The Presocratic Philosophers

Jonathan Barnes0415050790, 9780415050791, 9780203007372

This volume provides a comprehensive exposition of the arguments of the Presocratics–the founding fathers of the Western philosophical tradition and the first masters of rational thought. While previous books have concentrated on historical and philological issues, The Presocratic Philosophers focuses on the philosophical content of Presocratic ideas and arguments, offering a rigorous assessment of their contribution to philosophical thought. The book considers all the main thinkers from Thales to the Sophists and pays particular attention to Parmenides, Zeno, Anaxagoras and Democritus.

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Table of contents :
Book Cover……Page 1
Half-Title……Page 2
Series Title……Page 3
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Contents……Page 7
Preface……Page 10
Preface to the Revised Edition……Page 13
Note on Citations……Page 18
PROLOGUE……Page 20
I The Springs of Reason……Page 21
EDEN……Page 32
II Anaximander on Nature……Page 33
III Science and Speculation……Page 48
IV The Natural Philosophy of Heraclitus……Page 62
V The Divine Philosophy of Xenophanes……Page 82
VI Pythagoras and the Soul……Page 97
VII The Moral Law……Page 114
VIII The Principles of Human Knowledge……Page 126
THE SERPENT……Page 140
IX Parmenides and the Objects of Inquiry……Page 141
X Being and Becoming……Page 158
XI Stability and Change……Page 177
XII Zeno: Paradox and Plurality……Page 201
XIII Zeno: Paradox and Progression……Page 224
XIV The Ports of Knowledge Closed……Page 251
PARADISE REGAINED……Page 257
XV The Ionian Revival……Page 258
XVI Anaxagoras and the Nature of Stuffs……Page 268
XVII The Corpuscularian Hypothesis……Page 287
XVIII Philolaus and the Formal Cause……Page 316
XIX The Logic of Locomotion……Page 331
XX The Neo-Ionian World Picture……Page 355
XXI The Sophists……Page 372
XXII De Anima……Page 392
XXIII Conduct Unbecoming……Page 421
XXIV The Bounds of Knowledge……Page 445
EPILOGUE……Page 468
XXV The Last of the Line……Page 469
Appendix A Sources……Page 483
Appendix B Chronology……Page 490
Notes……Page 491
Bibliography (revised 1981)……Page 543
Indexes……Page 570
Concordance……Page 606