Description
Book SynopsisAn accessible introduction to the most influential philosophical movement of the early centuries of our era. The book provides a comprehensive account of the philosophical views of 'Middle' Platonism, and source-texts in English translation represent the full range of thinkers involved and the subjects they tackled. It also includes sections of further reading.
Trade Review'Boys-Stones handles with painstaking precision and philosophical acumen an incredible amount of complex and controversial issues, without ever losing sight of the project as a whole. The result is an exciting and novel book.' Sara Magrin, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction: studying middle platonism; 1. Plato's authority and the history of philosophy; 2. Making sense of the dialogues; Part I. Cosmology: 3. Causal principles for a non-materialist cosmology; 4. The debate over matter and the problem of evil; 5. Paradigm-forms; 6. The creator god; 7. Theories of creation; 8. World soul and nature; 9. Individual souls and their faculties; 10. Living beings: gods, daimons, humans, animals, plants; 11. Providence; 12. Fate; Part II. Dialectic: 13. Epistemology; 14. Logic; 15. Aristotle's Categories: ontology and linguistics; 16. The hierarchy of sciences; Part III. Ethics: 17. The goal of virtue and the ideal life; 18. Ethical virtue and the management of the passions; 19. Politics; 20. The system of the Chaldaean Oracles; Glossary; References; Catalogue of platonists; Index of sources and references; Index to notes and further reading.
