Description
Book SynopsisIn this collection an international team of experts explores the philosophical and scientific study of human language and communication during the Hellenistic period. It provides a significant survey of the development of classical theories of language and their impact on the linguistic theories of later periods, notably the Middle Ages.
Trade Review"The carefully-edited volume includes useful indexes and a bibliography. All significant Greek and Latin quotations are presented both in the original and in translation. This collection covers an area that deserves attention, and is essential reading for those who study Hellenistic philosophy." Laura Grams, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Journal of the History of Philosophy
"Scrupulously researched and thought-provoking, but also very entertaining...There is a great deal of food for thought here. All in all an excellent volume, and a worthy member of the series." --Phoenix: Journal of the Classical Association of Canada
Table of ContentsIntroduction Dorothea Frede and Brad Inwood; 1. The Stoics on the origin of language and the foundations of etymology James Allen; 2. Stoic linguistics, Plato's Cratylus, and Augustine's De dialectica A. A. Long; 3. Epicurus and his predecessors on the origin of language Alexander Verlinsky; 4. Lucretius on what language is not Catherine Atherton; 5. Communicating cynicism: Diogenes' gangsta rap Ineke Sluiter; 6. Common sense: concepts, definition and meaning in and out of the Stoa Charles Brittain; 7. Varro's anti-analogist David Blank; 8. The Stoics on fallacies of equivocation Susanne Bobzien; 9. What is a disjunction? Jonathan Barnes; 10. Theories of language in the Hellenistic age and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Sten Ebbesen.
