Hermann Diels, professor of classics at Berlin, is chiefly remembered for this collection of quotations from, and reports about, Presocratic philosophers; his system of numbering was later adopted as the scholarly standard. This reissue reproduces the original, single-volume edition of 1903, though the book was revised and expanded three times during Diels' lifetime, and again after his death, and new fragments continue to be discovered. Designed as a reference tool to underpin university classes on the beginnings of Greek philosophy, (...) the book sought to enable students to engage with original evidence. Diels aimed to provide a complete corpus of fragments rather than an arbitrary selection. He intentionally reproduced the texts exactly rather than standardising the language, in order to provide a foundation for future research. While admitting he found the material obscure at times, Diels provided German translations to help make the content more accessible to his readers. (shrink)

English summary: With his research on early Greek philosophy, Hermann Diels created the definitive works of his era, and his Fragments of the Presocratics remains the standard work on the topic. However, the scholar never published a panorama of his unmatched knowledge. For the first time, a transcript of the lecture in which Diels represented his vision of Hellenic thought is now available. The script from the 1897/98 winter semester documents the oratory and pedagogy of the great Hellenist and (...) was provided by one of his exceptional students, the Munich-based Egyptologist Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing. Diels proved himself as a clear-headed thinker discussing the historical course of early proverbial wisdom, the natural and political theory of Plato, and the conceptual precision of Aristotle. Central figures such as Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Democritus are concisely drawn and colored. Thus the text offers an absorbing picture of the origins of theoretical consciousness in Europe. German text. German description: Mit seinen Forschungen zur fruehgriechischen Philosophie hat Hermann Diels Epoche gemacht; seine aFragmente der Vorsokratiker sind weiterhin das Standardwerk zum Thema. Nie jedoch hat der Gelehrte ein Panorama seines unerreichten Wissens veroffentlicht. Erstmals wird nun eine Mitschrift jener Vorlesung zuganglich, in der Diels seine Sicht des hellenischen Denkens darstellte. Das Skript aus dem Wintersemester 1897/98 dokumentiert vorzueglich Sprachkraft und Padagogik des grossen Grazisten; es stammt von einem Ausnahme-Studenten, dem spateren Muenchner Agyptologen Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing.Im historischen Gang von frueher Spruchweisheit bis zur Natur- und Staatslehre Platons und der begrifflichen Prazisionsarbeit des Aristoteles hebt Diels besonders das Fortwirken grosser Denkmuster hervor. Zentrale Gestalten wie Anaximander, Heraklit, Parmenides oder Demokrit sind pragnant und farbig gezeichnet. So bietet der Text ueber seinen fachhistorischen Wert hinaus ein fesselndes Bild der Urspruenge theoretischen Bewusstseins in Europa. (shrink)

Stobaeus records a placitum where Empedocles says that the world is destroyed by the domination in turn of Love and of Strife. The placitum makes perfectly good sense in the context of Empedocles' belief that Love and Strife produce, in turn, a non-cosmic state of total unity (Love) and of total separation (Strife). But for over two hundred years scholars have been unable to hear that simple message. Sturz (1805) emended the text so as to make it fit the non-cyclical (...) interpretation of Empedocles that he had taken over from the pages of Tiedemann (1791). When Diels included Stobaeus' text in his edition of Aetius, in the "Doxographi graeci" (1879), he failed to remove the emendation, although his own reconstruction of the chapter heading in Aetius made the emendation impossible. Twenty years later, Diels saw the light, and printed Stobaeus' placitum, unemended, in his "Poetarum philosophorum fragmenta" (1901) and in successive editions of his "Fragmente der Vorsokratiker" (from 1903 onwards). But Kranz resurrected the emendation in the "Nachträge" to his sixth edition of the "Fragmente der Vorsokratiker" (1951). The emended placitum is used again by Uvo Hölscher (1965) to support a non-cyclical interpretation of Empedocles and is repeated in the latest collection of the fragments and testimonia (Brad Inwood, 1992). Hölscher fails to appreciate that the text that he uses to support his reconstruction is merely Sturz's translation into Greek of the non-cyclical interpretation of Empedocles proposed by Tiedemann at the end of the eighteenth century. (shrink)

It is the aim of this paper to offer, in Catalan, a bio-bibliographical note on Hermann Diels, on the occasion of the first centenary of his death, highlighting his contributions to multiple areas of the Altertumswissenschaften, especially on the pre-Socratic philosophers; in this regard, both his intellectual bonds and path are described; then the Fragmente and his philosophical attitude are examined; finally and in the appendix, we offer as a humble tribute to his memory the first Catalan translation of (...) a text of his own: a brief but panoramic essay on the history of ancient Greek philosophy. (shrink)

