Front Matter

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Front Matter Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information ANCIENT MODELS OF MIND How does god think? How, ideally, does a human mind function? Must a gap remain between these two paradigms of rationality? Such questions exercised the greatest ancient philosophers, including those featured in this book: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Ploti- nus. This volume encompasses a series of studies by leading scholars, revisiting key moments of ancient philosophy and highlighting the theme of human and divine rationality in both moral and cognitive psychology. It is a tribute to Professor A. A. Long, and reflects multiple themes of his own work. andrea nightingale is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Stanford University. She is the author of Genres in Dia- logue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy (1995), Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in its Cultural Context (2004), and “Once out of Nature”: Augustine on Time and the Body (forthcom- ing). She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship, an ACLS Fellowship, and a fellowship at the Stanford Humanities Center. She has been a Stanford Fellow (2004–6) and is presently serving as a Harvard Senior Fellow of the Hellenic Center (2009–2013). david sedley is Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow of Christ’s College. He is the author of The Hellenistic Philosophers (1987,with A. A. Long), Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom (1998), Plato’s Cratylus (2003), The Midwife of Platonism: Text and Subtext in Plato’s Theaetetus (2004), and Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity (2007), based on his 2004 Sather Lectures. He edited Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy from 1998 to 2007. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information ANCIENT MODELS OF MIND Studies in Human and Divine Rationality edited by ANDREA NIGHTINGALE AND DAVID SEDLEY © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb28ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521113557 c Cambridge University Press 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Ancient models of mind : studies in human and divine rationality / edited by Andrea Wilson Nightingale, David Sedley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-11355-7 (hardback) 1. Philosophy of mind – History. 2. Philosophy, Ancient. I. Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. II. Sedley, D. N. III. Title. b187.m55a53 2010 128 .20938 –dc22 2010023578 isbn 978-0-521-11355-7 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information For Tony Long © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information Contents List of contributors page ix Introduction 1 Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley 1. Plato on aporia and self-knowledge 8 Andrea Nightingale 2. Cross-examining happiness: reason and community in Plato’s Socratic dialogues 27 Sara Ahbel-Rappe 3. Inspiration, recollection, and mim¯esis in Plato’s Phaedrus 45 Kathryn A. Morgan 4. Plato’s Theaetetus as an ethical dialogue 64 David Sedley 5. Contemplating divine mind 75 Allan Silverman 6. Aristotle and the history of skepticism 97 Alan Code 7. Stoic selection: objects, actions, and agents 110 Stephen White 8. Beauty and its relation to goodness in Stoicism 130 Richard Bett 9. How dialectical was Stoic dialectic? 153 Luca Castagnoli vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information viii Contents 10. Socrates speaks in Seneca, De vita beata 24–28 180 James Ker 11. Seneca’s Platonism: the soul and its divine origin 196 Gretchen Reydams-Schils 12. The status of the individual in Plotinus 216 Kenneth Wolfe A. A. Long: publications 1963–2009 225 Bibliography 237 Index 248 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-11355-7 - Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality Edited by Andrea Nightingale and David Sedley Frontmatter More information Contributors sara ahbel-rappe, Professor of Greek and Latin in the Department of Classical Studies, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor richard bett, Professor of Philosophy and Classics, Johns Hopkins University luca castagnoli, Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy, Department of Clas- sics and Ancient History, Durham University alan code, Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers Uni- versity james ker, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies, University of Pennsyl- vania kathryn a. morgan, Professor of Classics, University of California, Los Angeles andrea nightingale, Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, Stanford University gretchen reydams-schils, Professor in the Program of Liberal Studies and Concurrent in the Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame david sedley, Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Cambridge allan silverman, Professor of Philosophy, Ohio State University stephen white, Professor of Classics and Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin kenneth wolfe, Tutor at St John’s College, Santa Fe ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org.
