Annas - Ancient philosophy: a very short introduction

Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

This book, written by one of the best-known scholars in the subject, offers a fresh and original approach to introducing readers to ancient philosophy.... Annas explores six themes as a way of alerting modern readers to the interest and challenge of ancient philosophy.... the writing is lively and nontechnical, [and] Annas opens up a range of very important questions about ancient thought and about modern reception of antiquity. Christopher Gill, University of Exeter

A+ for Annas on Ancient Philosophy. This should be the first book any prospective student in philosophy reads. Annass renowned scholarship, combined with her engaging style, enable her to convey an astonishing amount about the ancient Greeks and still find room for many fascinating insights into how their thought relates to the way we think now and how it was interpreted in earlier centuries.

Rosalind Hursthouse, The Open University

VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in 13 languages worldwide.

Very Short Introductions available from Oxford Paperbacks:

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas

THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair

ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn

ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes

THE BIBLE John Riches

BUDDHISM Damien Keown

CLASSICS Mary Beard and John Henderson

DESCARTES Tom Sorell

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Paul Langford

HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood

HINDUISM Kim Knott

HISTORY John H. Arnold

HUME A. J. Ayer

ISLAM Malise Ruthven

JUDAISM Norman Solomon

THE KORAN Michael Cook

LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler

LOGIC Graham Priest

MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner

MARX Peter Singer

MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths

MUSIC Nicholas Cook

NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner

NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and H. C. G. Matthew

POLITICS Kenneth Minogue

PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and Freda McManus

ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY John Monaghan and Peter Just

SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce

SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor

STUART BRITAIN John Morrill

THEOLOGY David F. Ford

THE TUDORS John Guy

TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan

Forthcoming Very Short Introductions:

ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia

ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland

BIOETHICS Helga Kuhse

CHAOS Leonard Smith

CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Simon Critchley

COSMOLOGY Peter Coles

ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta

EMOTION Dylan Evans

ETHICS Simon Blackburn

THE EUROPEAN UNION John Pinder

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY Oliver Curry

THE FIRST WORLD WAR Michael Howard

FREE WILL Thomas Pink

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton

INTELLIGENCE Ian Deary

MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers

OPERA Roger Parker

PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot

Julia Annas

A Very Short Introduction

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Text Julia Annas 2000

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First published as an Oxford University Press paperback 2000

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ISBN 0-19-285357-0

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Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk

Printed in Spain by Book Print S. L.

The prospect of writing a very short introduction to ancient philosophy has attracted and intrigued me for some time. I would like to thank Shelley Cox for her encouragement and comments, as well as Christopher Gill, Laura Owen, David Owen, and a reader for Oxford University Press. I would like to thank Cindy Holder for help with the proofs and index. Needless to say, the shortcomings rest with me. I would like to dedicate this book to the memory of my friend Jean Hampton, who I hope would have enjoyed it.

Medea by Eugene Delacroix, 1838

Muse des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Photo: AKG London

Medea by Frederick Sandys, 18868

Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery/Bridgeman Art Library

Papyrus fragment of Philodemus On Anger

National Library, Naples. Photo: Professor Knut Kleve, University of Oslo

The Choice of Heracles by Paolo de Matteis, 1712

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Socrates, British Museum

British Museum

Aristotle

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Photo: AKG London

Mosaic thought ro represent Anaximander

Landesmuseum, Trier, Germany

Philosophers discussing and arguing together

National Museum of Archaeology, Naples. Photo: AKG London/Erich Lessing

Philosopher next to a praying figure

Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome. Photo: Hirmer Verlag GmbH

A very short introduction should have modest aims. It is also, however, an opportunity to give the reader direct ways into the subject, and lead him or her straight off to what is most important about the subject. In this book I have tried to engage the reader with ancient philosophy in the way that matters, as a tradition of discussion and engagement, a conversation which I hope will continue after the reader has finished this book.