Artykuł zawiera filologiczno-filozoficzną weryfikację „szkicu przekładu” fragmentów księgi Heraklita z Efezu, jakiego przed rokiem 1921 dokonał Henryk Elzenberg. Własnej próby tłumaczenia maksym Efezyjczyka nie oparł Elzenberg na ich źródłach, lecz na trzeciej edycji zbioru Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1912) Hermanna Dielsa, który wyimki z oryginalnych passusów redagował czterokrotnie i rozmaicie przekładał. By jak najlepiej ocenić i zweryfikować Elzenbergowy „szkic przekładu”, autor przytoczył – kolejno – (1) źródła greckie, (2) własne ich tłumaczenia, (3) teksty greckie analizowanych „fragmentów” Efezyjczyka w redakcji (...) Dielsa, (4) ich niemieckie przekłady autorstwa Dielsa i – na tle ich wszystkich – (5) translatorskie próby Elzenberga. Zastosowana metodologia ułatwiła sformułowanie wniosku, że wierny był wprawdzie młody Elzenberg własnej zasadzie, by niczego – przekładów niemieckiego filologa nie pomijając – nie czytać „potulnie”, na niwie jednak stricte filologicznej bezwiednie padł ofiarą „bezradności” Dielsa, gdyż w jego „szkicu przekładu” aforyzmów Heraklita nic doprawdy nie świadczy o tym, aby (1) odkrył – albo przynajmniej przeczuwał – jakąkolwiek między nimi „współzależność” (Zusammenhang), i by (2) na jej podstawie sformułował jakiekolwiek własne wnioski filozoficzne, odzwierciedlające myśl Efezyjczyka. Najlepiej tego dowiodło porównanie fragmentu B67 z maksymą B53 na tle ich źródeł oraz ich przekładów. *** HERACLITUS IN ELZENBERG’S INTERPRETATION PART I: WHAT MISTAKES COULD THE AUTHOR OF THE TROUBLE WITH EXISTENCE HAVE EASILY AVOIDED, IF ONLY HE HAD VALUED THE SOURCES MORE THAN DIELS’ COLLECTION AND TRUSTED THEM AND HIMSELF MORE? SUMMARY The article contains a philological and philosophical verification of a “sketch of a translation” of the fragments of the book of Heraclitus of Ephesus, which Henryk Elzenberg made before the year 1921. Elzenberg did not base his own attempt to translate maxims of the Ephesian sage on their sources, but on the third edition of the collection Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1912) compiled by Hermann Diels, who had four times edited and variously translated excerpts from the original passages. In order to best evaluate and verify Elzenberg’s “sketch of a translation”, the author has quoted – in succession – (1) the Greek sources, (2) his own translations of them, (3) Diels’ versions of the Greek texts of the Ephesian’s fragments analyzed here, (4) Diels’ German translations of them and – against all of these – (5) Elzenberg’s attempts at translation. The methodology used in the article has facilitated the formulation of a conclusion that although the young Elzenberg was faithful to his own principle of reading nothing whatsoever “meekly” – without overlooking the translations of the German philologist – nevertheless, on strictly philological grounds, he unwittingly fell victim to Diels’ “helplessness”, because in fact nothing in his “sketch of a translation” of Heraclitus’ aphorisms provides evidence that (1) he discovered – or at least presaged – any “connection” (Zusammenhang) between them, or that (2) he formulated on the basis thereof any philosophical conclusions, reflecting the Ephesian’s thought. The best proof of this emerges from a comparison of fragment B67 with maxim B53 based on the sources and the translations. (shrink)

The name of Aëtius is linked to a compendium of physical opinions discovered and reconstructed by Hermann Diels in his Doxographi Graeci (Berlin 1879). Diels was able to show that a very complex doxographical tradition derives from a single work to be dated to the first century CE, which he attributed to an otherwise unknown person called Aëtius. Diels' reconstruction of this lost work provided the basis for his immensely influential collection of fragments, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Berlin (...) 1903). Diels' discovery and reconstruction is currently being re-examined by Jaap Mansfeld and David Runia in a multi-volume editorial project entitled Aëtiana. The first volume of Aëtiana appeared in 1997.1 That volume deals with the hypothesis that a number of later authors derived their doxographical information from a common source to be identified with a work composed in about 100 CE by Aëtius. The upshot is that the Aëtius-hypothesis is sound but is also in need of revision and refinement. This second volume carries forward the investigation begun in the first volume. It is divided into two parts. The first part consists of a structural analysis of the compendium, and the second offers a reconstruction of its best preserved section, namely book 2. (shrink)

The Greeks attributed to Thales a great many discoveries and achievements. Few, if any, of these can be said to rest on thoroughly reliable testimony, most of them being the ascriptions of commentators and compilers who lived anything from 700 to 1,000 years after his death—a period of time equivalent to that between William the Conqueror and the present day. Inevitably there ilso accumulated round the name of Thales, as round that of Pythagoras , a number of anecdotes of varying (...) degrees of plausibility and of no historical worth whatsoever. These and the achievements credited to Thales have, of course, been painstakingly brought together by Hermann Diels in Der Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Useful and necessary as this work undoubtedly is, it nevertheless has probably contributed as much as any other book to the exaggerated and false Aew of Thales which we meet in so many modern histories of science or philosophy, and which it is the purpose of this article to combat. (shrink)

Presentación de la constitución de un Centro de investigación sobre el pensamiento de Giambattista Vico . Informaciones. Fe de erratas vol. 7/8.

