Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy: Before Plato

This collection of essays on early Greek philosophy focuses on the natural and moral philosophy and the intellectual developments that led up to the philosophy of Plato. Studies of the philosophies of Anaximander, Zeno of Elea, Empedocles, the Pythagoreans, Atomists, and Sophists are included.

These essays explore many of the liveliest topics in the study of early Greek philosophy today; they deal with a significant range of the most important figures in the period, and represent several varying methodological approaches. Among the issues addressed include the origins of Hellenic speculative philosophy; the beginnings of "naturalistic" or "scientific" thought; the development of philosophical "schools" of thought; the reevaluation of Hegel's view of early Greek philosophy as dominated by a dialectic between the immobility of being posited by Parmenides and the absolute flux of Heraclitus; and the ways in which the work of early Greek philosophers anticipate some of the recent epistemological concerns of skeptics and postmodern philosophers.