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42Philosophy's numerical turn: why the Pythagoreans' interest in numbers is truly awesomeIn Dirk Obbink & David Sider (eds.), Doctrine and Doxography: Studies on Heraclitus and Pythagoras, De Gruyter. pp. 3-32. 2013.Philosophers are generally somewhat wary of the hints of number mysticism in the reports about the beliefs and doctrines of the so-called Pythagoreans. It's not clear how much Pythagoras himself (as opposed to his later followers) indulged in speculation about numbers, or in more serious mathematics. But the Pythagoreans whom Aristotle discusses in the Metaphysics had some elaborate stories to tell about how the universe could be explained in terms of numbers—not just its physics but perhaps mor…Read more
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41On being reminded of Heraclitus by the motifs in Plato’s PhaedoIn Enrica Fantino, Ulrike Muss, Charlotte Schubert & Kurt Sier (eds.), Heraklit Im Kontext, De Gruyter. pp. 373-414. 2017.In this paper I argue that we can better understand Plato’s Phaedo, if we don’t concentrate solely on the hints of Pythagoreanism among the characters and their doctrines, as though that were the principal key to the dialogue’s dialec- tical targets. I suggest that the dialogue is intended to make us think of the meta-physics of at least one other Presocratic predecessor, besides any Pythagorean influence (which may be much less than has been thou…Read more
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41Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought: Themes from the Work of Richard Sorabji (review)The Classical Review 57 (2): 332-336. 2007.
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41Scott Austin: Parmenides, Being, Bounds and Logic (review)Ancient Philosophy 11 (2): 393-396. 1991.This is a book review of the work by Scott Austin.
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41"No" means "Yes": The Seduction of the Word in Plato's PhaedrusProceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 15 (1): 263-281. 1999.The motifs of love and seduction in the Phaedrus are not about sexual love but about philosophy, and particularly about two different approaches to philosophy, one engaged and emotionally, even poetically, involved and one cold, rational and detached. Socrates' palinode speech in the Phaedrus contrasts the lover of beauty whose philosophical sensitivities enable the wings to grow and intellectual vision to occur, with the cool rational character of the non-lover who has no place for love of beau…Read more
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40Holding the centre and untied kingdom – by Ian Robinson (review)Philosophical Investigations 33 (3): 266-270. 2010.
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38Love's bitter fruits: Martha C. Nussbaum The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (review)Philosophical Investigations 19 (4): 318-328. 1996.I explore the connections between love, resentment and anger, and challenge Nussbaum's assumption that love is self-seeking, leads to resentment when the benefits are withdrawn, and that anger is invariably a vicious response. I sketch an alternative view of genuine love, and of the importance of the anger that springs from seeing a loved one unjustly treated.
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38On Calling the Gods by the Right NamesRhizomata 1 (2): 168-193. 2013.Do you need to know the name of the god you're praying to? If you get the name wrong what happens to the prayer? What if the god has more than one name? Who gets to decide whether the name works (you or the god or neither)? What are names anyway? Are the names of the gods any different in how they work from any other names? Is there a way of fixing the reference without using the name so as to avoid the problems of optional names? There is a type of formula used in prayer in ancient Greece whic…Read more
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36Firmus de Césarée: Lettres. Introduction, texte et traduction, notes et index (review)The Classical Review 40 (2): 483-484. 1990.
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34Tertullien: Contre Marcion Tome II . Texte Critique, Traduction et Notes (review)The Classical Review 44 (1): 212-213. 1994.
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31Knowledge and Truth in Plato: Stepping Past the Shadow of SocratesOxford University Press. 2018.Catherine Rowett presents an in depth study of Plato's Meno, Republic and Theaetetus and offers both a coherent argument that the project in which Plato was engaging has been widely misunderstood and misrepresented, and detailed new readings of particular thorny issues in the interpretation of these classic texts.
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29Matter, Space, and Motion: Theories in Antiquity and Their Sequel. Richard Sorabji (review)Isis 81 (1): 97-98. 1990.This is a book review of the book by Sorabji.
