Ancient Philosophies
Stoicism
2nd Edition
By John Sellars
July 10, 2025
This new edition of Stoicism provides an introduction to one of the most influential schools of philosophy in antiquity, the influence of which has persisted to the present day. Originating in Athens around 300 BCE, Stoicism flourished for some five hundred years and has remained a constant ...
The Sophists
1st Edition
By Richard McKirahan
September 30, 2024
This book offers a new way of looking at the fifth-century BCE Sophists, rejecting the bad reputation they have had since antiquity and presenting them as individuals rather than a “movement,” each with his own specialty and personality as revealed through the scant surviving evidence. It provides ...
The Philosophy of Early Christianity
2nd Edition
By George Karamanolis
May 31, 2021
This new edition introduces the reader to the philosophy of early Christianity in the second to fourth centuries AD, and contextualizes the philosophical contributions of early Christians in the framework of the ancient philosophical debates. It examines the first attempts of Christian ...
The Peripatetics: Aristotle's Heirs 322 BCE - 200 CE
1st Edition
By Han Baltussen
December 20, 2016
The Peripatetics explores the development of Peripatetic thought from Theophrastus and Strato to the work of the commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias. The book examines whether the internal dynamics of this philosophical school allowed for a unity of Peripatetic thought, or whether there was a ...
Plato
1st Edition
By Andrew Mason
May 27, 2016
Plato (c.428-347 BCE) stands at the beginning of many debates that have continued throughout the history of philosophy. His literary career spanned fifty years and the influence of his ideas and those of his followers pervaded philosophy throughout antiquity. Andrew Mason's lucid and engaging ...
Confucianism
1st Edition
By Paul Goldin
July 22, 2015
"Confucianism" presents the history and salient tenets of Confucian thought, and discusses its viability, from both a social and a philosophical point of view, in the modern world. Despite most of the major Confucian texts having been translated into English, there remains a surprising lack of ...
The Ancient Commentators on Plato and Aristotle
1st Edition
By Miira Tuominen
March 10, 2015
In late antiquity the works of Plato and Aristotle were subject to intense study, which eventually led to the development of a new literary form, the philosophical commentary. Until recently these commentaries were understood chiefly as sources of information for the masters - Plato and Aristotle -...
Epicureanism
1st Edition
By Tim O'Keefe
December 05, 2014
The Epicurean school of philosophy was one of the dominant philosophies of the Hellenistic period. Founded by Epicurus of Samos (century 341-270 BCE) it was characterized by an empiricist epistemology and a hedonistic ethics. This new introduction to Epicurus offers readers clear exposition of the ...
Presocratics
1st Edition
By James Warren
December 05, 2014
The earliest phase of philosophy in Europe saw the beginnings of cosmology and rational theology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethical and political theory. It saw the development of a wide range of radical and challenging ideas: from Thales' claim that magnets have souls and Parmenides' account ...
Indian Buddhist Philosophy
1st Edition
By Amber Carpenter
August 08, 2014
Organised in broadly chronological terms, this book presents the philosophical arguments of the great Indian Buddhist philosophers of the fifth century BCE to the eighth century CE. Each chapter examines their core ethical, metaphysical and epistemological views as well as the distinctive area of ...
Ancient Scepticism
1st Edition
By Harald Thorsrud
November 01, 2008
Scepticism, a philosophical tradition that casts doubt on our ability to gain knowledge of the world and suggests suspending judgement in the face of uncertainty, has been influential since is beginnings in ancient Greece. Harald Thorsrud provides an engaging, rigorous introduction to the arguments...