Ancient Philosophy Commons^™

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 …

Plotinus And Paranormal Phenomena, Richard T. Wallis

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The present paper is intended primarily for classicists who are not specialists in Neoplatonism and will therefore tell experts in Plotinus little of which they are not already well aware. Its purpose is to explain Plotinus' views on a subject which finds itself, perhaps surprisingly, once again of some contemporary interest, and where misunderstandings and emotionally toned judgments are only too easy. It will be concerned as much with the reasons underlying Plotinus' beliefs as with those beliefs themselves, and in particular will show how his views on paranormal phenomena spring naturally from some of the most fundamental principles of …

Listing Of The 1973-1974 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Parmenides: 'To Be' Or 'Not To Be', Victorino Tejera

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I will seek to test the possibility that Parmenides was referring, in the Way of Being (the Aletheia), to existence-as-a-whole. According to this hypothesis Parmenides, in expounding 'the first way' should be understood to be making clear what can be said without contradiction about existence-as-a-whole, i.e. about what is, about Being.

Symbol And Structure In Heraclitus, Raymond Adolf Prier

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Prier reviews the interpretations of Heraclitus by Guthrie and Hegel in terms of a scientific viewpoint and an idealist viewpoint. Prier follows a suggestion by Cherniss to examine the fragments in symbolic and structural terms.

Iamblichus' Criticism Of His Immediate Predecessors, John M. Dillon

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This paper deals with the criticisms that Iamblichus levels against his predecessors. His differences with his predecessors are not as great as he tries to make them. His criticisms consist largely of reformulations and more exact specifications. He takes his stand as a conservative, preserving the purity of Platonism against Porphyry or Amelius.

Aristotle And Plato's Theory Of Transcendent Ideas, Chung-Hwan Chen

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Listing Of The 1972-1973 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Aristotle's De Philosophia And The Introduction Of The Fifth Element, David E. Hahm

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

One of the most influential of Aristotle's ideas, the idea that the heavenly bodies consist of a fifth element distinct from the four earthly elements (earth, water, air, and fire) is widely believed to have been introduced to the world for the first time in Aristotle's lost dialogue De Philosophia. This assumption has created a host of problems which have not yet been solved.

The Dissoi Logoi 4, 5 And 6, Thomas M. Robinson

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Translation, with comments, of Dissoi Logoi 4, 5, and 6, based on a new edition of the text.

Socrates And Protagoras, Michael I. Stokes

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Stokes provides a close reading of the arguments in Plato's Protagoras, focusing especially on Socrates' questions after Protagoras' "Great Speech."