Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy Books

Book SynopsisInstant #1 New York Times Bestseller & Wall Street Journal BestsellerIn The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, bestselling author Ryan Holiday made ancient wisdom wildly popular with a new generation of leaders in sports, politics, and technology. In his new book, Stillness Is the Key, Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead.All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers. To avoid distraction and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness--to be steady while the world spins around you. In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history''s greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus.Holiday also examines figures who exemplified the power of stillness: baseball player Sadaharu Oh, whose study of Zen made him the greatest home run hitter of all time; Winston Churchill, who in balancing his busy public life with time spent laying bricks and painting at his Chartwell estate managed to save the world from annihilation in the process; Fred Rogers, who taught generations of children to see what was invisible to the eye; Anne Frank, whose journaling and love of nature guided her through unimaginable adversity. More than ever, people are overwhelmed. They face obstacles and egos and competition. Stillness Is the Key offers a simple but inspiring antidote to the stress of 24/7 news and social media. The stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs more of it than ever.

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Book SynopsisInstant New York Times Advice & Business Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, and Wall Street Journal #1 Bestseller!A New York Times Noteworthy Pick and a stellar work by Publishers WeeklyFrom the bestselling authors of The Daily Stoic comes an inspiring guide to the lives of the Stoics, and what the ancients can teach us about happiness, success, resilience and virtue.Nearly 2,300 years after a ruined merchant named Zeno first established a school on the Stoa Poikile of Athens, Stoicism has found a new audience among those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. It''s no wonder; the philosophy and its embrace of self-mastery, virtue, and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in the chaos of the Roman Empire. In Lives of the Stoics, Holiday and Hanselman present the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of Courage. Justice. Temperance. Wisdom. Organized in digestible, mini-biographies of all the well-known--and not so well-known--Stoics, this book vividly brings home what Stoicism was like for the people who loved it and lived it, dusting off powerful lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes.More than a mere history book, every example in these pages, from Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius--slaves to emperors--is designed to help the reader apply philosophy in their own lives. Holiday and Hanselman unveil the core values and ideas that unite figures from Seneca to Cato to Cicero across the centuries. Among them are the idea that self-rule is the greatest empire, that character is fate; how Stoics benefit from preparing not only for success, but failure; and learn to love, not merely accept, the hand they are dealt in life. A treasure of valuable insights and stories, this book can be visited again and again by any reader in search of inspiration from the past.

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Book SynopsisThe instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller! Ryan Holiday’s bestselling trilogy—The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and Stillness is the Key—captivated professional athletes, CEOs, politicians, and entrepreneurs and helped bring Stoicism to millions of readers. Now, in the first book of an exciting new series on the cardinal virtues of ancient philosophy, Holiday explores the most foundational virtue of all: Courage.Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is “Be not afraid.” The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what’s right, to do what’s needed, to do what is true. And so it rests

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Book SynopsisThe instant New York Times,Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller!In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it.To master anything, one must first master themselves?one?s emotions, one?s thoughts, one?s actions. Eisenhower famously said that freedom is really the opportunity to practice self-discipline. Cicero called the virtue of temperance the polish of life. Without boundaries and restraint, we risk not only failing to meet our full potential and jeopardizing what we have achieved, but we ensure misery and shame. In a world of temptation and excess, this ancient idea is more urgent than ever.In Discipline is Destiny, Holiday draws on the stories of historical figures we can emulate as pillars of self-discipline, including Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, boxer Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius and writer Toni Morrison, as well as the cautionary tales of Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Babe Ruth. Through these engaging examples, Holiday teaches readers the power of self-discipline and balance, and cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism.At the heart of Stoicism are four simple virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Everything else, the Stoics believed, flows from them. Discipline is Destiny will guide readers down the path to self-mastery, upon which all the other virtues depend. Discipline is predictive. You cannot succeed without it. And if you lose it, you cannot help but bring yourself failure and unhappiness.

