Ancient philosophy

By Sedley, David

The philosophy of the Greco-Roman world from the sixth century bc to the sixth century ad laid the foundations for all subsequent Western philosophy. Its greatest ...

Academy

By Barnes, Jonathan

The Academy was a public gymnasium in northwest Athens. Plato taught there, and the Academy remained the centre of Platonic philosophizing until the first century bc. Hence ...

Akrasia

By Steward, Helen

The Greek word ‘akrasia’ is usually said to translate literally as ‘lack of self-control’, but it has come to be used as a general term for the phenomenon ...

Archē

By McKirahan, Richard

Archē, or ‘principle’, is an ancient Greek philosophical term. Building on earlier uses, Aristotle established it as a technical term with a number of related meanings, including ‘originating ...

Aretē

By Sedley, David

A pivotal term of ancient Greek ethics, aretē is conventionally translated ‘virtue’, but is more properly ‘goodness’ – the quality of being a good human being. Philosophy ...

Aristotle Commentators

By Sorabji, Richard

Aristotle’s school treatises were given renewed prominence by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc, and from then on numerous commentaries were written on them. The ...

Aristotle Commentators

Aristotle’s school treatises were given renewed prominence by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc, and from then on numerous commentaries were written on them. The ...

Atomism, ancient

By Sedley, David

Ancient Greek atomism, starting with Leucippus and Democritus in the fifth century bc, arose as a response to problems of the continuum raised by Eleatic philosophers. In ...

Chaldaean Oracles

By Siorvanes, Lucas

The Chaldaean Oracles were a collection of revelatory verses purportedly compiled in the second century ad. Along with the Orphic texts, Neoplatonists regarded them as divine words. ...

Cynics

By Branham, R. Bracht

Cynicism (originating in the mid-fourth century bc) was arguably the most original and influential branch of the Socratic tradition in antiquity, whether we consider its impact on ...

Cyrenaics

By Tsouna, Voula

The Cyrenaic school was a Greek philosophical school which flourished in the fourth and early third centuries bc. It took its name from the native city of ...

Dialectical school

By Sedley, David

An offshoot of the Megarian school, and active c.350–250 bc, the Dialectical school was an important precursor of Stoic logic. Its leading members were Diodorus Cronus ...

Dissoi logoi

By Burnyeat, M.F.

Dissoi logoi (‘Twofold Arguments’) is the title scholars apply to a short anonymous collection of arguments for and against various theses. The work, in Greek, is (questionably) dated ...

Doxography

By Runia, David T.

Doxography is a term describing the method of recording opinions (doxai) of philosophers frequently employed by ancient Greek writers on philosophy. It can also refer to texts or ...

Egyptian philosophy: influence on ancient Greek thought

By Lefkowitz, Mary R.

Before the decipherment of hieroglyphics (a process only completed in the 1830s), it was widely believed that many famous Greek philosophers had studied in Egypt and that Greek ...

Epicureanism

By Sedley, David

Epicureanism is one of the three dominant philosophies of the Hellenistic age. The school was founded by Epicurus (341–271 bc) (see Prolēpsis). Only small samples and indirect ...

Epicureanism

Epicureanism is one of the three dominant philosophies of the Hellenistic age. The school was founded by Epicurus (341–271 bc) (see Prolēpsis). Only small samples and indirect ...

Epistemology, history of

By Pappas, George S.

Epistemology has always been concerned with issues such as the nature, extent, sources and legitimacy of knowledge. Over the course of western philosophy, philosophers have concentrated sometimes on ...

Eudaimonia

By Taylor, C.C.W.

The literal sense of the Greek word eudaimonia is ‘having a good guardian spirit’: that is, the state of having an objectively desirable life, universally agreed by ...

Forms, Platonic

By Brennan, Tad

Plato thought that in addition to the changeable, extended bodies we perceive around us, there are also unchangeable, extensionless entities, not perceptible by the senses, that structure the ...

Greek philosophy: impact on Islamic philosophy

By Fakhry, Majid

During the Hellenistic period (323–43 bc), classical Greek philosophy underwent a radical transformation. From being an essentially Greek product, it developed into a cosmopolitan and eclectic cultural ...

Hellenistic medical epistemology

By Hankinson, R.J.

During the Hellenistic period (323–31 bc), there arose, largely in Alexandria, a profound debate in medical methodology. The main participants were the Empiricists, committed to an anti-theoretical, ...

Hellenistic philosophy

By Sedley, David

The Hellenistic schools dominated the Greco-Roman world from c.300 bc to the mid first century bc, making it an era of great philosophical brilliance. The ...

Hermetism

By Procope, John

A primarily religious amalgam of Greek philosophy with Egyptian and other Near Eastern elements, Hermetism takes its name from Hermes Trismegistus, ‘thrice greatest Hermes’, alias the Egyptian god ...

Hippocratic medicine

By Hankinson, R.J.

The Hippocratic corpus is a disparate group of texts relating primarily to medical matters composed between c.450 and c.250 bc and dealing with physiology, therapy, ...