The essays can be grouped under two headings. Part 1 deals primarily with the philosophical analysis of authority, while Part 2 deals with the functions and limits of five types of authority—epistemic, moral, political, legal, and religious. The essays in the second part, unlike those in the first part, are interrelated with the various authors referring to, and often disagreeing with, one another.

The aim of this study is to understand the place of Aristotle’s dialectic in his overall theory of intellectual activity. On the way to this goal, the reader is treated to a novel and exciting interpretation of the nature of dialectic. Evans argues that Aristotelian dialectic is a method for progressing from what is intelligible to some group of discussants to what is intelligible without qualification. Evans goes behind this distinction to discover how dialectic can be, as Aristotle claims, the (...) road to the first principles of all the sciences. (shrink)

Panichas offers a straightforward introduction to the life and thought of Epicurus. Directed at the general reader, the book follows the traditional categories of Epicurus' system: atomism, cosmology, theology, happiness and friendship. Whenever the extant fragments fail to provide full information, the author relies heavily on Lucretius to fill the gaps. The author's particular field of competence reveals itself in the concluding chapter which includes a rather detailed discussion of Epicurean influence in English thought. The work has adequate footnotes, bibliography, (...) and index.--J. G. G. (shrink)