Recommended publications
  • Plato's Cratylus
    Cambridge University Press 0521584922 - Plato’s Cratylus David Sedley Frontmatter More information PLATO’S CRATYLUS Plato’s Cratylus is a brilliant but enigmatic dialogue. It bears on a topic, the relation of language to knowledge, which has never ceased to be of central philosophical importance, but tackles it in ways which at times look alien to us. In this radical reappraisal of the dialogue, Professor Sedleyargues that the etymologieswhich take up well over half of it are not an embarrassing lapse or semi-private joke on Plato’s part. On the contrary,if taken seriouslyas theyshould be, theyare the keyto understanding both the dialogue itself and Plato’s linguistic philosophymore broadly.The book’s main argument is so formulated as to be intelligible to readers with no knowledge of Greek, and will have a significant impact both on the studyof Plato and on the history of linguistic thought. david sedley is Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophyat the Universityof Cambridge. His work has ranged over most periods and subject areas of Greek and Roman philosophy, including a number of editions of philosophical texts preserved on papyrus. He has been a visiting professor at Princeton, Berkeley, Yale and Cornell, and in2004 will be the Sather Professor at Berkeley. He is the author of Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom (Cambridge 1998) and (with A. A. Long) The Hellenistic Philosophers (Cambridge 1987), as well as editor of The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy (Cambridge 2003). He has been editor of Classical Quarterly (1986–92) and, since 1998,ofOxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Space in Hellenistic Philosophy
    Graziano Ranocchia, Christoph Helmig, Christoph Horn (Eds.) Space in Hellenistic Philosophy Space in Hellenistic Philosophy Critical Studies in Ancient Physics Edited by Graziano Ranocchia Christoph Helmig Christoph Horn ISBN 978-3-11-036495-8 e-ISBN 978-3-11-036585-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Acknowledgements This volume has been published with the financial support of the European Research Council (ERC) and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). Thanks are due to Aurora Corti for her editorial work and to Sergio Knipe for the linguis- tic revision of the manuscript. Table of Contents Abbreviations IX Introduction 1 Keimpe Algra Aristotle’s Conception of Place and its Reception in the Hellenistic Period 11 Michele Alessandrelli Aspects and Problems of Chrysippus’ Conception of Space 53 Teun Tieleman Posidonius on the Void. A Controversial Case of Divergence Revisited 69 David Konstan Epicurus on the Void 83 Holger Essler Space and Movement in Philodemus’ De dis 3: an Anti-Aristotelian Account 101 Carlos Lévy Roman Philosophy under
    [Show full text]
  • Department Newsletter, 2012
    Yale Department of Classics Summer 2012 Greetings from the Chair — Anne Amory and Beautiful New England weather has finally arrived. Life in Phelps Hall has slowed to a walking pace, Adam Parry Lecture and we were delighted, on May 21, to put on The Department of Classics, in academic finery and celebrate the graduation of 10 partnership with Yale Comparative hard working seniors, 5 new PhDs, and a bumper Literature, announces a new lecture crop of new MAs and MPhils. series named for Anne Amory Parry and The year began, in July, with a conference Adam Parry, who were (respectively) organized by Egbert Bakker on the theme members of the Departments of Classics “Authorship, Authority, and Authenticity in at UMass Amherst and Yale at the time Archaic and Classical Greek Song”; March of their deaths in France in June 1971. wrapped up with a three-day symposium on Each an accomplished scholar of Homer, “Marginality, Canonicity, Passion,” in which Irene with wide-ranging interests in literature, Peirano and Pauline Leven, together with many both classical and beyond, the Parrys Yale alumni and other distinguished scholars, gave papers. The emphasis was were supporters of literary culture and on conversation as much as on listening: Jay Fisher, John Matthews, Barbara of women’s education. They bequeathed Shailor, Kirk Freudenburg, and I helped moderate, and all joined in a rich their library to the Department of discussion pondering both what we do, as Classicists, and what it means Comparative Literature, where it is now (p. 3). We also hosted several events in the “Cultures of the Classical” series housed in Bingham Hall.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Voula Tsouna
