Ancient Philosophy Commons^™

Intellectualism In Aristotle, David Keyt

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle maintains that the philosophical or theoretical life is the happiest life and that the political or practical life is the second happiest life, but his notion of the proper relation of these two lives is a matter of scholarly controversy. This paper outlines the various interpretative possibilities and attempts to mediate among them.

Episteme And Doxa: Some Reflections On Eleatic And Heraclitean Themes In Plato, Robert G. Turnbull

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I point out some unnoticed features of the interrelationships between episteme and doxa which help to explain some difficult texts and which I take to be archai for their definitive accounts. Much turns on how 'is' is to be understood, and whether or not it can be said to have different senses.

Plotinus And The Value Of The Human Person, John M. Rist

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Plotinus' views on man and his value must be closely related to his views of the One. His first principle is radically different from that of the Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics who precede him. In many respects, as in all other areas of his thought, his conception is a synthesis of what went before, but it cannot be overemphasized that it is a new conception, a dynamic first principle whose character as efficient cause is to be viewed in terms of Eros and of will as much as of mind and knowledge.

That being so, and man being a microcosm, …

Theology As Intellectual Conversion, Richard Liddy

Department of Religion Publications

No abstract provided.

Listing Of The 1978-1979 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Form Of The Good In Plato's Republic, Gerasimos X. Santas

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The theory of the Form of the Good in the Republic is truly and coherently the centerpiece of the canonical Platonism of the middle dialogues, the centerpiece of Plato's metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics, and even his theory of love and art. In this theory of the Form of the Good Plato was truly the first grand philosophical synthesiser. If to achieve such a grand synthesis he had to employ a few unholy combinations, such as the combination of reality, goodness, and self-predication, he may perhaps be forgiven - at least if he is understood.

Eidos As Norm In Aristotle's Biology, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The first part of the paper explores Aristotle's biological concept of an eidos (species or form) in comparison with modern biological taxonomy. The second part outlines normative determinants of an Aristotelian eidos. The third part considers two passages in which Aristotle compares non-biological eide to biological: pleasures, in EN 10.4-5, and kinds of government in Pol. 4.4.

Form And Content In Gorgias' Helen And Palamedes: Rhetoric, Philosophy, Inconsistency And Invalid Argument In Some Greek Thinkers, Arthur Adkinis

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I ask whether Gorgias indulges in rhetorical flourishes in which form takes precedence over content, and whether the presuppositions of the Helen and Palamedes are inconsistent with one another. More generally, are the presuppositions and inconsistencies of Gorgias shared with other early Greek philosophers.

"Nothing" As "Not-Being": Some Literary Contexts That Bear On Plato And On Parmenides, Alexander P.D. Mourelatos

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In the main Section of this paper I examine a certain "characterizing" use of meden/ouden and medeis/oudeis in pre-Platonic non-philosophical contexts. The passages discussed and analyzed offer cle.ar and suggestive illustrations of the assimilation of "nothing" or "nobody" to "not-being." In the concluding Section I explore connections between that use and philosophical concepts,with particular reference to Plato's doctrine of degrees of reality.

The dialectic of being in classical Greek speculation focuses not on 'What there is' but on 'what it is' or 'how it is'; not on existence but on physis, constitution, or form.

Listing Of The 1977-1978 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Problems In Epicurean Physics, David Konstan

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This article treats several problems in Epicurean atomic theory, including how atoms rebound (the answer is that they must keep moving at a uniform speed and simply move in another direction when impeded), the role of minima in defining the boundaries of an atom and accounting for its impenetrability and why adjacent atoms do not merge, and the explanation of atomic weight as a tendency of atoms emerging from collisions to move in a preferred direction, which is by definition “down.”

Diogenes Of Oenoanda: The New Discoveries (1968-1976), Diskin Clay

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Short bibliography of the state of the art on the fragments of Diogenes of Oenoanda as of December 1976.

Epicurus' Conception Of The Psyche, K. W. Harrington

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In this paper I try to establish the following differences between Epicurean and Lucretian psyches:

1. For Lucretius, the psyche is composed of particles of air, breath, heat, and a fourth unnamed constituent. Epicurus suggests that the psyche is composed of a single kind of atom, and that it in some way resembles heat and in some way resembles breath.

2. For Epicurus, breath and heat are properties of compounds, not kinds of atoms or kinds of compound entities. Lucretius apparently takes the opposite position.

3. For Lucretius, the components of the psyche seem to be entities larger than atoms.

Plato On The Complexity Of The Psyche, John Moline

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

What were the parts of the psyche posited by Plato in the Republic? The question calls not for a list but for an account of the grounds on which Plato posited and distinguished such parts. It calls for an account of their nature and role in his system.

