Peripatetic philosophy, 200 BC to AD 200

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Daniele Iozzia

Whilst aesthetics as a discipline did not exist before the modern age, ancient philosophers give many insights about beauty and art. In Late Antiquity Plotinus confronted the problem of beauty and the value of the arts. Plotinus' reflections have an important role in the development of the concept of the value of artistic imagination during the Renaissance and the Romantic era, but he also influenced the artistic taste of his time. Aesthetic Themes in Pagan and Christian Neoplatonism reconstructs the aesthetic philosophical views of Late Antiquity, and their relation to artistic production of the time. By examining the resonance of Plotinus' thought with contemporary artists and with Christian thinkers, including Gregory of Nyssa, the book demonstrates the importance of Plotinus' treatise On Beauty for the development of late ancient aesthetics. The Cappadocian fathers' interest in Plotinus is explored, as well as the consequent legacy of the pagan thinker's philosophy within Christian thought, such as the concept of beauty and the narration of the contemplative experience. Uniquely utilising philological and philosophical insight, as well as exploring both pagan and Christian philosophy, Aesthetic Themes in Pagan and Christian Neoplatonism represents the first comprehensive synthesis of aesthetic thought of Late Antiquity

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Mortimer J. Adler

"Adler traces 'in the simplest language and with occasional modern analogues, the logic and growth of Aristotle's basic doctrines.'" Publ Wkly "Aristotle taught logic to Alexander the Great and, by virtue of his philosophical works, to every philosopher since, from Marcus Aurelius, to Thomas Aquinas, to Mortimer J. Adler. Now Aler instructs the world in the 'uncommon common sense' of Aristotelian logic, presenting Aristotle's understandings in a current, delightfully lucid way ... Adler offers us a unique path to personal insights and understanding of intangibles, such as the difference between wants and needs, the proper way to pursue happiness, and the right plan for a good life."

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Andrew Ford

"By "literary criticism" we usually mean a self-conscious act involving the technical and aesthetic appraisal, by individuals, of autonomous works of art. Aristotle and Plato come to mind. The word "social" does not. Yet, as this book shows, it should - if, that is, we wish to understand where literary criticism as we think of it today came from. Andrew Ford offers a new understanding of the development of criticism, demonstrating that its roots stretch back long before the sophists to public commentary on the performance of songs and poems in the preliteracy era of ancient Greece. He pinpoints when and how, later in the Greek tradition than is usually assumed, poetry was studied as a discipline with its own principles and methods.". "Serving as a monumental preface to Aristotle's Poetics, this book allows readers to discern the emergence, within the manifold activities that might be called criticism, of the historically specific discourse on poetry that has shaped subsequent Western approaches to literature."--BOOK JACKET.

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J.O. Urmson

J.O. Urmson's The Greek Philosophical Vocabulary contains some five hundred alphabetically arranged entries, each aiming to provide useful information on a particular word used by Greek philosophers. The book includes a wealth of quotations ranging from the fifth century BC to the sixth century AD. Western thought derives principally from the Greeks, but few people now are able to read Greek philosophy in the original. This book helps remedy the defect. It consists of about 600 entries, in alphabetical order, on the most important Greek philosophical terms. Quotations, all with translations, are designed to illustrate the meaning of the terms and the philosophical settings in which they occur. Plato and Aristotle receive most attention, but quotations range from Anaximenes in the fifth century BC to Simplicius in the sixth century AD. The book includes the sources of all quotations, and any necessary explanatory matter. The book is intended primarily for students of philosophy with no, or only a limited, knowledge of Greek; but - because it reflects a lifetime's reading of ancient philosophy by a distinguished professional philosopher - it will be of considerable interest also to specialists.