In dem von Aristoteles zur Bezeichnung dessen, was wir einen Aussage- oder Behauptungssatz nennen, gewählten Ausdruck logos apophantikos hat das Wort logos eine Bedeutung, die weiter ist als die Bedeutung des deutschen Wortes ›Satz‹. Der Definition zufolge, die Aristoteles in De interpretatione 4 aufstellt, ist ein logos nämlich »eine etwas bedeutende stimmliche Äußerung, von deren Teilen einer eigenständig etwas bedeutet, und zwar als ein Ausdruck, der etwas sagt, nicht als einer, der etwas aussagt «. Unter den in dieser Weise definierten (...) Begriff des logos fallen außer Sätzen einerseits auch Wortgruppen von der Art des Ausdrucks »schönes Pferd« oder des den Begriff des Menschen definierenden Ausdrucks »zweifüßiges Land-Lebewesen« und andererseits auch ganze Texte, wie z. B. die Ilias. (shrink)

In this theoretical study we explore the concept of intentional-ity. Intentionality is the specific reference that mental phenomena have with respect to objects, also termed the 'aboutness' of cognitive acts. We discuss intentionality on the basis of self-organized pattern formation, a ubiquitous phenomenon in complex open systems. Dynamical systems theory provides an understanding of how emergent variables originate from microscopic variables. Control parameters comprise those external parameters and gradients that drive the systems they represent environmental inuences. The relationship between pattern (...) formation and control parameters therefore addresses the functioning of a system in its environment. Our hypothesis is that self-organizing systems exhibit intentionality-like capabilities in their responses to environmental inuences. This is modelled using differential calculus, by which we demonstrate how pattern formation reduces control parameters in an efficient manner. These ideas are applied to the complex system brain, using the Wilson-Cowan equations of axonal pulse rates in neural networks. (shrink)

Neokantismes: la marque du pluriel indique d'emblee que le mot d'ordre des annees 1865 Retour a Kant! regroupe differentes ecoles. Les auteurs dont les textes inedits en francais se trouvent ici rassembles et traduits, appartiennent en effet soit a l'ecole de Marbourg (H. Cohen, P. Natorp et E. Cassirer) soit a l'ecole de Bade (W. Windelband, H. Rickert, E. Lask, J. Cohn). Le point commun du neokantisme logique des premiers et du neokantisme axiologique des seconds consiste en une volonte d'asseoir (...) le positivisme sur un fondement philosophique respectueux de l'attitude phenomenologique. Kant apparut donc a tous ces penseurs comme science rigoureuse a condition toutefois de ne considerer le sujet transcendantal que comme une fonction logique de la pensee qui elabore la forme et le contenu de la connaissance. A condition egalement de ne pas limiter l'entreprise critique a la physique, mais de l'etendre au fondement de toutes les sciences de l'esprit. (shrink)