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Book SynopsisIn many regards the dialectical counterpart of the "Republic, the Symposium" is one of the richest and most influential of the Platonic dialogues, resonating not only with Western philosophy, but also with literature art and theology. This title presents an introduction to the text.Trade Review‘The Symposium is at once an attractive work for general readers and a demanding one for students. Both need the guidance which Thomas Cooksey here aims to provide, on the whole successfully.' -- The Anglo-Hellenic ReviewThomas Cooksey’s commentary on Plato’s Symposium fills an important and hitherto neglected niche in recent scholarship on this dialogue... [His] analysis of the Symposium offers clear and engaging reviews of the text without downplaying its complexity, and it does much to open up discussion of the text, and impel readers to engage with the dialogue for themselves. It is certainly the best available introduction to the Symposium for beginners in Plato. -- Anthony Hooper, The University of Sydney * Prudentia *Table of Contents1. Context; 2. Overview of Themes; 3. Reading the Text; i. In Praise of Love; ii. Diotima Explains; iii. The Alcibiades, A Satyr Play; 4. Reception and Influence; 5. Further Reading; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisSir Richard Sorabji is Honorary Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford, and Emeritus Professor, King's College, London, UK. He is the world's leading scholar on the commentators on Aristotle and founder and co-editor of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, published by Bloomsbury. He is also the author of the three sourcebooks on the ancient commentators: The Philosophy of the Comentators, 200600 AD, vols 13.Trade ReviewBuilding on the extraordinary achievements of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project, [Aristotle Re-Interpreted] is a valuable collection of groundbreaking studies, which, together with [Aristotle Transformed], constitutes a must-read for any scholar and student of philosophy and Classics as well as an indispensable acquisition of any library in these fields. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *In terms of the amount covered [this book is] certainly good value, and in my view anyone working in this subject area would be strongly advised to buy and read both [this and Aristotle Transformed.] * Classics for All Reviews *Classicists and philosophers are devoting increased attention to ancient commentaries on Aristotle. Much of this work began in earnest in the 1980s with the Duckworth/Bloomsbury "Ancient Commentators on Aristotle" series and the present volume's companion collection of scholarly essays, Aristotle Transformed (1990; 2nd ed., 2016), also edited by Sorabji. Aristotle Re-Interpreted updates earlier work in the wake of roughly three decades of research, discoveries, and advancements. Known for his leadership in founding this fascinating field of research, Sorabji (emer., King's College London, UK) brings together 23 essays—some original, some republished, some newly translated—by a host of esteemed scholars and philosophers from across the globe. The resulting volume is physically massive and massively significant for those whose research and teaching interests focus on ancient Aristotelian and Neoplatonist philosophical schools. In addition to the essays, Sorabji provides a lengthy, detailed introduction, which offers a nice survey of the philosophical figures and topics of interest within the field. Classicists, medievalists, and philosophers—really anyone interested in Aristotle, Neoplatonism, or the development of ideas from the classical age to the Middle Ages and Renaissance—will appreciate this scrupulously researched, intellectually breathtaking book. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *This volume is very interesting for many reasons: it provides new findings and fragments on ancient philosophy, it contains essays that deal with poorly studied philosophers and commentaries, and it is a great tool for scholars who want to deepen their understanding of the main themes of ancient philosophy and to know how the works of the greatest ancient philosophers circulated around the world. At the end of the volume readers can also find an extensive bibliography, an Index Locorum, and an index of names and arguments. * Philosophy in Review *The volume is an excellent product that makes a considerable contribution to the study of the acceptance of Aristotelian thought through its commentators. (Bloomsbury Translation) * Sehepunkte *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Contributors Introduction: Seven Hundred Years of Commentary and the Sixth Century Diffusion to other Cultures Richard Sorabji 1. The Texts of Plato and Aristotle in the First Century BCE: Andronicus’ Canon Myrto Hatzimichali 2. Boethus’ Aristotelian Ontology Marwan Rashed 3. The Inadvertent Conception and Late Birth of the Free Will Problem and the Role of Alexander Susanne Bobzien 4. Alexander of Aphrodisias on Particulars and the Stoic Criterion of Identity Marwan Rashed 5. Themistius and the Problem of Spontaneous Generation Devin Henry 6. Spontaneous Generation and its Metaphysics in Themistius’ Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Metaphysics 12 Yoav Meyrav 7. The Neoplatonic Commentators on ‘Spontaneous’ Generation James Wildberding 8. A Rediscovered Categories Commentary: Porphyry? with Fragments of Boethus Riccardo Chiaradonna, Marwan Rashed, and David Sedley 9. The Purpose of Porphyry’s Rational Animals: A Dialectical Attack on the Stoics in On Abstinence from Animal Food G. Fay Edwards 10. Universals Transformed in the Commentators on Aristotle Richard Sorabji 11. Iamblichus’ Noera Theôria of Aristotle’s Categories John Dillon 12. Proclus’ Defence of the Timaeus against Aristotle: A Reconstruction of a Lost Polemical Treatise Carlos Steel 13. Smoothing over the Differences: Proclus and Ammonius on Plato’s Cratylus and Aristotle’s De Interpretatione R. M. van den Berg 14. Dating of Philoponus’ Commentaries on Aristotle and of his Divergence from his Teacher Ammonius Richard Sorabji 15. John Philoponus’ Commentary on the Third Book of Aristotle’s De Anima, Wrongly Attributed to Stephanus Pantelis Golitsis 16. Mixture in Philoponus: An Encounter with a Third Kind of Potentiality Frans A. J. de Haas 17. Gnôstikôs and/or hulikôs: Philoponus’ Accountof the Material Aspects of Sense-Perception Peter Lautner 18. The Last Philosophers of Late Antiquity in the Arabic Tradition Peter Adamson 19. Alexander of Aphrodisias versus John Philoponus in Arabic: A Case of Mistaken Identity Ahmad Hasnawi 20. New Arabic Fragments of Philoponus and their Reinterpretation: Does the World Lack a Beginning in Time or Take no Time to Begin? Marwan Rashed 21. Simplicius’ Corollary on Place: Method of Philosophising and Doctrines Philippe Hoffmann and Pantelis Golitsis 22. A Philosophical Portrait of Stephanus the Philosopher Mossman Roueché 23. Who Were the Real Authors of the Metaphysics Commentary Ascribed to Alexander and Ps.-Alexander? Pantelis Golitsis The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle Translations Bibliography Index Locorum General Index

