lloyd P. Gerson, University of TorontoA permanent contribution to scholarship of the highest order, this beautifully-produced and engagingly-written book will be around as long as Plato is read. If you want to know who the son of Smicrion is, and you should, this book will tell you and amuse you in the process! --C. D. C. Reeve, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewKahn's excellent knowledge of the texts is apparent and his familiarity with the scholarly literature is manifest. . . . The volume is attractively written and and produced, and will do a real service in making the Pythagorean tradition . . . accessible to non-specialists. --Richard McKirahan, Philosophy in ReviewThis book provides an excellent overview of the development of Pythagorean theory after Pythagoras. Kahn's narrative is lucid and his judgment reliable. . . . This brief survey is admirably comprehensive in its treatment of Pythagorean influences. --Daniel W. Graham, Ancient PhilosophyThis book, written by one of the world's leading authorities on ancient philosophy, combines a lucid overview of the broad sweep of the Pythagorean tradition, appropriate for readers new to the subject, with new scholarly insights, which will make it essential reading for scholars as well. There really is no comparable up-to-date volume available in English. It is a wonderful book. --Carl Huffman, DePauw University

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewKahn's excellent knowledge of the texts is apparent and his familiarity with the scholarly literature is manifest. . . . The volume is attractively written and and produced, and will do a real service in making the Pythagorean tradition . . . accessible to non-specialists. --Richard McKirahan, Philosophy in ReviewThis book provides an excellent overview of the development of Pythagorean theory after Pythagoras. Kahn's narrative is lucid and his judgment reliable. . . . This brief survey is admirably comprehensive in its treatment of Pythagorean influences. --Daniel W. Graham, Ancient PhilosophyThis book, written by one of the world's leading authorities on ancient philosophy, combines a lucid overview of the broad sweep of the Pythagorean tradition, appropriate for readers new to the subject, with new scholarly insights, which will make it essential reading for scholars as well. There really is no comparable up-to-date volume available in English. It is a wonderful book. --Carl Huffman, DePauw University

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRelihan's edition of the Consolation offers both student and scholar a felicitous text, expertly translated from the original Latin, richly supplemented throughout with a critical apparatus, and generously embellished with explanatory notes for each prose and metric portion; he offers an Introduction of clear-sighted analysis, and an inclusive, text-referential glossary. Relihan's translation should now be the standard text for classroom use. . . . Relihan has performed a great service in his translation by attempting to translate the 'meters' with the sensibility of a poet as well as a Latinist, and it has made his version of Consolation that much more committed, it seems, to the intent of the original, and definitely a more compelling read. Relihan, as he himself states, has done '. . . what has not been done before in the long history of translation of Consolation into English, . . . [to] reproduce through English accents the rhythms and meters of the original poems' (xxviii). . . . The poetic sections of Consolation are not mere interludes but deliberate transitions in tenor and signification. By offering an English text that echoes the Latin in form, Relihan is offering the student of Consolation an English text that echoes the Latin in meaning as well. It is an offer neither scholar nor student should refuse. --June-Ann Greeley, New England Classical JournalThis book offers a splendid new translation of the Consolatio Philosophiae that makes the philosophy of the text accessible to both the beginning student and to the Latin scholar. Any student interested in the transition in late antiquity from the pagan to the Christian worlds should own this volume. --Victoria Jordan, The Classical Outlook

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Book SynopsisThe most comprehensive collection of Neoplatonic writings available in English, this volume provides translations of the central texts of four major figures of the Neoplatonic tradition: Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus.Trade ReviewIn addition to being a wonderful addition to the library of any classicist or historian of philosophy, the book can be used as a challenging text for an undergraduate specialized course in later Greek philosophy and even as a major text in a Graduate course in the same area. The academic world has been well served by this intelligently designed volume.--Joseph A. Novak, Philosophy in ReviewThis is a valuable anthology which makes a selection of key Neoplatonic texts available in new, accurate, and readable translations.--Anne Sheppard, Senior Lecturer in Classics, Royal Holloway, University of London

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Book SynopsisOffers translations of a selection of the writings of the Stoics, along with relevant selections from the works of the Sceptics, an introduction, bibliography, glossary, and index.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Those interested in the Republic primarily as a work of philosophy can not do better than Grube. . . . [He] renders Plato's arguments in unfussy, idiomatic English . . . sensitive to nuances of argument and the connection of philosophical ideas." —John M. Cooper, Princeton University“Unmistakably superior: more lucid, more accurate, more readable. Above all, they’re lucidly adorned, unpretentious, and in translating Plato that counts a good deal. The prose is, as English prose, persuasive, cogent, and as eloquent as it can be without departing from the text.” —William Arrowsmith

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Book Synopsis"Phaedo (Second Edition)".Trade ReviewA first rate translation at a reasonable price. --Michael Rohr, Rutgers University

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Book SynopsisThe life-changing principles of Stoicism taught through the story of its most famous proponent.

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