Eleni Kechagia

Plutarch Against Colotes

A Lesson in History of Philosophy

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Kechagia rehabilitates Plutarch as a thinker and historian of philosophy by offering a critical analysis of Against Colotes, an anti-Epicurean treatise in which Plutarch discusses some of the most important philosophical theories. The book argues that Plutarch produces insightful philosophical interpretations of past theories.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press, USA
• Seitenzahl: 380
• Erscheinungstermin: 13. Januar 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 137mm x 30mm
• Gewicht: 590g
• ISBN-13: 9780199597239
• ISBN-10: 0199597235
• Artikelnr.: 34552471

Autorenporträt

Dr Eleni Kechagia studied Classics and Ancient Philosophy at the Universities of Thessaloniki (BA and Masters) and Oxford (DPhil). From 2006 to 2009 she was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford and a Research Fellow at Keble College, Oxford. She has written articles on Plutarch, Epicureanism, and ancient biography, and has taught Classics and Ancient Philosophy for many Oxford colleges.

Inhaltsangabe

* List of abbreviations
* Note on editions and translations
* Introduction
* Part I: Plutarch s target
* 1: Why did Plutarch write against Colotes? Reading the prooemium of
Against Colotes
* 1.1.: Introduction
* 1.2.: The prooemium under scrutiny
* 1.2.1.: The dedication: Saturninus, lover of antiquity (1107D-E)
* 1.2.2.: The circumstances: Platonic undertones and rhetorical
disclaimers (1107E- 1108B)
* 1.2.3.: The philosophical justification: pleasures of the belly and
bad scholarship (1108B-E)
* 1.3.: Conclusion: Colotes book as classroom material
* 2: Colotes of Lampsacus: the man and his philosophical background
* 2.1.: Introduction: Colotes in context
* 2.2.: Life and interactions with Epicurus
* 2.3.: Overview of Colotes works
* 2.3.1.: Against Plato s Lysis (P.Herc. 208)
* 2.3.2.: Against Plato s Euthydemus (P.Herc. 1032)
* 2.3.3: Against Plato s Myths
* 2.3.4.: Colotes, the Epicurean pamphleteer?
* 2.4.: The tradition of Epicurean polemics and its significance
* 2.5.: Colotes place in the history of the Epicurean school
* 3: Colotes polemic against the philosophers: a reconstruction
* 3.1.: Introduction: methodological observations
* 3.2.: Chronology, targets, and structure of Colotes book
* 3.2.1.: The dedication to king Ptolemy and a possible dating
* 3.2.2.: Colotes targets
* 3.2.3.: Structure of Colotes book and Democritus centrality
* 3.3.: Colotes main line of argument and underlying philosophical
assumptions
* 3.3.1.: Non-Epicurean philosophers make life impossible to live
* 3.3.2.: Colotes method: catchy lines and arguments from everyday life
* 3.3.3.: The underlying principle: philosophy as therapy
* 3.3.4.: Epicurean physics and canonic in Colotes book
* 3.4.: Colotes polemic as a protreptic
* Part II: Method and argument in the Adversus Colotem
* 4: Structure of Plutarch s Adversus Colotem
* 4.1.: The puzzle of the modified structure
* 4.2.: In the quest of thematic coherence
* 4.2.1.: The two reversals and Plutarch s explanation
* 4.2.2.: Thematic groups in the Adversus Colotem
* 4.2.3.: The epilogue, Epicurean ethics, and a schema emerging
* 4.3.: Plutarch s omission of Melissus uncovered
* 4.4.: A lesson in history of philosophy?
* 5: Plutarch s argumentative strategy
* 5.1.: Methodological considerations
* 5.2.: Plutarch s arguments in outline
* 5.2.1.: Vindication arguments: setting the record straight
* 5.2.2.: Overturning arguments: picking out inconsistencies
* 6: Plutarch against Colotes on Democritus' 'by convention'- thesis
* 6.1.: Introduction
* 6.2.: Colotes accusation against the 'by convention' - thesis
(1110E-F)
* 6.3.: Plutarch s overturning argument: disarmed? (1110F)
* 6.4.: Plutarch s reading of Democritus 'by convention' - thesis
(1110F-1111A)
* 6.5.: The overturning argument revisited: sensible qualities and the
Epicurean inconsistency (1111B-D)
* 6.6.: Plutarch s criticism of Epicurean atomism (1111D-F)
* 6.7.: Conclusion
* 7: Plutarch against Colotes on Platonic ontology
* 7.1.: Introduction
* 7.2.: Colotes against Platonic ontology (1115C-D)
* 7.3.: Plutarch s vindication argument (1115C-1116C)
* 7.3.1.: Plutarch on the true meaning of 'not-being'
* 7.3.2.: Plutarch on the theory of Forms
* 7.4.: The overturning argument: Epicurean atoms and Platonic Forms
(1116C-D)
* 7.5.: Where did Epicurus go wrong? (1116D-E)
* 7.6.: Conclusion
* 8: Plutarch against Colotes on the Cyrenaic apprehension of (?)
* 8.1.: Introduction
* 8.2.: Colotes criticism of Cyrenaic epistemology (1120C-D)
* 8.3.: Plutarch on Cyrenaic subjectivism (1120D-F)
* 8.4.: Plutarch s overturning argument: Epicurean images and Cyrenaic
affections
* 8.5.: On the inconsistency of the Epicurean all sense impressions are
true
* 8.6.: Conclusion
* Epilogue: lessons from Plutarch
* Appendix I
* Colotes of Lampsacus: On the fact that according to the doctrines of
the other philosophers it is impossible even to live
* Appendix II
* Colotes and scepticism
* Appendix III
* The Democritean 'no more', its variants, and Plutarch s reading
* Bibliography
* Index