"Dieser Band zu Hegels 'Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften' (1830) ist Teil eines dreibändigen Kommentars zu Hegels Hauptwerken. Es ist das Ziel dieser Kommentare, Hegels philosophisches Werk einem breiteren Lesepublikum zu erschliessen. Sie wollen die selbständige Lektüre der meist sehr schwierigen Hegel-Texte nicht durch referierende Darstellung ersetzen, sondern sie gerade ermöglichen - durch textnahe Erläuterungen, systematische Begriffsklärungen und den Aufweis von inhaltlichen Querverbindungen im Riesengebäude des Hegelschen Werkes. Auch die philosophie- und wissenschaftsgeschichtlichen Zusammenhänge, in denen Hegels System entsteht und Struktur gewinnt, (...) werden herausgestellt. Alle Autoren, die sich an diesem Projekt beteiligen, sind in der Hegelforschung und -interpretation durch eigene Beiträge bestens ausgewiesen, so das ihre Kommentare beanspruchen dürfen, auch hier 'auf dem neusten Stand' zu sein. Vor allem aber soll Hegel selbst zu Wort kommen und dabei nicht nur gehört, sondern auch verstanden werden."--. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Aëtıana. The Method and Intellectual Context of a Doxographer, Volume One: The Sources by J. Mansfeld and D. T. RuniaA. A. LongJ. Mansfeld and D. T. Runia. Aëtıana. The Method and Intellectual Context of a Doxographer, Volume One: The Sources. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997. Pp. xxii + 371. Cloth, $135.50In this book, the first of a projected series of volumes, Mansfeld and Runia have begun a massive investigation (...) of the (mainly Greek) authors on whom we moderns rely for information about the numerous Greek philosophers whose works have not survived. The thousand-year tradition of Greek philosophy, extending from the Presocratics to Neoplatonism, is largely a story told via quotations, biographies, classifications, epitomes and criticisms. A few great works survive intact, including especially the dialogues of Plato, the technical writings of Aristotle, the sceptical books of Sextus Empiricus, and the Enneads of Plotinus; we also have most of the work on lost philosophers composed by such prolific authors as Cicero, Plutarch and Galen, and there are other well-known “sources,” such as the ten books of Lives and Doctrines, compiled by Diogenes Laertius. The present volume, however, deals with more recondite material: a work (P) on the physical doctrines of the philosophers, misattributed to Plutarch; a similar work, misattributed to Galen (G); the anthology of the Byzantine scholar Stobaeus (S); some chapters of Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica (E); a work of Christian apologetics by the Syrian bishop Theodoret (T); and (in less detail) a few further writers from later antiquity.What unifies this set of authors is the thesis put forward by Hermann Diels in his monumental Doxographi Graeci (1879), to the effect that all of them, directly or indirectly, are derived from a single work composed in about 100 CE by Aetius. According to Diels, Aetius derived his material from a much older collection (Vetusta Placita), and this, in its turn, was ultimately dependent on an extensive work by Aristotle’s pupil and successor, Theophrastus. Diels’ thesis, which underpins his collection of testimonia for the Presocratics (the “A” fragments of Diels/Kranz Vorsokratiker), has been the foundation of all subsequent work on the sources of fragmentary Greek (especially Presocratic) philosophers. Diels gave the name “doxography” to the genre of writing he took to be represented by Aetius and the authors of similar accounts of philosophical doctrines.The volume under review explains, tests, supplements, and revises just that part of Diels’ thesis which invokes Aetius and the subsequent sources supposedly derived from this lost work. Mansfeld and Runia are uniquely qualified for this daunting task. Each of them has worked extensively on the historiography of Greek philosophy. As a Dutch duo in this volume, they bring unrivalled expertise to bear on revisiting the work of the formidable Diels.The good news is that Diels’ Aetian hypothesis has been vindicated for the most part. Although the name Aetius is attested to by only Theodoret, Diels was quite right to deduce that Aetius’ compilation was the source of the material common to P, S, and T, and that E and G make extensive use of P. Hence scholars of ancient philosophy can continue to impose confidence in that part of Diels’ work which takes the story from Aetius into later antiquity. This finding means that the work of Mansfeld and Runia will hardly change one’s judgment concerning what can be known about the actual doctrines of fragmentary philosophers.What it will particularly affect is one’s understanding of the lost Aetius himself and [End Page 523] the surviving authors whose work is directly derived from him. The core of this book (primarily composed by Runia) is a set of chapters on P, S, and T, in which these three authors are studied for their own sake and their different methodologies carefully set out. Diels, under the influence of nineteenth-century philology, treated P, S, and T as if they were variant manuscripts rather than distinct authors. This misled him into regarding the doxographical tradition as much more uniform than it actually is. In earlier works both Mansfeld and Runia have greatly illuminated the dialectical and classificatory ways in which philosophical doctrines were... (shrink)

In the sixth century BC, Pherekydes of Syros, the reputed teacher of Pythagoras and contemporary of Thales and Anaximander, wrote a book about the birth of the gods and the origin of the cosmos. Considered one of the first prose works of Greek literature, Pherekydes' book survives only in fragments. On the basis of these as well as the ancient testimonies, the author attempts to reconstruct the theo-cosmological schema of Pherekydes. An introductory chapter on the life of Pherekydes is followed (...) by four chapters on the contents of his book. From Pherekydes' mythopoeic creation account, his colourful narratives of a divine marriage and a battle of the gods, and finally from his remarks on the soul, Professor Schibli is careful to unfold the philosophical implications. Pherekydes emerges as a figure who moved in that fascinating frontier between myth and philosophy. The theogonies of Hesiod and the Orphics, the cosmological speculations of certain Presocratics, and the Pythagorean tenets on the soul are all profitably compared with the remnants of Pherekydes' book. Pherekydes is thus shown to be an important witness to early Greek thought in its various manifestations. This is the first book-length study in English dedicated to Pherekydes. It includes a comprehensive appendix of the fragments and ancient testimonies, along with limited critical apparatus and English translations. (shrink)