This paper intends to offer a new supplement to a corrupt passage of the Epicurean inscription of Oenoanda. Smith, in the lacuna of Fr. 6, uses the phrasal term πρῶτα σώματα to indicate the atoms. The supplement is not satisfying as it is based solely on evidence drawn from non-Epicurean texts and Lucretius, who writes in Latin and is not always reliable for reconstructing the Epicurean terminology. In this article, I will try to demonstrate that πρῶτα σώματα is in (...) fact a peripatetic – and subsequently stoic – term indicating the elements in general, which has never been used by any Epicurean author for polemical reasons. Finally, I will propose an alternative supplement. (shrink)

1974, 58 Seiten, 5 Tafeln, 17 Abbildungen, 29,7x21 cm, broschiert.

Epicurus in Lycia is the first full-length study of this eccentric second-century C.E. philosopher from Oenoanda, a small city in the mountains of Lycia (now Turkey). Toward the end of his life, Diogenes presented his town with a large limestone inscription that proclaimed the wisdom of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who had lived five centuries earlier. This unique text, which was discovered in the late nineteenth century, has attracted many modern readers. Previous work on Diogenes, however, has (...) concentrated on the reconstruction of Diogenes' fragmentary Greek text and on the information he offers on lost teachings of Epicurus. Gordon's study offers a new approach to Diogenes and to the history of ancient Epicureanism in general. Rather than considering Diogenes simply as an orthodox Epicurean, Gordon draws attention to his engagement with the bustling world of second-century Roman Asia Minor and demonstrates that his historical setting shaped the way he understood and promoted Epicurean philosophy. Gordon shows that Diogenes participated in the fashionable revival of traditional Greek erudition, but that he parted company with his contemporaries regarding popular religion and the general notoriety of Epicureanism. (shrink)

The new readings recorded here are derived from epigraphic squeezes made at Oenoanda in May 1971.

The article investigates how Diogenes of Oenoanda in his huge 2ndcent. AD Epicurean wall inscription deals with the control of fear. It argues for restoring the fragmentary title of Diogenes’Ethics–treatise with “feelings [of soul] and [body]”. In this way the importance given inEthicsto the evaluation of our feelings according to the Epicurean doctrine is reflected in the title. Diogenes in his introduction to the whole inscription lists up the control of irrational fears in the first place (...) of achievements of Epicureanism. The analysis of the relevant passages on hisEthicsresults in assigning fr. 47 III–IV and NF 137 to a subsection dealing with fear of pain from diseases which on the inscription must have followed fr. 48. Fear from gods is abundantly discussed in the recently combinedTheological Physics Sequence. The article argues, that this topic was not treated once more inEthics. Indeed, the “unclear fear” mentioned in fr. 35 (Ethics) refers, as a comparison with Epic.Ep. Hdt. 81–82 and Phld.De DisI shows, not to some sort of feeling triggered by wrong tales on gods, but to an irrational fear of death. (shrink)

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (340--271 BCEBCE), though often despised for his materialism, hedonism, and denial of the immortality of the soul, has at the same time been an ongoing source of inspiration for a great variety of subsequent philosophers, poets, and political thinkers. This volume offers authoritative discussions of all aspects of Epicurus's philosophy and then traces out some of its most important later influences throughout the Western intellectual tradition. Epicurean arguments are carefully placed in their ancient and subsequent (...) intellectual contexts, thus offering readers the opportunity of measuring them against a wide range of opponents---from Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics, to Hegel and Nietzsche, and finally on to such influential contemporary philosophers as Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, and Jacques Derrida. The volume offers separate and detailed discussions of two fascinating and ongoing sources of Epicurean arguments, the Herculaneum papyri and the inscription of Diogenes of Oenoanda, both of which are continually enriching our understanding of Epicureanism. Contributors have been able to make ample use of this new evidence in presenting the most current understanding of Epicurus's own views. By the same token, the second half of the volume is devoted to the extraordinary influence of Epicurean doctrines, often either neglected or misunderstood, in literature, political thought, scientific innovation, and in philosophy generally. Taken together, the contributions in this volume offer the most comprehensive and detailed account of Epicurus and Epicureanism available in English. (shrink)