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Book SynopsisExpanding the impact of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's philosophy to the disciplines of Christian Origins and Christian theology, this original study makes the case for understanding early Christianity through such Deleuzioguattarian concepts as the rhizome', the machine', the body without organs' and the multiplicity', using the theoretical tool of schizoanalysis to do so. The reconstruction of the historical emergence of early Christianity, Bradley H. McLean argues, has been constrained by traditional assumptions about its historical and transcendental origins. These assumptions are ill-suited to theorizing the genesis, change and transformation of early Christianity in the first three centuries of the Common Era. To capture the dynamism of early Christianity, McLean applies Guattari's concept of the machine', to the analysis of early Christianity. Arguing that machines are both an unnoticed dimension of early Christianity, and a major analytical tool for the discipline, McLeaTrade ReviewMcLean’s book has something for everyone. Scholars of Early Christianity will find here an array of conceptual tools that will no doubt open up new insights into the origins of the “Christ machines.” Scholars of Deleuze and Guattari will find excellent examples of the coupling of their literary machine to the texts and practices of “Christ groups” in the first three centuries BCE. And everyone else will find an introduction to both fields that is accessible and fun to read. * F. LeRon Shults, Professor at the Institute for Global Development and Social Planning, University of Agder, Norway *This book uses the work of Deleuze and Guattari – specifically the concept of the rhizome – rethink and retheorize approaches to the history of the emergence of Christianity. In doing so, it also takes us deep into the expanded universe of Deleuze and Guattari’s thought. * Ian Buchanan, Editor of Deleuze and Guattari Studies and Professor of Critical and Cultural Theory, University of Wollongong, Australia *McLean provides us with a much-needed Deleuzian voice for reading Early Christian literature. Whereas scholarship often interprets Early Christian literature with unspoken philosophical assumptions, McLean explicitly combines Deleuzian concepts (multiplicity, machines, the body without organs, deterritorialization, becoming-woman) with this literature, offering new, relevant, and challenging assemblages. * Matthew G. Whitlock, Associate Professor, Theology and Religious Studies, Seattle University, USA *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Rise of the Christ Machines 2. Desiring Production and Early Christianities 3. The Rhizome: Multiplicities and the Virtual Dimension of Christ Groups 4. The Autoproduction of a Body of Christ without Organs 5. Territorializations and Deterritorializations: On Becoming Outlandish 6. Deterritorialization in the Gospels: A Typology of Lines 7. The Stratification of Christ Groups in the Despotic Socius 8. Christ Groups as Social Assemblages and Abstract Machines 9. The God of Religion and the Schizo God 10. The Myth of Eve: Falling Into, and Out of, Delusion 11. On Several Regimes of Signs and Several Christs 12. The Despotic Christ and the Signifying Despotic Regime of Signs 13. The Passional Christ and the Passional Subjective Regime of Signs 14. What Can Christ’s Body Do? 15. Molecular Becomings of Christ: Becoming-woman 16. Christ Becoming-animal: An Affair of Sorcery 17. Christ’s Becomings-imperceptible: Martyrological, Magical, and Cosmic 18. The Nomad Jesus and the Galilean War Machine Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Legacy of Aristotelian Enthymeme provides a historical-logical analysis of Aristotle's rhetorical syllogism, the enthymeme, through its Medieval and Renaissance interpretations. Bringing together notions of credibility and proof, an international team of scholars highlight the fierce debates around this form of argumentation during two key periods for Aristotle's beliefs.Reflecting on medieval and humanist thinkers, philosophers, poets and theologians, this volume joins up dialectical and rhetorical argumentation as key to the enthymeme's interpretation and shows how the enthymeme was the source of a major interpretive conflict. As a method for achieving the standards for proof and credibility that persist across diverse fields of study today including the law, politics, medicine and morality, this book takes in Latin and Persian interpretations of the enthymeme and casts contemporary argumentation in a new historical light.Trade ReviewThis is a book on the history of the problem of how we demonstrate by means of enthymemes. It gives a consistent account of what has happened in the twelve centuries that separate Boethius from Ramus, and it contributes to our understanding of the connection between logic and rhetoric. It revives the tradition of Ciceronianism, of which Fosca Mariani Zini is a renowned authority. * Riccardo Pozzo, Professor of the History of Philosophy, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy *Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction: The Theory of Enthymeme: Between Defective and Ampliative Inference, Fosca Mariani Zini (University of Tours, France) 1. The Theories of the Enthymeme Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (325-880 Ca.), Renato De Filippis (University of Salerno, Italy) 2. Enthymemes in Al-Farabi’s and Avicenna’s Systems, Saloua Chatti (Tunis University, Tunisia) 