    CURRICULUM VITAE VOULA TSOUNA PROFESSIONAL ADDRESS: Dept. of Philosophy University of California at Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, California 93106 telephone: (805) 893-3990 CITIZENSHIP: Greek CURRENT ACADEMIC STATUS: Tenured Professor of Philosophy, currently under consideration for accelerated promotion to Full Professor Step III at the Philosophy Department, UCSB. AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION: Socrates, Minor Socrates, Plato, Hellenistic Philosophy, Roman Philosophy, The Philosophical Papyri of Herculaneum. AREAS OF COMPETENCE: Presocratic Philosophers, Aristotle, issues in Medieval Philosophy, French philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries, British Empiricists, areas of Epistemology, Ethics and Moral Psychology. EDUCATION: University of Athens, School of Philosophy, 1979-83; Πτυχεῖον in Philosophy (equivalent to the BA) 1983. Université de Paris X, 1983-84, 1986-88. Diplôme d'Études Approfondies (D.E.A.) in Ancient Philosophy 1984. Subject of thesis: "Sextus Empiricus et le réalisme ontologique," supervised by Prof. J. Brunschwig. Ph.D. in Ancient Philosophy (thèse de Doctorat) 1988. Subject: "Les philosophers Cyrénaïques et leur théorie de la connaissance" supervised by Prof. J. Brunschwig. Cambridge University, King’s College, 1984-86 (fully matriculated): Research in Hellenistic Philosophy. Supervisors: Prof. Myles Burnyeat and Prof. David Sedley. ACADEMIC AWARDS AND HONORS: Honourary acceleration to tenure, Department of Philosophy, UCSB, 2000. Theodor Mommsen Award for the book [Philodemus] [On Choices and Avoidances] (Bibliopolis, Naples 1995) . National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in Philosophy, 1994-95. Centro per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi (Naples, Italy), Research Fellowship, 1988-89. Université de Paris X, Doctorat summa cum laude 1988. Université de Paris X, D.E.A. summa cum laude 1984. University of Athens, School of Philosophy, Ptykheion (equivalent of B.A.) with highest honors, 1983.
    [Show full text]
  • One Long Argument Revisiting Ancient Greek Debates About the Natural World Should Broaden Biologists’ Horizons
    Vol 452|13 March 2008 BOOKS & ARTS One long argument Revisiting ancient Greek debates about the natural world should broaden biologists’ horizons. Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity by David Sedley University of California Press: 2008. 296 pp. £17.95 Armand M. Leroi Evolutionary biologists are — as modern scientists go — a historically minded lot. All ARCHIVE ART ORTI/THE A. DAGLI of us acknowledge the greatness of Charles Darwin and some have even read On the Origin of Species. A few speak of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Lamarck or Goethe. Yet our historical horizon is actually very near. The pre-1859 theoretical landscape is shrouded in a Judeo-Christian gloom that reaches without interruption to the dawn of recorded time, where it dissolves into the Stygian dark- ness of pagan creation myth. David Sedley’s book will change that view. He argues that, for the philosophers of ancient Greece, the central cosmological question was this: is the world, and all that it contains, the handiwork of an intelligent designer? Between 500 and 300 bc, about a dozen major thinkers essayed answers that are bewildering in their variety and ingenu- In Plato (left) one hears a poet; in Aristotle (right), a colleague — albeit one with some cranky views. ity. Some were as creationist as a Christian. Others appealed to more remote forces such cosmic craftsman; Aristotle’s god just thinks. fourth century Athens is exact. As a student, as love. Others again were ardent material- Plato’s world has a beginning; Aristotle’s is Darwin read and enjoyed Paley’s Natural ists and thought the world just self-assem- eternal.
