Presocratic Philosophy Essays in Honour of Alexander Mourelatos

This book presents some of the most recent trends and developments in Presocratic scholarship. A wide range of topics are covered - from the metaphysical to the moral to the methodological - as well as a broad a range of authors: from recognized figures such as Heraclitus and Parmenides to Sophistic thinkers whose place has traditionally been marginalized, such as Gorgias and the author of the Dissoi Logoi. Several of the pieces are concerned with the later reception and influence of the Presocratics on ancient philosophy, an area of study important both for the light it sheds on our evidence for Presocratic thought and for understanding the philosophical power of their ideas. Drawing together contributions from distinguished authorities and internationally acclaimed scholars of ancient philosophy, this book offers new challenges to traditional interpretations in some areas of Presocratic philosophy and finds new support for traditional interpretations in other areas.

Contents: Introduction: The Milesians: Thales and the stars, Stephen White; Greek law and the Presocratics, Michael Gagarin; Heraclitus and Parmenides: Heraclitus and Parmenides, Daniel W. Graham; Parmenidean being/Heraclitean fire, Alexander Nehamas; Parmenides and the metaphysics of changelessness, R.J. Hankinson; Parmenides and Plato, Charles H. Kahn; Parmenides, double-negation, and dialectic, Scott Austin; The cosmology of mortals, Herbert Granger; The Pluralists: Anaxagoras, Plato and the naming of parts, David Furley; Reading the readings: on the first person plurals in the Strasbourg Empedocles, André Laks; The metaphysics of physics: mixture and separation in Empedocles and Anaxagoras, Patricia Curd; Democritus and Xeniades, Jacques Brunschwig; Democritus and Eudaimonism, Julia Annas; Democritus and the explanatory power of the void, Sylvia Berryman; The Sophists: Natural justice?, Paul Woodruff; Gorgias on thought and its objects, Victor Caston; To tell the truth: Dissoi Logoi 4 and Aristotle's responses, Owen Goldin; Archytas and the Sophists, Carl Huffman; Transmission, Traditions and Reactions: Aetius, Aristotle and others on coming to be and passing away, Jaap Mansfeld; The pervasiveness of being, Paul Thom; Three philosophers look at the stars, Sarah Broadie; Protagoras' Great Speech and Plato's defense of Athenian democracy, William Prior; Indexes.

Daniel W. Graham, Ph.D., has been teaching Socrates for thirty-five years, first at Grinnell College, then at Rice University, and for most of his career at Brigham Young University, where he has been department chair and is currently Abraham Owen Smoot Professor of Philosophy. Victor Caston is Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies at University of Michigan.