3. Argumentum, Locus, and Enthymeme: Abaelard’s Transformation of the Topics into a Theory of Enthymematic Inference, Chris Martin (University Auckland, New Zealand) 4. The Logic of Enthymemes as (Incomplete) Syllogisms: 13th-Century Theories and Practices, Julie Brumberg (University of Paris, France) 5. Inference and Enthymeme in William Ockham, Paola Muller (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Italy) 6. Enthymematic Inferences in John Buridan, Barbara Bertocci (University of St Andrews, UK) 7. The Enthymeme from Signs and the Study of Nature in the Renaissance, Marco Sgarbi (Ca’ Foscari University, Italy) 8. “The Lion’ Fault”: The Enthymematic Foundation of Signatures, Marie-Luce Demonet (University of Tours, France) Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisConnecting several strands of Aristotle's thought, Zoli Filotas sheds light on one of the axioms of Aristotle's ethics and political philosophy that every community has a ruler and demonstrates its relevance to his ideas on personal relationships. Aristotle and the Ethics of Difference, Friendship, and Equality reveals a pluralistic theory of rule in Aristotle's thought, tracing it through his corpus and situating it in a discussion among such figures as Gorgias, Xenophon, and Plato. Considering the similarities and differences among various forms of rule, Filotas shows that for Aristotle even virtuous friends must exercise a version of rule akin to that of slaveholders. He also explores why Aristotle distinguishes the hierarchical rule over women from both the mastery of slaves and the political rule exercised by free and equal citizens. In doing so, he argues that natural and social differences among human beings play a complex, and troubling, role in Aristotle'sTrade ReviewThis engaging, elegant, and persuasive book considers how Aristotle conceived of ‘rule’ both in daily, interpersonal interactions, and in larger political structures, arguing that he thought it was vital to both. Filotas explores important questions concerned with equality, justice and friendship that will resonate with the contemporary reader. * Marguerite Deslauriers, Professor of Philosophy, McGill University, Canada *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Problem of Freedom and Persuasion in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries 2. Admonishment, Slavery, and the Generic Definition of Rule 3. Kinds of Community, Kinds of Rule 4. Political Rule, Equality, and the Good 5. Equalizing Citizens Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLev Shestov's By Faith Alone confronts Eastern and Western European conceptions of faith through Russian literature, ancient and medieval philosophy, and Christian theology. Written from 1910-1914, this first English-language translation brings together important early writings on the medieval church and Martin Luther.Shestov reconciles the Greek notion of rational truth with Biblical revelation by drawing on a wide range of ancient, medieval, philosophical and theological sources from Plato to Hegel, Tertullian to Saint Augustine , and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux to William of Ockam. He argues that rational truth has skewed Christian belief by determining knowledge and truth in ways that prize the mind over the world. This approach marks a turning point in the evolution of Shestov's existential thought. It establishes a basic division that became central to Shestov's later work, between Athens as reason and Jerusalem as faith. By Faith Alone provides a crucial piece of tTrade ReviewThis important book by Lev Shestov (1866–1938) is now available in English translation. Coming from the East of Europe Lev Shestov engages with Western theology and especially with Martin Luther and develops a constructive approach to Western Christianity and Western culture. The book is a must to read for all who are interested in intellectual encounters of Eastern and Western European Christianity. * Hans-Peter Grosshans, Professor for Systematic and Ecumenical Theology, University of Muenster, Germany *Van Trees has produced a fine translation of SOLA FIDE, one of Shestov's most important works. This work adds to our understanding of the genesis of the religious ideas of this major philosopher. * Boris Jakim, Distinguished translator of major 19th- and 20th-century Russian religious thought *Table of ContentsTranslator’s Introduction: By Faith Alone (Sola Fide) YMCA Editor’s Introduction Part I. Greek and Medieval Philosophy Part II. Luther and the Church Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisÉmile Bréhier?s creative interpretations of Stoicism inspired the next generation of thinkers ? from Jean-Paul Sartre to Luce Irigaray ? to rethink the history of philosophy. Perhaps most of all, Bréhier?s thinking about the Stoic theory of incorporeality was pivotal to Gilles Deleuze?s understanding of Ancient Greek and Roman thinkers, especially the Stoics, and formative for his own materialistic metaphysics. To understand the metaphysics, philosophy of language, and interpretations of psychoanalysis in Deleuze?s Logic of Sense, Bréhier?s influence remains to be fully elucidated. Yet such influence has been largely unknown in Anglophone philosophy ? until now. For the first time since its publication nearly a century ago, Bréhier?s groundbreaking essay finally appears in English. To frame its history and convey its importance for the future of philosophy, two new essays by a leading French philosopher and a British-Canadian philosopher bookend the translation.

