| Words and Ideas: The Roots of Plato's Philosophy Contributor(s): Herrmann, Fritz-Gregor (Author) |
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ISBN: 1905125208 ISBN-13: 9781905125203 Publisher: Classical Press of Wales OUR PRICE: $80.75 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 2007 Annotation: Plato did not create his philosophy ex nihilo, but rather drew on four centuries of literary production in epic and lyric poetry, as well as on ethnography and historiography, tragedy and comedy, medical and mathematical research, oratory and rhetorical theory. Words and Ideas offers a study of Plato's philosophical language against this cultural background, retracing to their origins the history and development of the key terms of the Theory of Forms as presented in the Phaedo. 'Form' or 'idea', 'essence' or 'being', 'participation', 'presence' and 'community' are among the terms investigated. In tracing the roots of Plato's philosophy, Words and Ideas demarcates afresh Plato's position regarding the protagonists of pre-Socratic philosophy: Par-menides and the Eleatics, Anaxagoras and Diogenes of Apollonia, Leucippus and Democritus, Philolaus and the Pythagoreans. This identification of his sources allows us, in many cases for the first time, to judge what in the arguments of the dialogues is Plato's own contribution and what is there only as part of a philosophical or pre-philosophical inheritance. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Ancient & Classical |
| Dewey: 184 |
| LCCN: 2008297760 |
| Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6.33" W x 9.28" (1.73 lbs) 368 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Plato did not create his philosophy ex nihilo, but rather drew on four centuries of literary production in epic and lyric poetry, on ethnography and historiography, tragedy and comedy, medical and mathematical research, oratory and rhetorical theory, as well as on Presocratic philosophy. Words & Ideas offers a study of Plato's philosophical language against this cultural background, retracing to their origins the history and development of the key terms of the Theory of Forms as presented in the Phaedo. 'Form' or 'idea', 'ousia' or 'being', 'participation', 'presence' and 'community' are among the concepts investigated. The aim is to determine both the connotations of Plato's philosophical terms and the precise historical and philosophical contexts on which Plato drew in the formulation of his thoughts. In tracing the roots of Plato's philosophy, Words & Ideas demarcates afresh Plato's position regarding the protagonists of pre-Socratic philosophy: Parmenides and the Eleatics, Anaxagoras and Diogenes of Apollonia, Leucippus and Democritus, Philolaus and the Pythagoreans. This identifcation of his sources allows us, in many cases for the first time, to judge what in the arguments of the dialogues is Plato's own contribution and what is there only as part of a philosophical or pre-philosophical inheritance. |