R. B. Rutherford

Brad Inwood

Andrea Nightingale

Christopher Gill

Dorothea Frede

David Sedley

Terry Penner

Kathryn Morgan

David Blank

Charles Kahn

Charles L., Jr. Griswold

New Perspectives on Plato, Modern and Ancient (Hellenic Studies Series)

Mary Margaret McCabe

Why did Plato put his philosophical arguments into dialogues, rather than presenting them in a plain and readily understandable fashion? In writing rich tales of philosophical encounters, does Plato desert clarity in favour of seducing his readers with fine words, or is there a philosophicalreason behind the form of his argument? While recent work has focused on the literary brilliance of the early dialogues, the late dialogues present a particular problem: they lack the vivid literary character of Plato's earlier works, and the dialogue structure seems to be a mere formality. Is therea philosophical reason why Plato's late works are in the form of dialogues? In this volume, a group of internationally prominent scholars address that question. Their answers are fresh, varied, and powerfully argued. This volume offers both a series of first-class essays on major late Platonic dialogues and a discussion which has important implications for the study of philosophical method and the relation between philosophy and literature. It shows that the literary form and modes of dialectic of the latedialogues are richly rewarding to study, and that doing so is of deep importance for Plato's philosophical project.

Form and Argument in Late Plato

Four related themes in Greek thought are examined in this book: (1) personality and self, (2) ethics and values (3) individuals and communities, and (4) the idea of nature as a moral norm. Although the focus is on Greek philosophy (the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic period), links between philosophy and literature or the wider culture are also explored. The book combines a survey of recent scholarship on these topics with the author's own interpretations. It can be used by students or teachers of classical studies or philosophy as an introduction to key themes and issues in Greek ethics or psychology. One aspect of the subject given special emphasis is the relationship between ancient and modern ideas on the issues treated here. The book closes with a selective bibliography on modern work on Greek philosophy.

Greek Thought

A study of the psychological ideas of Galen (AD 129-c.210, the most important medical writer in antiquity) and Stoicism (a major philosophical theory in the Hellenistic and Roman periods), which Galen discussed extensively. Christopher Gill argues that the two theories are complementary, and still of value to the modern reader.

Naturalistic Psychology in Galen and Stoicism

Richard Seaford

Norman Postlethwaite

Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History Norman Postlethwaite

Reciprocity has been seen as an important notion for anthropologists studying economic and social relations, and this volume examines it in connection with Greek culture from Homer to the Hellenistic period.

Reciprocity in Ancient Greece

Tim Whitmarsh

John Wilkins

"This volume of new essays is based on a conference with the same title held at the University of Exeter in 2005. All those speaking on that occasion have written chapters in this volume, along with Riccardo Chiaradonna whose chapter has been specially prepared for the volume. The aim of this volume, like the conference on which it is based, is to contribute to the upsurge of new research on Galen by focusing on a topic that bridges the interests of specialists in ancient medical history and Classicists and philosophers more generally. The conference also represents the convergence of two current focuses of research in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Exeter, on ancient medicine especially Galen and on Hellenistic and Imperial Greek culture more generally"--Provided by publisher.

Galen and the World of Knowledge

Susanna Morton Braund

Understanding the emotions or 'passions' in key literary and intellectual Latin writings.

The Passions in Roman Thought and Literature

This book aims to bring together all the evidence relevant for understanding Plato's Atlantis Story, providing the Greek text of the relevant Platonic texts (the start of Plato's Timaeus and the incomplete Critias), together with a commentary on language and content, and a full vocabulary of Greek words. This essential work also offers a new translation of these texts and a full introduction. The book has two special objectives. The introduction offers a full-scale interpretative reading of the Atlantis story, focused on the philosophical meaning of the story and the significance of Plato's presentation, and responding to recent scholarly discussion of these questions. In conjunction with the new translation, this introduction provides a point of entry to a fascinating story for a wide range of readers. The introduction also discusses the question whether the story had a factual basis, and assesses possible links with Minoan Crete. Secondly, the Greek text (the Oxford Classical text) and commentary are juxtaposed and presented in 'bite-size' chunks making it easy to use and helpful especially for students using the book to improve their Greek. The notes provide full grammatical and linguistic help as well as pointers on the philosophical content and presentation, supported by the translation and complete vocabulary of Greek terms. The book is a second edition of one published in 1980. This edition has a new translation, a much fuller introduction, revised and updated notes and a new commentary format.

Text, Translation and Commentary

Plato's Atlantis Story

George Boys-Stones

Dimitri El Murr

This is a collection of essays written by leading experts in honour of Christopher Rowe, and inspired by his groundbreaking work in the exegesis of Plato. The authors represent scholarly traditions which are sometimes very different in their approaches and interests, and so rarely brought into dialogue with each other. This volume, by contrast, aims to explore synergies between them. Key topics include: the literary unity of Plato's works; the presence and role of his contemporaries in his dialogues; the function of myth (especially the Atlantis myth); Plato's Socratic heritage, especially as played out in his discussions of psychology; his views of truth and being. Prominent among the dialogues discussed are Euthydemus, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, Theaetetus, Timaeus, Sophist and Laws.

The Platonic Art of Philosophy

Christopher Gill provides a new translation and commentary on the first half of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, and a full introduction to the Meditations as a whole. The Meditations constitute a unique and remarkable work, a reflective diary or notebook by a Roman emperor, that is based on Stoic philosophy but presented in a highly distinctive way. Gill focuses on the philosophical content of the work, especially the question of how far it is consistent with Stoic theory as we know this from other sources. He argues that the Meditations are largely consistent with Stoic theory—more than has been often supposed. The work draws closely on core themes in Stoic ethics and also reflects Stoic thinking on the links between ethics and psychology or the study of nature. To make sense of the Meditations, it is crucial to take into account its overall aim, which seems to be to help Marcus himself take forward his own ethical development by creating occasions for reflection on key Stoic themes that can help to guide his life. This new edition will help students and scholars of ancient philosophy make sense of a work whose intellectual content and status have often been found puzzling. Along with volumes in the Clarendon Later Ancient Philosophers series on Epictetus and Seneca, it will help to chart the history of Stoic philosophy in the first and second century AD. The translation is designed to be accessible to modern readers and all Greek and Latin are translated in the introduction and commentary.

Marcus Aurelius: Meditations

Christopher Gill offers a wide-ranging and original account of what is new and distinctive in Hellenistic and Roman ideas about selfhood and personality. He focuses upon Stoic and Epicurean philosophy and its relationship to earlier Greek thought (especially Plato) and comtemporary literature.

The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought

François Renaud

This volume of new essays by an international group of scholars examines the response of Hans-Georg Gadamer to Plato, especially to the Philebus. The book studies Gadamer's interpretative approach to the dialogues and unwritten doctrines of Plato. It also shows how, for Gadamer, reading Plato was intimately interconnected with formulating his own philosophical views. The volume also brings out how Gadamer influenced Donald Davidson in his reading of Plato and his philosophical thought. The volume thus explores a fascinating case-study of the creative reception of Plato by two major twentieth-century philosophers, Gadamer and Davidson, while also clarifying Gadamer's relationship to Heidegger. It will be of interest to scholars and students of Plato, especially on the Philebus, and also to scholars of twentieth-century thought.

Christopher Gill

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