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Book SynopsisThroughout his long career, Gadamer wrote and taught widely on the philosophy of the ancient world. In this volume, moving from the Pre-Socratics to Plato, Gadamer explores the legacy that ancient thought left for such philosophical giants as Kant, Schleiermacher and Hegel.Ancient Sources, Modern Appropriations also includes a substantial critical introduction in which the Editors reconstruct Gadamer''s views on how the study of the history of philosophy contributes to the task of doing philosophy by keeping a tradition alive and moving it into the future. This final volume of the The Selected Writings of Hans-Georg Gadamer also includes a thorough bibliography of Gadamer''s available writings in English and key secondary studies of his philosophical hermeneutics.Available in English for the first time, Ancient Sources, Modern Appropriations is comprised of the most important of Gadamer''s previously untranslated writings on ancient philosophy.Table of ContentsPart I: Introduction: History of Philosophy as Appropriation of a Tradition Pol Vandevelde and Arun Iyer Part II: Ancient Philosophy A. The Pre-Socratics 1. Parmenides or the Innerworldly Aspect of Being (Parmenides oder das Diesseits des Seins, 1988, Vol 7:1) 2. On the Divine in Early Greek Thinking (Uber das Gottliche im fruhen Denken der Griechen, 1970, Vol 6:9) B. Plato 3. Plato's Utopian Thinking: A Lecture for Philologists (Platos Denken in Utopien: Ein Vortrag vor Philologen, 1983, Vol 7:9) 4. Mathematics and Dialectic in Plato (Mathematik und Dialektik bei Plato, 1982, Vol 7:10) 5. Dialectic is not Sophistic Thinking: What Theaetetus Learns in The Sophist (Dialektik ist nicht Sophistik: Theatet lernt das im Sophistes, 1990, Vol 7:13) Part III: Modern Philosophy 6. Oetinger as a Philosopher (Oetinger als Philosoph, 1964, Vol 4:20) 7. Kant and the Question of God (Kant und die Gottesfrage, 1941, Vol 4:23) 8. Herder and the Historical World (Herder und die geschichtliche Welt, 1967, Vol 4:21) 9. Schleiermacher as a Platonist (Schleiermacher als Platoniker, 1969, Vol 4:25) 10. Hegel and Heraclitus (Hegel und Heraklit, 1990, Vol 7:2) 11. Hegel and the Historical Spirit (Hegel und der geschichtliche Geist, 1939, Vol 4:26) 12. Hegel and Heidelberg Romanticism (Hegel und die Heidelberger Romantik, 1961, Vol 4:27) Part IV: Bibliography A. Gadamer's Works in English 1. Books 2. Essays and Articles B. Selected Secondary Sources Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book to draw consequences from Badiou's claim that his work is a 'Platonism of the multiple' and that philosophy today requires a 'platonic gesture'. Examining the relationship between Badiou and Plato, Bartlett transforms our perception of Plato's philosophy and rethinks the central philosophical question: 'what is education?'