    [Show full text]
  • Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volume 50
    Created on 1 March 2016 at 9.58 hours page i OXFORDSTUDIESINANCIENTPHILOSOPHY Created on 1 March 2016 at 9.58 hours page ii page - is blank Created on 1 March 2016 at 9.58 hours page iii OXFORDSTUDIES INANCIENT PHILOSOPHY EDITOR:VICTORCASTON VOLUMEL 3 Created on 1 March 2016 at 9.58 hours page iv 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, , United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Except where otherwise stated, Oxford University Press, The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in Impression: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press Madison Avenue, New York, NY , United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Oxford studies in ancient philosophy.— Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Posidonian Polemic and Academic Upon Posidonius' I1£Pl Nu8&V
    STEVENS, JOHN A., Posidonian Polemic and Academic Dialectic: The Impact of Carneades upon Posidonius' "Peri pathon" [Greek] , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 34:3 (1993:Fall) p.229 Posidonian Polemic and Academic Dialectic: The 1m pact of Carneades upon Posidonius' I1£Pl nu8&v John A. Stevens HE FRAGMENTS of Posidonius' ethical doctrines preserved T by Galen contain a polemical attack on Chrysippus' doc­ trine of the passions. 1 Posidonius' motives for this attack are not well understood, and many critics argue that Posidonius simply did not understand Chrysippus or misread him. 2 Others interpret Posidonius' work on the passions primarily as a doctrinal reaction to Chrysippean monism: 1 The principal commentaries are 1. G. KIDD and L. EDELSTEIN, edd., Posidonius 2 (Cambridge 1988: hereafter 'EK'): references to the fragments are by page and line numbers unless noted otherwise; W. Theiler, Poseidonios: Die Fragmente (Berlin 1982); P. DE LACY, Galen: On the Doctrines of Hip­ pocrates and Plato (Berlin 1978-84: 'Dc Lacy'): all references to this treatise (PHP) arc after Dc Lacy; and M. Pohlenz, "De Posidonii Libris IT £ P t Ilu9wv," Fleck. J. Suppl. 24 (1898) 537-653. See also L. Edelstein, "The Philo­ sophical System of Posidonius," AJP 57 (1936) 286-325; J. fILLIO:--;- LAHILLE, Le De ira de Seneque et la philosophie stoicienne des passions (Paris 1984: 'fillion­ Lahille') 128-99; M. Laffranque, Poseidonios d'Apamee. Essai de mise au point (Paris 1964) 404-514; K. Reinhardt, Poseidonios (Munich 1921) and "Poseidonios (3)," RE 22.1 (1953) 558-826; and A. GUBERT-THIRRY, "La theorie sto'icienne de la passion chez Chrysippe et son evolution cheL Posidonius," RPhil75 (1977: 'Glibert-Thirry') 393-435.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Professor Brad Inwood Updated July 2020
    Curriculum Vitae Professor Brad Inwood Updated July 2020 1. Contact Information William Lampson Professor of Philosophy and of Classics Department of Classics Yale University 344 College Street P.O. Box 208266 New Haven CT 06520-8266 2. Degrees B.A. Classics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ont., 1974. M.A. Classics, University of Toronto, 1975. Ph.D. Classics, University of Toronto, 1981. 3. Awards, Honours and Scholarships Canada Council Doctoral Fellowships: 1976-9. Queen Elizabeth II Ontario Scholarship: 1980. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Stanford University: 1981. SSHRCC Research Grant: $14,660 for work on Stoic ethics, 1991-94. Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, April 1994. Fellow, National Humanities Centre (US$10,000 for work on Seneca), 1995-6. Canada Research Chair in Ancient Philosophy, 2000-2015. Connaught Research Fellowship, University of Toronto, 2001. SSHRCC Research Grant: 2001-2004 ‘Reading Seneca’ $29,484. Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, 2004-5. (Grant: US$10,000) February 2007 A.E. Taylor lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Elected University Professor, University of Toronto, May 2007. Easter term 2008: Malcolm Bowie Distinguished Visitor at Christ's College, Cambridge February 2009 Eberhard L. Faber Memorial lecturer, Princeton University. Winner of the Northrop Frye Award (teaching), University of Toronto, 2010. April 2011 Carl Newell Jackson lecturer, Harvard University. SSHRCC Research Grant: $70,750 ‘Ethics after Aristotle’, 2011. October 2016 Crake lecturer in Classics, Mount Allison University. April 2018 Gregory Vlastos Memorial Lecturer, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario October 2018 James Bradley Memorial Lecturer, Memorial University of Newfoundland Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, April 2109.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stoic Criterion of Identity Author(S): David Sedley Source: Phronesis, Vol
    The Stoic Criterion of Identity Author(s): David Sedley Source: Phronesis, Vol. 27, No. 3 (1982), pp. 255-275 Published by: Brill Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4182156 Accessed: 20-02-2016 22:38 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Brill is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Phronesis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 20 Feb 2016 22:38:00 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Stoic Criterionof Identity DAVID SEDLEY The story startswith a scene from an earlyGreek comedy. Its authoris the Syracusancomic playwrightEpicharmus, and it probablydates from the opening decades of the fifth centuryB.C. The following reconstructionis based on one verbatim quotation of twelve lines, plus two indirect referencesto it in later authors.' CharacterA is approached by CharacterB for payment of his sub- scription to the running expenses of a forthcoming banquet. Finding himself out of funds, he resortsto asking B the followingriddle: 'Say you took an odd numberof pebbles,or if you like an even number, and chose to add or subtracta pebble: do you think it would still be the same number?' 'No,' says B.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Cratylus
