This article discusses some methodological issues concerning the nature of the study of ancient philosophy, and especially the relation between the precise historical and philological reading of the ancient texts and the philosophical speculation about what these texts mean, or (as is often the case) what one thinks that they should, or must, mean. I take as a specimen of the ‘more philosophical’ approach two articles by Michael Frede, both from his Essays in Ancient Philosophy. In his Introduction, Frede seems (...) to base what he regards as the proper study of the ancient philosophical texts on the detection in these texts of what he calls “good reasons”, which he identifies with “what we ourselves would regard as good reasons”. This would imply – in this particular case – that the criteria employed by a contemporary analytic philosopher should serve as the acid test of the validity of any historical reconstruction of what an ancient philosopher – who had no idea whatsoever of analytic philosophy (or of any other modern philosophical fashion) – really meant. Purely historical considerations, according to Frede, should only serve in the last resort, in cases where we have failed to detect “good reasons”. To illustrate the consequences of such an approach, I discuss some of the features of the other article, ‘The Original Notion of Cause’, showing that, while it makes some very useful contributions to elucidating Stoic concepts of causality, it sheds no light on the earlier meanings of αἴτιος and αἰτία as two of the main, and original, Greek concepts of causation. This is demonstrated through a brief (and very basic) survey of the development of these two concepts from Homer to the early fourth century. (shrink)

Στὴν ἀνακοίνωσή μου θ᾿ἀσχοληθῶ μέ μερικὲς ἀσυνέπειες, ἀπορίες καὶ ἄλλες δυσκολίες που ἔχω ἀντιμετωπίσει διαβάζοντας τὸν πλα-τωνικὸ διάλογο Ἴων ὡς διάλογο, δηλ. ὡς μιὰ συζήτηση, φιλοσοφικὴ βεβαίως, ἀλλὰ ἀκόμα συζήτηση μεταξὺ δύο προσώπων. Αὐτὸ πού πα-ρατηρεῖ κανεὶς διαβάζοντας τὸν διάλογο προσεκτικὰ εἶναι ὅτι ὁ Σωκράτης πολὺ συχνὰ ἐκμεταλλεύεται τὴν φιλοσοφικὴ ἀφέλεια τοῦ συνομιλητῆ του, ἀλλάζοντας μέσα στὸ διάλογο τὴ σημασία κεντρικῶν λέξεων, ἀποδίδοντας στὸν Ἴωνα πράγματα καὶ ἰδέες πού ὁ Ἴων ποτὲ δὲν ἐξέφρασε, καί κατηγο-ρώντας αὐτὸν γιὰ κάτι πού δέν (...) ἔκανε αὐτὸς, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ ἔκανε ὁ ἴδιος ὁ Σωκράτης. Δὲν προσφέρω καμμία “μαγικὴ θεραπεία”·φτάνει νὰ δείξω, πολὺ συχνὰ γιὰ πρώτη φορὰ, τὴν ὕπαρξη τέτοιων δυσκολιῶν. (shrink)

"De Divinatione" 1.115 has been ascribed in the past to Posidonius, to 'a Pythagoreanizing Posidonius', or to 'the Stoics'. Its emphasis on the soul's eternity and knowledge of 'all things in Hades and on earth' precludes such sources. I point out that the passage contains clear reminiscences of the myth of transmigration and ἀνάμνησις in Meno and of a passage in the myth of Er, probably combining them with "Republic" 571-2. No philosopher or school known to us could be Cicero's (...) source for such a combination, taking, as it does, such details of the Platonic myths as literal truths. I suggest that Cicero's source for this passage was some contemporary or slightly earlier 'Pythagoreanizing Platonist', whose identity can no longer be established. (shrink)

The first part of this article deals with two cases of what seems to be Aristotelian reminiscences in the works of Philo of Alexandria. A passage in Quod deterius and a passage in De agricultura show close verbal reminiscences to two passages in Book i of Nicomachean Ethics; and a passage in De migratione Abrahami shows verbal reminiscences to two passages in Book ii. Since it appears from Book v of De finibus that Antiochus of Ascalon had already read at (...) least parts of Nicomachean Ethics; and the first commentator on the Ethics, Aspasius, has clear references to some predecessors who had already read and discussed this work, I argue for the possibility that Philo also read the Nicomachean Ethics. The second part deals with an almost forgotten book review by Jacob Freudenthal, published in 1875, which argues that Philo was familiar with various parts of the Aristotelian corpus as we have it. I examine his detailed arguments and conclude that, with all due respect to a great scholar, they do not seem to prove his point. (shrink)

This book is an extended review of three Hebrew books by Samuel Scolnicov, showing their deficiencies in matters of basic Greek, basic facts, and philosophical sense and consistency.

Critolaus' parable of the two scales is reported by Cicero in two passages of his philosophical writings: Tusc. 5.51 and Fin. 5.91–2. Despite the extremely close verbal parallels, Wehrli has edited these passages as two separate fragments of Critolaus.1 cite the passages as in the Teubner editions of Pohlenz and Schiche.

Critolaus' parable of the two scales is reported by Cicero in two passages of his philosophical writings: Tusc. 5.51 and Fin. 5.91–2. Despite the extremely close verbal parallels, Wehrli has edited these passages as two separate fragments of Critolaus.1 cite the passages as in the Teubner editions of Pohlenz and Schiche.

