Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoreanism in the First Century BC
New Directions for Philosophy

Presents an up-to-date overview of the new directions taken by ancient philosophy in the first century BC.

Malcolm Schofield (Edited by)

9781108439060, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 October 2017

329 pages
23 x 15.4 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

This book presents an up-to-date overview of the main new directions taken by ancient philosophy in the first century BC, a period in which the dominance exercised in the Hellenistic age by Stoicism, Epicureanism and Academic Scepticism gave way to a more diverse and experimental philosophical scene. Its development has been much less well understood, but here a strong international team of leading scholars of the subject reconstruct key features of the changed environment. They examine afresh the evidence for some of the central Greek thinkers of the period, as well as illuminating Cicero's engagement with Plato both as translator and in his own philosophising. The intensity of renewed study of Aristotle's Categories and Plato's Timaeus is an especially striking outcome of their discussions. The volume will be indispensable for scholars and students interested in the history of Platonism and Aristotelianism.

Introduction Malcolm Schofield
1. The texts of Plato and Aristotle in the first century BC Myrto Hatzimichali
2. Platonist approaches to Aristotle: from Antiochus of Ascalon to Eudorus of Alexandria (and beyond) Riccardo Chiaradonna
3. Boethius' Aristotelian ontology Marwan Rashed
4. Aristotelianism in the first century BC: Xenarchus of Seleucia Andrea Falcon
5. Posidonius as historian of philosophy: an interpretation of Plutarch, De Animae Procreatione in Timaeo 22, 1023b-c Anna Eunyoung Ju
6. Asclepiades of Bithynia and Heraclides Ponticus: medical Platonism? Roberto Polito
7. The eclectic Pythagoreanism of Alexander Polyhistor A. A. Long
8. Pythagoreanizing Aristotle: Eudorus and the systematization of Platonism Mauro Bonazzi
9. Cicero and the Timaeus David Sedley
10. Plato's Laws and Cicero's De Legibus Julia Annas
11. Of Cicero's Plato: fictions, forms, foundations Ingo Gildenhard.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literary studies: general [DSB]