Epicurus is one of the first social contract theorists, holding that justice is an agreement neither to harm nor be harmed. He also says that living justly is necessary and sufficient for living pleasantly, which is the Epicurean goal. Some say that there are two accounts of justice in Epicurus -- one as a personal virtue, the other as a virtue of institutions. I argue that the personal virtue derives from compliance with just social institutions, and so we need to (...) attribute only one account of justice to Epicurus. I show how this interpretation makes sense of claims about justice by Epicurus and his followers, including Hermarchus, Lucretius, and Diogenes of Oinoanda. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Deep TherapyDiskin ClayThe Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, by Martha Nussbaum; xiv & 558 pp. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994; $29.95For three decades now interest in Hellenistic philosophy has been gaining among philosophers both in England—and its philosophical colony the United States—and in Europe. The principal documents of the Hellenistic schools have now been made available in both scrupulously edited Greek and Latin texts and (...) fine English translations by A. A. Long and David Sedley in their The Hellenistic Philosophers (1987). Conditions are right for the latest assimilation of this philosophical culture, whose conventional dates are those of the Hellenistic age—from the death of Alexander of Macedon in 323 B.C. to the suicide of the last of his successors, Cleopatra VII of Egypt in 31 B.C., but which in fact extends through the second century A.D. In the fracturing of the autonomous Greek city state and the new empires and cosmopolitanism that grew up in its place, in the turning inward of ethical thought and the simultaneous turning outward of science, the Hellenistic age holds up a mirror to our own. Especially congenial to philosophers in this country and in England is the radical skepticism that reaches from Socrates in the fifth century to Sextus Empiricus in the second century A.D.Martha Nussbaum’s The Therapy of Desire is very much a book for this age. Her topic is the “compassionate medical philosophy” of three of [End Page 501] the Hellenistic schools, the Epicurean, the Skeptic, and the Stoic. In focusing sharply on therapy, she leaves to the side—and on the outside—the connections that made Epicurean and Stoic philosophy systematic. But her awareness of the psychiatric possibilities of modern philosophy and what Michel Foucault called a technique de soi provide the contemporary context for the project of this book, at a stage when Freudian psychology is preparing to make its exit at the end of its century. Medicine is the only science that enters this book’s field of vision. Its thirteen studies (some already familiar) concentrate on the practical and therapeutic aims of Hellenistic philosophy and what the author terms the therapy of the passions, particularly the passions of erotic love, anger, and aggression, and fear of the gods. In The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy (1986), Nussbaum took the side of Aristotle against Plato. Here she takes the part of the Epicurean, Skeptic, and Stoic against the ethical theory of Aristotle, who is impressed to illustrate the practical turn in ethics which Nussbaum explores in Therapy. Plato is glimpsed on the horizon of this book “standing on the rim of the heavens” (p. 23). What links the intellectual program of both Fragility and Therapy is Nussbaum’s keen and sympathetic attention to poetry as a vehicle for philosophy or as a provocation to philosophical engagement. Four of the chapters of this study are devoted to poetry: three to Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura; one to Seneca’s Medea.The ethical project illustrated throughout these studies is formulated by Democritus, who first enunciated the claim: “medicine heals the sickness of bodies; but wisdom rids the soul of its sufferings” (DK 68B31). Each of the Hellenistic schools Nussbaum studies repeated this claim. Unexplored is the medical end of the analogy and the degree to which this much invoked analogy (whose terms are fused in our word psychiatry) conforms to actual medical practice, with its pathology, consultation, diagnosis, and treatment (therapeia). Nor is not clear from the Greek record that desires as opposed to the individual who harbors these desires are regarded as the object of therapy. The Hellenistic philosophers were clearly concerned with “extirpating” desires and disruptive passions, but the object of therapy was usually not desire but the individual who is disturbed by desire (as Philodemus, On Plain Speaking 84.11 Olivieri makes plain). But occasionally by extension the passions are described as the objects of therapy (as they are in Diogenes of Oenoanda, fr. 4.II.3 Smith).No one who has read Fragility will be taken aback by Nussbaum’s [End Page 502] invention of a... (shrink)