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29Philosophical Reflections on the Idea of a Universal Basic IncomeRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 91 81-102. 2022.A universal basic income is an unconditional allowance, sufficient to live on, paid in cash to every citizen regardless of income. It has been a Green Party policy for years. But the idea raises many interesting philosophical questions, about fairness, entitlement, desert, stigma and sanctions, the value of unpaid work, the proper ambitions of a good society, and our preconceptions about whether leisure or jobs are the thing we should prize above all for free citizens. Coming from the perspectiv…Read more
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29A Portable Presocratics Primer? (review)British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21 (4): 791-797. 2013.No abstract
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27George Klosko, "The Development of Plato's Political Theory" (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 27 (1): 146. 1989.
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26Philoponus on the origins of the universe and other issuesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 20 (3): 389-395. 1989.
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17Sources of Significance in Hippolytus's Account of Greek PhilosophyApeiron 27 (3). 1994.L'A. étudie l'oeuvre d'Hippolyte de Rome qui présente, moins qu'un véritable intérêt philosophique, l'avantage d'une certaine connaissance de l'histoire de la philosophie, sur laquelle il fonde sa défense de la doctrine chrétienne. Le débat s'articule autour de l'originalité de l'interprétation de la philosophie grecque, des Présocratiques en particulier, par Hippolyte. Il s'agit, par comparaison avec Plotin, de délimiter les sources philosophiques de son oeuvre empreinte d'un moyen platonisme t…Read more
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16Rethinking early Greek philosophy: Hippolytus of Rome and the PresocraticsCornell University Press. 1987.An analysis of Hippolytus' Refutation of All Heresies, to discover his practices and motivations in preserving and quoting extracts from Greek Philosophy, in particular his important contribution to our knowledge of Presocratic Philosophy. The work argues that such sources must be read as embedded texts, and that fragments must not be extracted and treated in isolation from the quoting authority whose interests and knowledge are important in interpreting the material.
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16Heraclitus: Fragments: A Text and Translation With a Commentary (review)Philosophical Review 99 (1): 104-106. 1990.
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14The Greek Cosmologists. Volume I: The Formation of the Atomic Theory and Its Earliest Critics. David Furley (review)Isis 79 (3): 536-537. 1988.
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12The Presocratic Philosophers (review)British Journal for the History of Science 18 (1): 93-94. 1985.
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11On Aristotle's "Physics 1.1-3"Cornell University Press. 2006.In this, the first half of Philoponus' analysis of book one of "Aristotle's Physics", the principal themes are metaphysical. Aristotle's opening chapter in the "Physics" is an abstract reflection on methodology for the investigation of nature, 'physics'. Aristotle suggests that one must proceed from things that are familiar but vague, and derive more precise but less obvious principles to constitute genuine knowledge. His controversial claim that this is to progress from the universal to the mor…Read more
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7Aristotle on the Fantastic Abilities of Animals in De Anima 3. 3'Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 19 253-85. 2000.A discussion of De anima 3.3 designed to show that phantasia serves to prevent a dualism of different objects for perception and thought, and ensures that attention is directed to real objects in the world, for both animals and humans. when they perceive and when they think about things in their absence. There is a continuity between animal and human behaviour, based on the common use of perceptual attention as the basis of mental attention. The objects of thought are not any more propositional …Read more
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6Marwan Rashed, La Jeune Fille et la Sphère. Études sur EmpédoclePhilosophie Antique 21 269-272. 2021.This book is an amazing treasure trove of riches, and my response, done properly, would probably occupy three monographs. Naturally, Rashed is addressing quite a few controversial issues concerning the interpretation of Empedocles, and on some of these I would heartily disagree with his conclusions, or have minor quibbles; but all his contributions are welcome and reflect a most impressive breadth of learning and scholarship. Where I disagree, it is mostly not that Rashed’s reports of the tex...
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University of East AngliaSchool of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication StudiesRetired faculty
Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Plato |
Areas of Interest
13 more