The essays in this volume illustrate the passage and influence of Greek into Latin from the earliest period of Roman history until the end of the period in which Latin was a living literary language. They show how the Romans, however much they were influenced, to begin with, by the Greek literary language and Greek literature and its forms, were conscious of being not mere conquerors and rulers of the Greek world, but active participants in the further development of the (...) culture initiated by the Greeks; how the importance of ancient Greek culture continued to be felt, with greater and lesser emphasis, in the Western Middle Ages, and the reintroduction of the Greek language in Renaissance Europe only made this interest in the Greek heritage more pronounced; and how ancient Greek works were received and transformed into Latin at various stages in the process of the rediscovery of ancient Greek culture in the West. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie Jahrgang: 101 Heft: 1 Seiten: 135-144.

This article treats Plato’s Ion as a test-case. It is widely accepted in literature about Plato that he was a consistent and systematic thinker, whose dialogues express his views and complement each other, and that each dialogue has a main purport which the reader should discover or be told about by the commentator even before reading the dialogue. In the first section of this article, specimen passages from the literature on Plato are cited and discussed. In the second part I (...) point out some serious contradictions, sometimes bordering on dishonesty, in Socrates’ treatment of Ion, in the sequence of his arguments, and in his use of words in different senses without warning his interlocutor. The offshoot of it is that one cannot simply accept the consistent, dogmatic image of Plato the dogmatic preacher, and only reading the dialogue as drama may help us have a guess at what Plato is playing at. (shrink)

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.

John MacFarlane explores how we might make sense of the idea that truth is relative. He provides new, satisfying accounts of parts of our thought and talk that have resisted traditional methods of analysis, including what we mean when we talk about what is tasty, what we know, what will happen, what might be the case, and what we ought to do.

Much as we would like to conceive empirical thought as rationally grounded in experience, pitfalls await anyone who tries to articulate this position, and ...

What psychological and philosophical significance should we attach to recent efforts at computer simulations of human cognitive capacities? In answering this question, I find it useful to distinguish what I will call "strong" AI from "weak" or "cautious" AI. According to weak AI, the principal value of the computer in the study of the mind is that it gives us a very powerful tool. For example, it enables us to formulate and test hypotheses in a more rigorous and precise fashion. (...) But according to strong AI, the computer is not merely a tool in the study of the mind; rather, the appropriately programmed computer really is a mind, in the sense that computers given the right programs can be literally said to. (shrink)

This new edition of the classic Contemporary Theories of Knowledge has been significantly updated to include analyses of the recent literature in epistemology.

This study provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of the meaning of Locke's political thought. John Dunn restores Locke's ideas to their exact context, and so stresses the historical question of what Locke in the Two Treatises of Government was intending to claim. By adopting this approach, he reveals the predominantly theological character of all Locke's thinking about politics and provides a convincing analysis of the development of Locke's thought. In a polemical concluding section, John Dunn argues that liberal and (...) Marxist interpretations of Locke's politics have failed to grasp his meaning. Locke emerges as not merely a contributor to the development of English constitutional thought, or as a reflector of socio-economic change in seventeenth-century England, but as essentially a Calvinist natural theologian. (shrink)

This is a selection of essays on moral responsibility that represent the major components of John Martin Fischer's overall approach to freedom of the will and moral responsibility. The collection exhibits the overall structure of Fischer's view and shows how the various elements fit together to form a comprehensive framework for analyzing free will and moral responsibility. The topics include deliberation and practical reasoning, freedom of the will, freedom of action, various notions of control, and moral accountability. The essays (...) seek to provide a foundation for our practices of holding each other (and ourselves) morally and legally accountable for our behavior. A crucial move is the distinction between two kinds of control. According to Fischer, "regulative control" involves freedom to choose and do otherwise ("alternative possibilities"), whereas "guidance control" does not. Fischer contends that guidance control is all the freedom we need to be morally responsible agents. Further, he contends that such control is fully compatible with causal determinism. Additionally, Fischer argues that we do not need genuine access to alternative possibilities in order for there to be a legitimate point to practical reasoning. Fischer's overall framework contains an argument for the contention that guidance control, and not regulative control, is associated with moral responsibility, a sketch of a comprehensive theory of moral responsibility (that ties together responsibility for actions, omissions, consequences, and character), and an account of the value of moral responsibility. On this account, the value of exhibiting freedom (of the relevant sort) and thus being morally responsible for one's behavior is a species of the value of artistic self-expression. (shrink)

John Hyman explores central problems in philosophy of action and the theory of knowledge, and connects these areas of enquiry in a new way. His approach to the dimensions of human action culminates in an original analysis of the relation between knowledge and rational behaviour, which provides the foundation for a new theory of knowledge itself.

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare's finesse to Oscar Wilde's wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim's Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of (...) the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library. (shrink)

John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism is one of the most important, controversial, and suggestive works of moral philosophy ever written. Mill defends the view that all human action should produce the greatest happiness overall, and that happiness itself is to be understood as consisting in "higher" and "lower" pleasures. This volume uses the 1871 edition of the text, the last to be published in Mill's lifetime. The text is preceded by a comprehensive introduction assessing Mill's philosophy and the alternatives to (...) utilitarianism, and discussing some of the specific issues Mill raises in Utilitarianism. (shrink)