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (340--271 BCEBCE), though often despised for his materialism, hedonism, and denial of the immortality of the soul, has at the same time been an ongoing source of inspiration for a great variety of subsequent philosophers, poets, and political thinkers. This volume offers authoritative discussions of all aspects of Epicurus's philosophy and then traces out some of its most important later influences throughout the Western intellectual tradition. Epicurean arguments are carefully placed in their ancient and subsequent (...) intellectual contexts, thus offering readers the opportunity of measuring them against a wide range of opponents---from Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics, to Hegel and Nietzsche, and finally on to such influential contemporary philosophers as Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, and Jacques Derrida. The volume offers separate and detailed discussions of two fascinating and ongoing sources of Epicurean arguments, the Herculaneum papyri and the inscription of Diogenes of Oenoanda, both of which are continually enriching our understanding of Epicureanism. Contributors have been able to make ample use of this new evidence in presenting the most current understanding of Epicurus's own views. By the same token, the second half of the volume is devoted to the extraordinary influence of Epicurean doctrines, often either neglected or misunderstood, in literature, political thought, scientific innovation, and in philosophy generally. Taken together, the contributions in this volume offer the most comprehensive and detailed account of Epicurus and Epicureanism available in English. (shrink)

In my paper, I shall provide a reading of Diogenes of Apollonia such that his understanding of the metaphysics of differentiation and of individual ensoulment may constitute an ingenious answer to the problems of his time. To this extent, I will argue that Diogenes' worldview solves the difficulties of Anaxagoras' metaphysics and successfully integrates mentality in a causally closed conception of nature. Finally, I will suggest that a Diogenes-inspired approach might be relevant to treat some pressing concerns (...) in the contemporary philosophy of mind – thus demonstrating how his production might offer some interesting solutions for the problems of our time too. (shrink)

The author presents the role of nature in our knowledge and love of God in the Greek Fathers and one major medieval theologian, Hugh of St. Victor. There is a very rich literature on the contemplative use of nature but a lesser known one that is an active spirituality. It focuses on technology and commerce and how their improvement is part of our restoration from the Fall. It thus connects earthly pursuits to religious motives and goals. It is non-Aristotelian, free (...) of an anti-intellectual prejudice toward the mechanical arts and commerce. It distinguishes between the proper aim and the misuse of technology and commerce. The loss of this tradition was so complete that Francis Bacon is still regarded by most people as the origin of the notion that science and technology are part of our spiritual restoration after the Fall. (shrink)

In Aëtius 1.7.8 Mansfeld–Runia, Diogenes, Cleanthes and Oenopides are said to have maintained that the deity is the world-soul. However, the identity of the Diogenes whom the doxographer mentions here has long been a matter of scholarly dispute. In response to attempts to ascribe the doxa to Diogenes of Apollonia, this paper reassesses old arguments and proposes new considerations to argue that a fundamental aspect of Diogenes of Babylon's theology is at stake here.

"This rich compendium on the lives and doctrines of philosophers ranges over three centuries, from Thales to Epicurus (to whom the whole tenth book is devoted); 45 important figures are portrayed. Diogenes Laertius carefully compiled his information from hundreds of sources and enriches his accounts with numerous quotations. Diogenes Laertius lived probably in the earlier half of the 3rd century CE, his ancestry and birthplace being unknown. His history, in ten books, is divided unscientifically into two 'Successions' or (...) sections: 'Ionian' from Anaximander to Theophrastus and Chrysippus, including the Socratic schools; 'Italian' from Pythagoras to Epicurus, including the Eleatics and sceptics. It is a very valuable collection of quotations and facts." -- Publisher description. (shrink)

I wish to show how the existence and order of nature may function as a witness to God’s existence and goodness. Although “witness” is a theological term, the argument is a philosophical one.

