Philosophy before the Greeks

Philosophy before the Greeks PDF Author: Marc Van De Mieroop
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
There is a growing recognition that philosophy isn't unique to the West, that it didn't begin only with the classical Greeks, and that Greek philosophy was influenced by Near Eastern traditions. Yet even today there is a widespread assumption that what came before the Greeks was "before philosophy." In Philosophy before the Greeks, Marc Van De Mieroop, an acclaimed historian of the ancient Near East, presents a groundbreaking argument that, for three millennia before the Greeks, one Near Eastern people had a rich and sophisticated tradition of philosophy fully worthy of the name. In the first century BC, the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily praised the Babylonians for their devotion to philosophy. Showing the justice of Diodorus's comment, this is the first book to argue that there were Babylonian philosophers and that they studied knowledge systematically using a coherent system of logic rooted in the practices of cuneiform script. Van De Mieroop uncovers Babylonian approaches to knowledge in three areas: the study of language, which in its analysis of the written word formed the basis of all logic; the art of divination, which interpreted communications between gods and humans; and the rules of law, which confirmed that royal justice was founded on truth. The result is an innovative intellectual history of the ancient Near Eastern world during the many centuries in which Babylonian philosophers inspired scholars throughout the region—until the first millennium BC, when the breakdown of this cosmopolitan system enabled others, including the Greeks, to develop alternative methods of philosophical reasoning.

Philosophy before the Greeks

Philosophy before the Greeks PDF Author: Marc Van De Mieroop
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
There is a growing recognition that philosophy isn't unique to the West, that it didn't begin only with the classical Greeks, and that Greek philosophy was influenced by Near Eastern traditions. Yet even today there is a widespread assumption that what came before the Greeks was "before philosophy." In Philosophy before the Greeks, Marc Van De Mieroop, an acclaimed historian of the ancient Near East, presents a groundbreaking argument that, for three millennia before the Greeks, one Near Eastern people had a rich and sophisticated tradition of philosophy fully worthy of the name. In the first century BC, the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily praised the Babylonians for their devotion to philosophy. Showing the justice of Diodorus's comment, this is the first book to argue that there were Babylonian philosophers and that they studied knowledge systematically using a coherent system of logic rooted in the practices of cuneiform script. Van De Mieroop uncovers Babylonian approaches to knowledge in three areas: the study of language, which in its analysis of the written word formed the basis of all logic; the art of divination, which interpreted communications between gods and humans; and the rules of law, which confirmed that royal justice was founded on truth. The result is an innovative intellectual history of the ancient Near Eastern world during the many centuries in which Babylonian philosophers inspired scholars throughout the region—until the first millennium BC, when the breakdown of this cosmopolitan system enabled others, including the Greeks, to develop alternative methods of philosophical reasoning.

Early Greek Thought

Early Greek Thought PDF Author: James Luchte
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 144115616X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
Early Greek Thought calls into question a longstanding mythology - operative in both the Analytic and Continental traditions - that the 'Pre-Socratics had the grandiose audacity to break with all traditional forms of knowledge' (Badiou). Each of the variants of this mythology is dismantled in an attempt to not only retrieve an 'indigenous' interpretation of early Greek thought, but also to expose the mythological character of our own contemporary meta-narratives regarding the 'origins' of 'Western', 'Occidental' philosophy. Using an original hermeneutical approach, James Luchte excavates the context of emergence of early Greek thought through an exploration of the mytho-poetic horizons of the archaic world, in relation to which, as Plato testifies, the Greeks were merely 'children'. Luchte discloses 'philosophy in the tragic age' as a creative response to a 'contestation' of mytho-poetic narratives and 'ways of being'. The tragic character of early Greek thought is unfolded through a cultivation of a conversation between its basic thinkers, one which would remain incomprehensible, with Bataille, in the 'absence of myth' and the exile of poetry.

Introducing Greek Philosophy

Introducing Greek Philosophy PDF Author: Rosemary Wright
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317492463
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Aimed at students of classics and of philosophy who would like a taste of the subject before being committed to a full course and at those who have already started and need to find their bearings in what may seem at first a complex maze of names and schools, "Introducing Greek Philosophy" is a concise, lively, philosophically aware introduction to ancient Greek philosophy. The book begins with the Milesians in Asia Minor before moving over to the developments in the western Greek world, then focusing on Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Athens, finishing with the Hellenistic schools and their arrival in Rome, where the main ideas are set out in the Latin poetry of Lucretius and the prose of Cicero.The book eschews the method of most histories of ancient philosophy of addressing one thinker after another through the centuries. Instead, after a basic mapping of the territory, it takes the great themes that the Greeks were engaged in from the earliest times, and looks at them individually, their development in argument and counter-argument, from the beginnings of recorded Greek history, through the various upheavals of tyrannies, democracies, oligarchies and kingships, to their introduction into Rome in the first century BC.

Ancient Greek Philosophy

Ancient Greek Philosophy PDF Author: Thomas A. Blackson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444396080
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
Ancient Greek Philosophy: From the Presocratics to the Hellenistic Philosophers presents a comprehensive introduction to the philosophers and philosophical traditions that developed in ancient Greece from 585 BC to 529 AD. Provides coverage of the Presocratics through the Hellenistic philosophers Moves beyond traditional textbooks that conclude with Aristotle A uniquely balanced organization of exposition, choice excerpts and commentary, informed by classroom feedback Contextual commentary traces the development of lines of thought through the period, ideal for students new to the discipline Can be used in conjunction with the online resources found at http://tomblackson.com/Ancient/toc.html

The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy

The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy PDF Author: A. A. Long
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521446679
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
A 1999 Companion to Greek philosophy, invaluable for new readers, and for specialists.

Becoming God

Becoming God PDF Author: Patrick Lee Miller
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847061648
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
A lucid presentation of the first and most influential attempts to weave together philosophical thought on God, reason and happiness.

Early Greek Philosophy

Early Greek Philosophy PDF Author: John Burnet
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy, Ancient
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description


God and Greek Philosophy

God and Greek Philosophy PDF Author: Lloyd P. Gerson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780415034869
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description


Greek and Roman Philosophy After Aristotle

Greek and Roman Philosophy After Aristotle PDF Author: Jason L. Saunders
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684836432
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
A concise selection from the standard philosophical works written after the death of Aristotle to the close of the third century, which includes the writings of seminal figures from early Christian thought. Eminent scholar Jason Saunders shows how philosophers from the Hellenistic Age greatly influenced early Christian teachings.

Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance (New Edition)

Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance (New Edition) PDF Author: Anthony Gottlieb
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393354229
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
"His book...supplant[s] all others, even the immensely successful History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell."—A. C. Grayling Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. This landmark study of Western thought takes a fresh look at the writings of the great thinkers of classic philosophy and questions many pieces of conventional wisdom. The book invites comparison with Bertrand Russell's monumental History of Western Philosophy, "but Gottlieb's book is less idiosyncratic and based on more recent scholarship" (Colin McGinn, Los Angeles Times). A New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Best Book, and a Times Literary Supplement Best Book of 2001.