The Presocratics

By Philip Ellis Wheelwright and ed. Wheelwright, Philip

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0672630915
• ISBN13: 9780672630910
• Release Date: January 1966
• Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Pub
• Length: 337 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A useful collection

This is a very good collection of extant bits of pre-Socratic writings. It is organized well chronologically and includes enough orienting discussion to suggest why the ideas are important and how they are related. I find myself referring to this collection often, as I think and write about reason and religion and philosophy and science. It is astounding to consider how "modern" and naturalistic these thinkers were. Not that they were modern-day scientists by any means, and their ideas are still confounded with the religion and metaphysics of their time. Still, they were struggling to be clear and consistent, and that is an amazing thing to think about for over 2500 years ago. One wonders what these researches would have led to if not for the "Platonic" turn in philosophy and the subsequent collapse of philosophy and reason altogether for a thousand years.

A Superb Guide to Early Greek Though

I consider myself at best an informed lay-person concerning philosophy and I found this book not only exceptionally informative about this topic, but beautifully written. I assume the translations are Wheelwright's; they are precise, elegant, and in modern English (that is the writing is free of archaic turns of phrase and the like). The notes and introductions tell the reader exactly what you need to know. Incidentally I heartily recommend his translation of Heraclitus also.

A superb and cogent introduction for interested laymen

This is a fine book on an important topic. My only caveat: it is somewhat dated by now. Still it is very well-done. Wheelwright first clearly outlines a conceptualization of religion that explains the sky vs. earth religion dichotomy better than any introductory text I have ever seen. He explains the evolution of early Greek philosophy from religion in a succinct and non-verbose way, and then in the bulk of the book he treats each pre-Socratic philosopher and philosophical school carefully, clearly, and intelligently, with a minimum of twentieth-century nonsense mixed in. He uses plenty of fragments to illustrate his points. This is a really lovely book. It will perhaps be less-than-useful for a graduate student in Classics but for undergraduates and interested bystanders it will suffice very well as an introduction. Highly recommended. After you read it, however, you will need to read things more recent if you want to pursue the topic.