A pioneering work in the history of philosophy, the ancient text of the Lives presents engaging portraits of nearly a hundred Greek philosophers. It blends biography with bibliography and surveys of leading theories, peppered with punchy anecdotes, pithy maxims, and even snatches of poetry, much of it by the philosophers themselves. The work presents a systematic genealogy of Greek philosophy from its origins in the sixth century BCE to its flowering in Plato's Academy and the Hellenistic schools. In this fully (...) up-to-date and accessible translation, based on the most accurate texts and the latest advances in scholarship, Stephen White provides a valuable resource for students and scholars of ancient philosophy. Highlights include extended treatment of the "seven Sages" (Book 1), Socrates and his Socratic followers (Book 2), Plato (Book 3), Aristotle and his school (Book 5), Diogenes the Cynic (Book 6), Stoicism (Book 7), Pythagoreans (Book 8), Pyrrhonian skepticism (Book 9), and Epicureanism (Book 10). (shrink)

Among the schools of philosophy in the Greco-Roman world, there was Stoicism, Epicureanism, Platonism, and Skepticism to name the most prominent and influential. There was however another "school" and that was known as Cynicism. The Cynics were not scholars or writers. Like a Jesus, or a Socrates, or a Buddha, they were oralists whose memorable utterances and actions were transmitted to posterity by admirers (and detractors). It is doubtful whether we can even justly call them philosophers, as they did not (...) organize themselves into a school or possess a set of systematic doctrines. Their mode of life was a philosophy of doing. The Cynics were, to put it in contemporary terms, lifestylists and performance artists. The most famous Cynic, Diogenes of Sinope, threw out his bowl, as one less thing he needed, when he saw a young boy drinking with his hands. He also comically, when Alexander the Great asked what he could do for him, replied "Get out of my sun" making clear the young conqueror had nothing to offer him. And yet the Cynics, as Mark Usher aims to show in this collection, did purvey some core values that distinguished them in their own time and recommends them to ours. Indeed, they speak with some urgency to our current predicaments involving climate change, socio-economic uncertainty, and psychic malaise. Their "less is more" approach to living anticipates our contemporary fashion for decluttering, minimalism, and simpler more natural ways of living. Like ancient Thoreaus, their disentanglement of our needs from our wants provides an object lesson in prioritizing truly human goods. The Cynics also exemplified the idea that subsistence lifestyles are sustainable lifestyles, and the principle behind their lived example gives the lie to the modern article of faith that economic development and growth are synonymous with quality of life. Finally, their embrace of cosmopolitanism-the Cynics coined the word-flies in the face of the resurgent nativism that threatens the stability of nations, including our own. The Cynics championed their positions on the grounds that each of them accorded with a state of affairs found in Nature. Their appeal to the example of non-human agents, animals in particular, is highly instructive as it validates the intrinsic worth of the non-human world more broadly, foreshadowing thereby a central tenet of modern environmental philosophy. Taken as a whole, this volume will aim to recover the Cynic ways of thinking and living and refurbish them and make them relevant for our modern, beleaguered world. (shrink)

This is the first critical edition of Diogenes Laertius'History of Greek Philosophybased on full evidence (both direct and indirect). The Greek text is radically emended from Diogenes' sources. This edition provides an ample double apparatus. In apparatus criticus allvariae lectionesof codices BPF and Phi are reported. Vol. II comprises the first edition ofMagnum excerptumfrom Diogenes Laertius preserved in the Vatican codex Phi (XIIth century),Ps.-Hesychii de viris illustribusfrom the same codex, and all the excerpts from Diogenes Laertius (...) in theSuda. (shrink)

Diogenes of Babylon, or Diogenes of Seleucia (c. 240–150 BC) — a disciple of Chrysippus, a prominent representative of the last period of the Early Stoa, the head of the Stoic school after Zeno of Tarsus. In the writings of Diogenes, of which few fragments have been preserved, almost all the main and many auxiliary issues of stoic dogmatics were touched upon. Being more of a traditionalist than an innovator, Diogenes, nevertheless, specified and clarified school definitions, (...) in some cases offered his own ones and sometimes deviated from stoic canons. He also paid attention to special topics, such as music. Diogenes enjoyed great authority, including among the Romans (Cicero called him "an authoritative and influential Stoic"). In 155 Diogenes visited Rome as a member of the Athenian embassy. Among his students was the founder of the Middle Stoa, Panaetius of Rhodes. (shrink)

There is some important data which has not as yet found its way into philosophic discussions on the problem of evil. Some religious people report that suffering, instead of being contrary to the love of God, is actually a medium in and through which his love can be experienced. This looks highly paradoxical, but it will be our purpose to show that it is intelligible and that it has important consequences for philosophical discussions of the problem of evil.

