Early Greek Philosophy

by John Burnet

When traditional view of the world & the customary rules of life had broken down, the Greeks began to feel the needs which philosophies of nature & of conduct seek to satisfy.
Note on the 4th Edition
Preface to 3rd Edition
Introduction
Note on the Sources
THE MILESIAN SCHOOL
SCIENCE & RELIGION
HERAKLEITOS OF EPHESOS
PARMENIDES OF ELEA
EMPEDOKLES OF AKRAGAS
ANAXAGORAS OF KLAZOMENAI
THE PYTHAGOREANS
THE YOUNGER ELEATICS
LEUKIPPOS OF MILETOS
ECLECTICISM & REACTION
Appendix
Index

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Classics, Religion

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1892

About the author

John Burnet, FBA was a Scottish classicist. He was born in Edinburgh and died in St. Andrews.

Burnet was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained first-class honours in Classical Moderations (Greek and Latin) in 1885 and in Literae Humaniores in 1887.

Reviews

[Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a pretty decent overview of the Presocratics. It didn't really suffer from being overly pedantic or dense. And I thought it covered the important figures fairly well, but not exhaustively. Perhaps the best thing was either the attention to the details of how each figure (and their philosophies) were related to their predecessors and successors or the frequent footnotes indicating what ancient sources Burnet was using, but at times the footnotes became a bit cumbersome.

The only other issue with this book is that its sort of out of date. I'm pretty sure the way it talks about Ionian science being some distinct cultural movement is a reduction of a much more complicated picture.

Also nice was translations of many of the fragments of each Presocratic in each section.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this, along with a great number of similar survey books, during the second semester of 1980/81 for Peter Maxwell's "History of Ancient Philosophy" course at Loyola University Chicago.

[Arthur Dal Ponte Santana]

Acho que um dos grandes problemas de estudar a filosofia pré-socrática quando se adentra no curso de filosofia é ver os pré-socráticos com certo desdém, pensando que todas as discussões que foram feitas nessa época foram discussões místicas e sem peso pra uma filosofia mais contemporânea. O que esse livro faz, e muito bem por sinal, é demonstrar a lógica argumentativa por de trás do pensamento que antecedeu Sócrates, expondo uma certa engenhosidade e genialidade presente nesses primeiros sistemas filosóficos. A leitura das teorias aqui é uma leitura que não subestima seus criadores em nenhum momento e ajuda a criar um fio condutor que, puxando características históricas e lógicas, consegue enlaçar toda a complexa e fascinante imagem da filosofia pré-socrática.

O livro me salvou muito nas minhas provas de História da Filosofia I e eu recomendaria a todo calouro de filosofia que esteja tendo dificuldades em captar a essência do pensamento pré-socrático, apresentado aqui de uma maneira clara e bem articulada.

[r0b · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting...good for reference. Unfortunately there was lots of untranslated Greek in both of the editions I read.

[ExtraGravy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview. Just the kind of refresher I wanted. Middle portion was stronger than the start or the finish. I wish we had more source material from this period, but that is not Burnet's fault or burden - he walks through the material in an efficient fashion, especially when discussing influences and disputed interpretations. Quality stuff.

Recommend to those looking for an intro or a refresher.

[Thomas Walker-Werth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally very good and informative, although Burnet definitely seems to favor Plato over Aristotelian sources when looking at later philosophers' treatment of the pre-socratics.

[Nathan Casebolt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished reading ⭐⭐⭐

First published in 1892, John Burnet's classic examination of presocratic Greek philosophy offers a concise exploration of Greek ideas about life, the universe, and everything, from Thales to Leucippos. His work remains a valuable and accessible introduction to the topic, although it can often be inherently difficult to comprehend what the ancient philosophers meant, partly because the material is so fragmentary, and partly because our thoughts today are governed by such different assumptions after 2,500 years of change.

Burnet perhaps overdraws the early philosophers as protoscientists standing against the religionists of their day. While they certainly represented a break with a thoroughly mythical and religious worldview, it is possible to overstate their scientific credentials and to downplay the pure rationalism of their approach. For example, Burnet frequently refers to the clepsydra of Empedocles as an example of protomodern empirical experimentation, a characterisation which later writers such as Furley would dispute as less of an experiment and more of an observational analogy. Burnet also devotes a much larger amount of space to the Pythagoreans than I'm accustomed to seeing in works on the Presocratics, perhaps because they were a more mystical group and therefore a worthy foil to Burnet's protoscientists.

Regardless of these quibbles, the strength of Burnet's work is evident in the fact that it went through multiple editions and is still in use as a textbook more than a century after its initial publication. Apart from a bit of dry writing, it would be difficult to recommend a better introduction to the main figures and ideas of Greek philosophy before the transformative age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this book for like 20 years. I've read bought and read like 3 other books on the Pythagoreans since then. I should've read this first. It was excellent and examines the influence of the Pythagoreans on the pre-Soctratics and into Plato's Timeaus.
This even puts in to perspective Zeno's paradox. He was basically criticizing the Pythagorean unit space. And was credited with creating the dialectic.

[Joshua Dew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-organized, well-referenced survey of the pre-Socratic philosophers which includes an abundance of primary sources. The introductory commentary is a bit antiquated, the book being originally published in 1892, and stresses the independent development of Greek thought, whereas more recent scholarship recognizes a greater influence of cultural exchange from Egypt and the Near East.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book which, due to our excessive specialization and abandonment of the classics, will probably make less and less sense to the casual reader. Many untranslated Greek words (it is fun to try and translate them on your own). Excellent summaries of Heraclitus & Parmenides, and esp. thankful for the commentary on Zeno.

[Timothy Crouch · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an intermission in the Plato Project, a useful overview of the Pre-Socratic philosophers which includes the full texts of extant fragments, before I dive back into the longer and more metaphysically complex dialogues which Ukemi categorizes as “Middle” (though, regarding the chronology of the dialogues, God alone knows).

[Karim Kadry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit elitist at points but overall a good contextualization and analysis

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Alex Rubenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to have platos complete works on hand as well as be able to read old greek letters