Pleasure in Ancient Greek Philosophy

An examination of ancient Greek philosophical conceptions of pleasure, which is the first book to compare them to contemporary conceptions.

David Wolfsdorf (Author)

9780521761307, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 November 2012

312 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.59 kg

'… includes many comprehensively researched, well-argued and important contributions to debates about the nature of pleasure as it is conceived by philosophers from antiquity to the present.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

The Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy series provides concise books, written by major scholars and accessible to non-specialists, on important themes in ancient philosophy that remain of philosophical interest today. In this volume Professor Wolfsdorf undertakes the first exploration of ancient Greek philosophical conceptions of pleasure in relation to contemporary conceptions. He provides broad coverage of the ancient material, from pre-Platonic to Old Stoic treatments; and, in the contemporary period, from World War II to the present. Examination of the nature of pleasure in ancient philosophy largely occurred within ethical contexts but in the contemporary period has, to a greater extent, been pursued within philosophy of mind and psychology. This divergence reflects the dominant philosophical preoccupations of the times. But Professor Wolfsdorf argues that the various treatments are complementary. Indeed, the Greeks' examinations of pleasure were incisive and their debates vigorous, and their results have enduring value for contemporary discussion.

1. Introduction
2. Pleasure in early Greek ethics
3. Pleasure in the early physical tradition
4. Plato on pleasure and restoration
5. Plato on true, untrue and false pleasures
6. Aristotle on pleasure and activation
7. Epicurus and the Cyrenaics on katastematic and kinetic pleasures
8. The Old Stoics on pleasure as passion
9. Contemporary conceptions of pleasure
10. Ancient and contemporary conceptions of pleasure
Suggestions for further reading.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of mind [HPM], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]