Socrates (469-399 BC) is one of history's most enigmatic figures. Our knowledge of him comes to us second-hand, primarily from the philosopher Plato, who was Socrates' most gifted student, and from the historian and sometime-philosopher Xenophon, who counted himself as a member of Socrates' inner circle of friends. We also hear of Socrates in one comic play produced during his lifetime (Aristophanes' Clouds) and in passing from the philosopher Aristotle, a student of Plato. Socrates is a figure of enduring interest. (...) He is often considered the father of Western Philosophy, yet the four most famous accounts we have of him present a contradictory, confusing picture. Just who was Socrates? A brilliant philosopher, at times confounding and infuriating, morally serious and yet ironic; the ever-worldly man, sometime mystic, and uncommon martyr depicted by Plato? Or did Plato conflate Socrates' views with his own startling genius, as Aristotle suggests? Was So rates instead the less impressive, more mundane man whose commonsense impressed the laconic Xenophon? Or was Socrates the charlatan, the long-winded phony of Aristophanes' play? The Socratic works of Diogenes Laertius (3rd century AD), Libanius (AD 314 -- c. 393), Maximus of 'Tyre (2nd century AD), and Apuleius (born c. AD 125) add important dimensions to the portrait of Socrates: Diogenes Laertius' Life of Socrates emphasizes Socrates' deep ethical nature and his extraordinary personality; Libanius' Apology of Socrates is based on sources now lost to us; Maximus of Tyre's Whether Socrates Did the Right Thing When He Did Not Defend Himself makes the star ling claim (against testimony of Plato and Xenophon) that Socrates never spoke athis own trial; from Apuleius' On the God of Socrates we hear at length of Socrates' infamous daimonion: the "divine sign" only mentioned elsewhere, the sign that warned Socrates against certain courses of action. In short, from these four texts we are reintroduced to Socrates, and new wrinkles are added to an already intriguing historical figure. (shrink)

In 11 essays (many of which have appeared elsewhere though some only in French, together with new material prepared especially for this volume), the authors cover the main, and some of the more controversial, aspects of Weil's (1909-1943) ...

A unique edition of the sayings of Diogenes, whose biting wit and eccentricity inspired the anecdotes that express his Cynic philosophy. It includes the accounts of his immediate successors, such as Crates and Hipparchia, and the witty moral preacher Bion. The contrasting teachings of the Cyrenaics and the hedonistic Aristippos complete the volume.

First collection of essays entirely devoted to the inscription of Diogenes of Oinoanda. The texts of Diogenes of Oinoanda (2nd century AD) who invited his readers to an Epicurean life is the largest ancient inscription ever discovered. Over 70 new finds have increased the number of known wall blocks and fragments to nearly 300, offering new insights into Diogenes' distinctive presentation of philosophy. This collection of essays discusses the philosophical significance of these discoveries and is the first (...) of this kind entirely devoted to Diogenes of Oinoanda. Particular attention is paid to his philosophical aims and polemical strategies. Diogenes was apparently well aware of still ongoing philosophical debates, engaging in polemics against Presocratic philosophers, Platonics, and especially Stoics. His views about important issues like happiness, fear, old age, and the afterlife are explained on the bases of Epicurean physics and theology, ethics, politics, theory of knowledge, and psychology. (shrink)

The life and teachings of Diogenes of Sinope, the Greek philosopher who gave rise to classical Cynicism, deserve careful consideration because of their relevance to contemporary ethical issues. The task of reconstructing the philosopher's life, however, is exceedingly difficult, because in his case, more than in those of other ancient philosophers, we must deal not only with the scarcity of reliable sources and testimonies, but also with the mountains of anecdotal and fictional accounts that are responsible for the creation (...) of a veritable literary legend around the Cynic who once lived in a tub. This comprehensive study reconstructs his biography on the basis of classical and Arabic sources, identifies the main ideas and principles of his philosophy, and shows the application of his philosophical message for our contemporary world. It also includes an extensively annotated translation of Diogenes Laertius' Life of Diogenes of Sinope, which is our principal source of information about the philosopher. (shrink)