What is this? It’s an index of sorts, linking to nodes that relate to philosophy in Ancient Greece. See also the first footnote below[1]. It was written for two main reasons: (1) As an index that can be referred to when looking for something to read about Ancient Greek philosophy; (2) as an index that can be referred to when trying to decide what has and hasn’t been written and what could benefit from a new writeup.
What we call “Ancient Greek Philosophy” roughly covers everything from the first recorded Greek philosopher (Thales) until the Greek states were incorporated into the Roman Empire. This covers a period from the end of the 7th century BCE (which is part of the period called Archaic Greece) through Classical Greece when many of the big-name philosophers flourished, and into the period of Hellenistic Greece which ends with much of the Greek lands being annexed by Rome in 146 BCE. These three periods are used below:
Because this is an index to (vaguely speaking) valuable nodes[2] on Ancient Greek philosophy, I have eschewed any other links below. In other words, the only words that are links in what follows are links to nodes on Ancient Greek philosophy. Note that links are to individual writeups within nodes (except for a few cases).
Philosophy in Archaic Greece (800-480 BCE):
Many of the so-called Presocratic philosophers lived during this period:
- A great summary of the thoughts and schools of the Presocratics, and includes a useful timeline
- A brief introduction, that manages to cover all the main facts, on the Milesians…
- …and which should be followed up by reading this brilliant poem, again on the Milesian philosophers
- A discussion of “Stasis, Change and Atoms in Ancient Greek Philosophy”
- An essay on “Theology in ancient Greece” which covers some Presocratics and also Plato and Aristotle
Thales:
- A good brief introduction
- A longer summary and one that gives you a feel for some of the issues that surround discussions of Thales’ philosophy
- A discussion of the relationship between Thales’ philosophy and some of the other Presocratics
- A cute (ancient) anecdote about Thales
- A brief node on a mathematical theorem attributed to Thales – it also has a nice comment on how to pronounce his name
Anaximander:
- These two write-ups deal with Anaximander both of which are short, but still nice, overviews
- A discussion of Anaximander’s role in the beginnings of Greek philosophy
Anaximenes:
Pythagoras:
- A very good brief introduction
- A bit on Pythagorean number-mysticism
- Some background including the Pythagoreans and their rules
- A meditation that takes the Pythagorean music of the spheres as a leaping off point
- A tongue in cheek biography
- A funny node entitled “The Pythagorean Theorem: A Vast Right Triangle Conspiracy?”
- The full text of a “The Golden Verses of Pythagoras”, which while neo-Pythagorean in content was not penned by Pythagoras
Xenophanes
Heraclitus:
- There are a couple of introductions that cover briefly some of the main details, including one which I suspect has confused Heraclitus with Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium
- A discussion of the idea of Logos in Greek philosophy and especially Heraclitus
- A discussion of the meaning of some of Heraclitus’ aphorisms
Parmenides
Zeno of Elea:
- There are no good nodes on Zeno himself, but there are quite a few on Zeno’s paradox
- An excellent and thorough introduction to Zeno’s paradoxes
- Of indirect interest is Lewis Carrol’s text “What the Tortoise Said to Achilles”
Empedocles:
- There are only two writeups at this point but together they cover his most important ideas and biographical details
Anaxagoras:
- There are only two writeups at this stage both of which are quite short although they do mention most of his major ideas
Leucippus:
Democritus:
Philosophy in Classical Greece (480-323 BCE)
The Sophists:
Because there’s hardly anything on the Sophists I’ve grouped them all here.
- A good summary of Antiphon, his (or their) life and ideas
- A very brief look at Isocrates, the accuracy of which I am uncertain
- A good summary of who Gorgias was
- A great introduction to Protagoras
Socrates:
- If you can only read a single article on Socrates then read this one
- Two brief but useful overviews which give a bit of a feel for the man
- A discussion of Socrates’ life philosophy (albeit mostly interpreted as presented by Plato)
- A good summary of what the Socratic Method entails and there’s also this example
- There’s a good introductory brief on the reasons for Socrates’ execution and another summary that is still brief but a bit more in depth
- This is a good essay that uses Socrates execution as a point of focus for discussing Socrates as a philosopher
- A brief mention of Nietzche’s feelings on Socrates
Plato:
- Because there are so many good nodes on Plato, especially since most of his dialogues have a writeup, not to mention the various writeups on his particular ideas, etc., I’ve decided to link only to this node, which is a reasonable introduction and also serves as an index for Plato’s writings
- If anyone is interested in posting a more elaborate index of what’s what for Plato, I’d recommend posting it over at the main node
Plato’s Academy:
Because there’s hardly anything about Plato’s academy I’ve put all the links here together.
- A brief explanation of Academic skepticism and a comparison with other skepticisms
- A summary of the philosophy of Speusippus
Xenophon:
Euclid of Megara:
Diogenes the Cynic:
Aristotle:
- As an introduction I’d recommend this nice biography and this great overview of Aristotle’s ideas
- To my mind Aristotle, like Plato above, deserves his own index, which I would recommend making over at the main node
Philosophy in Hellenic Greece (323-146 BCE)
Pyrrho of Elis:
- There is a single, short and good introduction
- A good introduction to what Pyrrhonic skepticism entails
- An academic essay on Pyrrhonism (especially as transmitted by Sextus) addressing the possibility of truly living a skeptical life.
Epicurus:
- For those unfamiliar with Epicurus this is a good introduction and gives a nice short biography
- This is a bit of simplistic introduction to Epicurus’ ideas and should be contrasted with this writeup which is recommended
- An essay on the Epicurean life which unfortunately references Alain De Botton whom I don’t like
Zeno of Citium:
- There’s a short introduction to who Zeno was
- A good introduction to Stoicism, including its origins in Zeno (from the book “Philosophy Made Simple”)
Chrysippus:
Made it this far? Read the two notes below.
[1] How this was made: I searched for the most obvious node titles, so for example for Thales I searched “Thales”. I then selected based on personal preference (see note 2 below) those writeups which I felt to be worthwhile linking to. When I’d finished that for a particular page, I looked at the soft links to see if there were any similar pages which would be relevant. If there is absolutely nothing on a particular philosopher then I did not include them on this page. I’d recommend taking the absence of any favourite names as a motivation for writing something about them.
[2] How individual writeups are selected: Basically anything that seemed to me to be useful at the time when I read it. If you want me to add a writeup, whether yours or anyone else’s, please feel free to send me a message – absolutely no justification is needed. All I need is the node’s link and I’ll make sure to add it when I can. Any suggestions or comments – they’re all welcome!