We are not lacking in attempts at such an account. These parts have been termed "faculties", "principles", "activities", "aspects", "instances", and "levels" of the psyche. Their nature and role have been characterized in ways influenced as much perhaps by the connotations of these terms as by the details of Plato's text. …

Epicurus' Scientific Method, Elizabeth Asmis

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I argued that Epicurus sought to infer all truths about what cannot be perceived (what is "non-apparent", adêlon) by using what is perceived (the "phenomena") as "signs" of what is non-apparent. This is an empirical method, based on the claim that sensory perception shows what is true. In the case of his basic physical doctrines, Epicurus argued by a reductio ad absurdum that if the negation of the doctrine were true, there would be a conflict with what we perceive. This applies to Epicurus' first two doctrines, that "nothing come to be from non-being" and that "nothing is destroyed …

Listing Of The 1976-1977 Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Anaxagoras And Epicurus, Margaret Reesor

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It is, I believe, clear that Epicurus adopted an interpretation of the impression which was alien to Democritus’ atomic theory and closer to that of Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras may have believed that the qualities of the impression accurately reproduced the attributes of the objects; and he certainly regarded the objects of sense perception as true. He held that that from which an entity emerges had predominant parts which were the same as the predominant parts of the entity. Anaxagoras' experiments suggest that he was aware in some degree of the principle of confirmatory evidence and evidence to the contrary. His form …

Xenophanes' Skepticism, James H. Lesher

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The character of Xenophanes’ skepticism was the subject of dispute as early as the 4th century BC and the central statement of his position, fragment 34, has been variously interpreted ever since. In this paper I argue that Xenophanes’ remarks about knowledge are best understood in connection with his distinctive, austere conception of the divine (B 23-26) and related rejection of the claims of seers and diviners to gain access to divine matters (A 52). When Xenophanes denies that there ever was or will be anyone who “knows about the gods and such things as I say about all things,” …

Anaxagoras' Theory Of Change: A Response To Parmenides, David J. Furley

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Assuming that Anaxagoras was responding to Parmenides, I shall examine the nature of his response. I aim to show that the fragments and other evidence can and should be interpreted as belonging to a system whose main purpose is to provide an apparatus for explaining change without "coming to be" or "perishing".

Anaxagoras On The Composition Of Matter, David Sider

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

We will try to ignore the often-repeated "everything in everything," which if taken literally leads to an infinite regress. We hope that Anaxagoras' theory of the composition of matter can be established by first examining his more straightforward and conventional statements; then, perhaps, the paradox will take care of itself.

Morphogenesis: Some Elements Of Aristotelian Embryology And Some Ontological Ramifications, Montgomery Furth

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle's metaphysical theory of individual objects and their essences is preeminently aimed at formulating and resolving several fundamental issues regarding biological objects, living things. For this reason the biological writings are in some ways a better resource than the Metaphysics for a vivid intuitive conceptualization of what 'substantial being' concretely comes to.

Science And The Philosophy In Aristotle's Biological Works, Anthony Preus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

The contents of this book cover observations and theories, science and philosophy in Aristotle's "Generation of Animals," understanding the organic parts, necessity and purpose in the explanation of nature, notes and a bibliography.

Listing Of The 1975-1976 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Aristotle's Doctrine Of Elements, L. Shannon Dubose

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In his studies of nature, Aristotle pursues a series of connected inquiries. He elicits a series of sets of elements; none of the steps is abandoned in favor of later ones. Each set of elements discovers primary constituents of an appropriate sort. Substratum, form, and privation are the most fundamental for the study of generable objects.

Heart And Soul In Aristotle, Theodore Tracy S.J.

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

When Aristotle speaks of the soul 'in the heart' he has in mind the heart as primary and proximate material organ of the soul, the controlling organ originally informed and activated by the soul, upon which all the other organs depend for their formation and activation by the soul. They too live, are informed and activated by the soul, but in a way that is secondary and more remote. To speak of the soul as existing 'in the heart' is not to deny its presence in the other organs, but to indicate the primary and proximate subject it informs and …

The Tragic And Comic Poet Of The Symposium, Diskin Clay

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Focus on the final scene in Plato's Symposium leads to consideration of the relationship between tragedy and comedy in Plato's composition of dialogues and thought. The tragic poet and comic poet are the same person; Plato combines tragedy and comedy in his portrait of Socrates.

Listing Of The 1974-1975 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Sophrosune As Quietness, L. Aryeh Kosman

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aryeh Kosman writes: When I presented it, as I recall, I read a silly little poem for the occasion, (nods to W. Gilbert) which delighted Rosamond Kent Sprague (who chaired the session) no end:

Sophrosyne in the soul

Leads to quiet self control

Which is not the same

As Dolce far niente

Fast or slow as he may please

The Sophron acts with quiet ease

As the ancient Romans said

Festina Lente.

Forms And Explanation In The Phaedo, Charlotte Stough

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In coming to grips with what are essentially logical and conceptual problems Plato doubtless had in mind and followed the example set by the natural philosophers. It seems very likely, therefore, that he thought of his Forms as causes of certain puzzling facts in a manner initially not wholly unlike that in which others had believed air or fire to be causes of various physical phenomena. Plato's language suggests that his own explanatory formula, though strikingly different in function from any other, was fashioned after those of his precursors.

Zeno And Stoic Consistency, John M. Rist

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It seems that the Stoics were prepared to say two things : 1) It will in fact pay to be virtuous provided that you want to be happy; and 2) the good man will seek virtue for its own sake. Some of the apparent difficulties in reconciling these propositions may be resolved by examining the notion of seeking virtue for its own sake. What then do the Stoics say that virtue is?

Any Cynic could advocate a consistent life, for the description is purely formal. But one consistent life might be set against another, and Zeno's appeal to natural consistency …