    PLATO’S CRATYLUS DAVID SEDLEY Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Cambridge published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, cb2 2ru,UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011–4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207,Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001,South Africa http://www.cambridge.org c David Sedley 2003 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2003 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Adobe Garamond 10/12.5 pt. System LATEX 2ε [tb] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Sedley, D. N. Plato’s Cratylus / David Sedley. p. cm. – (Cambridge studies in the dialogues of Plato) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0 521 58492 2 (hardback) 1.Plato. Cratylus. 2. Language and languages – Philosophy. i.Title. ii.Series. B367.S43 2003 184 –dc21 2003046177 isbn 0 521 58492 2 hardback Contents Preface page ix 1 Author and text 1 1 Plato and the dialogue 1 2 An outline 3 3 Date 6 4 Late features 14 5 Cratylus 16 6 Plato’s name 21 7 Cratylus’ etymological legacy 23 2 Plato the etymologist
    [Show full text]
  • The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy (2005)
    Cambridge University Press 0521772850 - The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy Edited by David Sedley Frontmatter More information The Cambridge Companion to GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY Edited by David Sedley University of Cambridge © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521772850 - The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy Edited by David Sedley Frontmatter More information the cambridge companion to GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philoso- phy is a wide-ranging introduction to the study of philos- ophy in the ancient world. A team of leading specialists surveys the developments of the period and evaluates a com- prehensive series of major thinkers, ranging from Pythagoras to Epicurus. There are also separate chapters on how philos- ophy in the ancient world interacted with religion, literature and science, and a final chapter traces the seminal influence of Greek and Roman philosophy down to the seventeenth century. Practical elements such as tables, illustrations, a glossary, and extensive advice on further reading make it an ideal book to accompany survey courses on the history of ancient philosophy. It will be an invaluable guide for all who are interested in the philosophical thought of this rich and formative period. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521772850 - The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy Edited by David Sedley Frontmatter More information other volumes in the series of cambridge companions AQUINAS Edited by norman kretzmann and eleonore stump HANNAH ARENDT Edited by dana villa ARISTOTLE Edited by jonathan barnes AUGUSTINE Edited by eleonore stump and norman kretzmann BACON Edited by markku peltonen SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Edited by claudia card DARWIN Edited by jonathan hodge and gregory radick DESCARTES Edited by john cottingham DUNS SCOTUS Edited by thomas williams EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY Edited by a.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stoic Theory of Void
    Vanessa de Harven University of California, Berkeley How Nothing Can Be Something: The Stoic Theory of Void Introduction The notion of void has posed metaphysical difficulties for philosophers since antiquity, and the Stoics are no exception. What could something that is arguably nothing even be? The Stoics’ answer to this question was a matter of some internal debate then, as it is now to those of us looking back. I will give an account of the Stoics’ unique theory of void, and show how it illustrates the general ontological principles that make the Stoics our first true physicalists. To appreciate the uniqueness of Stoic void a little background is necessary. Leucippus and Democritus, in the 5th century BC were the first atomists, followed by Epicurus in the Hellenistic period (4th and 3rd centuries BC). As David Sedley has argued,1 these theories did not come about in a vacuum (so to speak), and their evolution is instructive of the conceptual difficulties of ancient Greek physics. The Greek translated as void is to kenon, which literally means the empty. It is natural to take this as a mass term and thereby understand void as empty space. As Sedley argues, however, in responding to Pythagoras, Parmenides and Melissus, the atomists Leucippus and Democritus conceived of void rather as an element, a negative substance that itself occupies space. Indeed, this is the force of positing atoms and the void (better: voids) as the ultimate constituents of the cosmos. Epicurus and Lucretius, on the other hand, did espouse a concept of void as empty space.
    [Show full text]