Studies in Presocratic Philosophy Volume 1

Volume 4

STUDIES IN PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY VOL. I

The Beginnings of Philosophy

Edited by
David J. Furley and R. E. Allen

First published in 1970

by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

This edition first published in 2017

by Routledge
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1970 Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

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ISBN: 978-1-138-20063-0 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-315-47325-3 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-20128-6 (Volume 4) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-20155-2 (Volume 4) (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-51153-5 (Volume 4) (ebk)

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Studies in Presocratic Philosophy
Vol. I

The Beginnings of Philosophy

edited by David J. Furley and R. E. Allen

ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL

NEW YORK: THE HUMANITIES PRESS

First published 1970
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane
London, E.C.4

Printed in Great Britain
by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd
Bungay, Suffolk

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 1970

This book may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publishers

ISBN 0 7100 6759 3

OUR thanks are due to the Clarendon Press for permission to publish article XII, which first appeared in the Classical Quarterly; to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies for articles II and IX and X, which first appeared in the Journal of Hellenic Studies: to the Harvard University Press for article VIII, which first appeared in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology and is here reprinted in shortened form; to the Johns Hopkins Press for articles XIII and XV, which first appeared in The American Journal of Philology; to the University of Chicago Press for article IV, which first appeared in Classical Philology; and to the editors of The Journal of The History of Ideas, Gnomon, The Philosophical Quarterly, Mind, Hermes, and Annals of Mathematics for articles I, III, V, VII, XI, and XIV respectively.

Professor Sir Karl Popper has asked that mention be made of his reply in Conjectures and Refutations to Professor Kirk's criticism of 'Back to the Presocratics' both in the body of this book and in this Preface.

R. E. A.
D. J. F.

THIS volume contains articles on three subjects: (1) the nature of Presocratic thought in general; (2) the sources of our knowledge of the Presocratics; (3) the earliest philosophers, up to Heraclitus. A second volume will deal with Parmenides and his successors, as far as the Atomists, Leucippus, and Democritus.

We have tried to assemble a collection of essays which will be useful and interesting to students of the history of philosophy, the history of science, and classical literature. We have omitted articles with a strictly philological purpose and method, and aimed to please the Greek-less reader, although this has not always been possible. All the articles have appeared elsewhere, in the learned journals, but certain changes have been made here: (1) the article by Uvo Hlscher in Volume 1 and Hermann Frnkel's 'Parmenidesstudien' in Volume 2 have been translated from the original German; (2) J. B. McDiarmid's 'Theophrastus on the Presocratic Causes' and Gregory Vlastos's 'On Heraclitus' have been considerably abbreviated; (3) some articles have been revised by their authors; (4) Greek words and quotations have been translated into English whenever the nature of the article permitted this change. The place and date of the original publication of each article are mentioned in the Table of Contents. All non-trivial changes are marked by footnotes or in some other way.

The study of Presocratic philosophy has greatly increased in bulk and in depth during this century, and the rate of increase itself appears to be increasing. Where articles would suffice in the 1930s, we now have whole books, or even series of books, on individual philosophers. By comparison with some other branches of classical literature, there has been a rapid expansion, which has rendered some books and articles out of date. After considering several candidates, the editors have included no articles which were published before 1930, and few before 1940. We particularly regret omitting articles by W. A. Heidel and F. M. Cornford which were significant and progressive at the time of their publication, but appeared to us to be concerned with issues that are no longer alive now.