Search results for ""author julia annas""
Oxford University Press Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The tradition of ancient philosophy is a long, rich and varied one. Julia Annas gives a succinct account of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy, emphasizing its freshness and variety of themes, and its approach of lively discussion and argument. Getting away from the presentation of ancient philosophy as a succession of Great Thinkers, the book gives readers a sense of the freshness and liveliness of ancient philosophy, and of its wide variety of themes and styles. This new edition has been fully updated to reflect updates in the field, with new illustrations and up to date further reading to allow further exploration of the field. The text has been expanded and modernized to be more comprehensive and accessible to the general reader, as well as exploring the relation of the tradition of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy to other traditions and to us. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
£9.40
Cornell University Press Platonic Ethics, Old and New
The Townsend Lectures Julia Annas here offers a fundamental reexamination of Plato's ethical thought by investigating the Middle Platonist perspective, which emerged at the end of Plato's own school, the Academy. She highlights the differences between ancient and modern assumptions about Plato's ethics—and stresses the need to be more critical about our own. One of these modern assumptions is the notion that the dialogues record the development of Plato's thought. Annas shows how the Middle Platonists, by contrast, viewed the dialogues as multiple presentations of a single Platonic ethical philosophy, differing in form and purpose but ultimately coherent. They also read Plato's ethics as consistently defending the view that virtue is sufficient for happiness, and see it as converging in its main points with the ethics of the Stoics. Annas goes on to explore the Platonic idea that humankind's final end is "becoming like God"—an idea that is well known among the ancients but virtually ignored in modern interpretations. She also maintains that modern interpretations, beginning in the nineteenth century, have placed undue emphasis on the Republic, and have treated it too much as a political work, whereas the ancients rightly saw it as a continuation of Plato's ethical writings.
£28.99