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together Hellenists and Indologists representing a variety of perspectives on the similarities and differences between the two cultures. It offers a collaborative contribution to the burgeoning interest in the Axial Age and will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the big questions inspired by the ancient world.

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Book SynopsisAncient metaphysics and contemporary continental realism have a key goal in common: to investigate how beings exists outside of the descriptions placed on them by language, consciousness, texts and society.This volume addresses the encounters between contemporary and antique philosophies.

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Book SynopsisAmazons and giants, snakes and gorgons, centaurs and gryphons: monsters abounded in the ancient world. Del Lucchese grapples with the concept of monstrosity, showing how ancient philosophers explored metaphysics, ontology, theology and politics to respond to the challenge of radical otherness in nature and in thought.

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Book SynopsisAist elkyt shows us that Stoic views about beauty were substantial and compelling.

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Book SynopsisAist? ?elkyt? shows us that Stoic views about beauty were substantial and compelling.

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Book SynopsisHuman suffering, the fear of death, war, poverty, ecological destruction and social inequality: Thomas Nail shows that Lucretius proposed an ethics of motion as simple and stunning solution to these ethical problems in his first-century BC didactic poem De Rerum Natura.

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Book SynopsisBy radically re-reading the 'Theological Political Treatise', Dimitris Vardoulakis argues that Spinoza's Epicurean influence has profound implications for his conception of politics and ontology. This reconsideration of Spinoza's political project, set within a historical context, lays the ground for an alternative genealogy of materialism.

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Book SynopsisIn his Timaeus and Critias dialogues, Plato wrote of two ancient civilisations that flourished more than 9,000 years before his time. Socrates accepted the account as true, and modern archaeological techniques may yet prove him right. In Plato, Prehistorian, Mary Settegast takes us from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the shrines of Çatalhöyük, demonstrating correspondences both to Plato's tale and to the mystery religions of antiquity. She then traces the mid-seventh millennium impulse that revitalised the spiritual life of Çatalhöyük and spread agriculture from Iran to the Greek Peninsula -- at precisely the time given by Aristotle for the legendary Persian prophet Zarathustra, for whom the cultivation of the earth was a religious imperative.Fascinating and challenging, Settegast's approach is truly comprehensive and thoroughly researched, yet written in a jargon-free and engaging style.Trade Review'A highly original and completely fascinating look at the shore between myth and history.'--William Irwin Thompson, author of The Time Falling Bodies Take To Light'Fascinating and challenging. . . A useful, well-documented, and courageous effort to break away from the unilinear paradigm and to propose a new framework for the data of the Holocene.'-- J.V. Luce, Professor of Classics, Trinity College, University of Dublin'A gradual revolution is under way which will have far-reaching consequences and this book is the valuable tool in that process. It was Plato who wrote about Atlantis first, he got it from his grandfather Solon when in Egypt. This book looks at the references to Timaeus and Critaeus and links it to archeaology examining in detail the links. It cogently argues the case for the mythic histories to be in fact not fable but fact. A book of scholarly clarity to jog our sense of historic complacency.'-- Baelder Pan-European Journal'Settegast's unbiased approach contrasts with the usual process of automatically imposing modern standards on Plato’s account. . . well worth considering as part of a new model for the period from 10,000-5,000 BC.'-- J.L. Benson, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, University of Massachusetts'The evidence [Settegast] assembles is exhaustive, multi-disciplinary, and provocative. Her scholarship is solid and meticulously referenced; the conclusions are balanced; the prose is lucid and jargon-free. A valuable and original work.'-- John Anthony West, author of The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt

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