Kategoria BISAC: Philosophy >> History & Surveys - Ancient & Classical

Sophist Kings: Persians as Other sets forth a reading of Herodotus' Histories that highlights the consistency with which the Persians are depicted as sophists and Persian culture is infused with a sophistic ideology.

The Persians as the Greek 'other' have a crucial role throughout Herodotus' Histories, but their characterisation is far divorced from historical reality. Instead, from their first appearance at the beginning of the Histories, Herodotus presents the Persians as adept in the argumentation of Greek sophists active in mid-5th century Athens....

Perhaps the history we seek begins in Uruk, a settlement on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates, 225km from modern Baghdad. Uruk, which may be the origin of the modern country-name Irak, was at its height in the 3rd millennium BCE and is important to this history because there was a temple there (Cassin et al, 1982: 42), that is to say, a place of meeting for the human community, an incipient vestige of a great civilization: the Chaldean and the Babylonian. This city is described at the beginning of one of the oldest jewels of literature: the epic poem of Gilgamesh, who was at one time King...

This book investigates Aristotle's views on abstraction and explores how he uses it. In this work, the author follows Aristotle in focusing on the scientific detail first and then approaches the metaphysical claims, and so creates a reconstructed theory that explains many puzzles of Aristotle's thought. Understanding the details of his theory of relations and abstraction further illuminates his theory of universals.

Some of the features of Aristotle's theory of abstraction developed in this book include: abstraction is a relation; perception and knowledge are types of abstraction;...

Die hellenistische Biographie ist eine Gattung, die noch immer unter einem schlechten Ruf zu leiden hat. Man betont ihren fiktiven, bisweilen unernsten Charakter und sieht in ihr eine Form der Unterhaltungsliteratur mit allenfalls ethisch-padagogischer Zielsetzung. Die Aufsatze in diesem Band entwerfen ein differenzierteres Bild von der Gattung und sehen sie als eine besondere Form der Historiographie. Zu diesem Zweck rekonstruiert der Autor in Detailstudien auf der Grundlage der erhaltenen Fragmente die Arbeitsweise wichtiger hellenistischer Biographen und die Charakteristika ihrer Werke....

It's TheHumanist.com's popular comic series, The Cartoon History of Humanism, now in book form

With extra bonus comics, The Cartoon History of Humanism follows the adventures of Dave, who carelessly made fun of a logical positivist when he was a child. As punishment, the logical positivist cursed Dave to wander time and space to converse with humanist philosophers until he learned his lesson.

On his journey, Dave meets an array of famous skeptics, atheists, writers and thinkers who have all influenced humanist philosophy. Readers will no doubt recognize familiar figures such...

Der Philologus, eine der altesten und angesehensten Zeitschriften auf dem Gebiet der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, versteht sich als Forum fur den Austausch unterschiedlicher methodischer Ansatze, die einer weiterfuhrenden Interpretation der antiken Texte und ihrer Rezeption dienen. Dazu gehoren philologische, literaturwissenschaftliche und mit interdisziplinaren Perspektiven arbeitende Beitrage. Besonderer Wert wird auf die internationale Ausrichtung der Zeitschrift gelegt. Publikationssprachen sind Deutsch, Englisch, Italienisch, Franzosisch.

Neben der...

Wie lasst sich im Rahmen einer an Aristoteles orientierten Tugendethik begrunden, dass man gerecht handeln soll? Gerechtes Handeln sollte dabei nicht nur das eigene Gluck verfolgen, sondern vielmehr das fremde Wohl. Gibt es die Moglichkeit, kulturinvariante und uberzeitliche Normen gerechten Handelns in systematisch und methodisch uberzeugender Weise herauszustellen?

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht diese Probleme anhand einschlagiger Positionen der mittelalterlichen Rezeption von Aristotelesʼ Gerechtigkeitstheorie, besonders der des Thomas von Aquin. Sie zeigt, dass die in...

The Mandukya Upanishad is part of the Atharva Veda and belongs to a relatively remote period.  Though short, it sums up the entire metaphysical vision of the doctrine of the Upanishads. 

The Upanishad, which is of great initiatory interest, acquires greater value through the addition of Gaudapada’s karikas (Verse commentary), some of which are an integral part of the Upanishad.  

Gaudapada divides this work into four parts, naming them:

1.  Agama Prakarana, based on the scriptures or Shruti.  

2.  Vaitathya...

Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous

In Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists

George Berkeley

Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous is a book written by George Berkeley in 1713.

Three important concepts discussed in the Three Dialogues are perceptual relativity, the conceivability/master argument ("master argument" was coined by AndrE Gallois), and Berkeley's phenomenalism.

Perceptual relativity argues that the same object can appear to have different characteristics (e.g. shape) depending on the observer's perspective. Since objective...