Basic Concepts of Ancient Philosophy

"[A]n excellent resource for students and Continental thinkers... who make use of Heidegger's interpretation of ancient philosophy." -Robert Metcalf, University of Colorado at Denver

Richard Rojcewicz teaches philosophy at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. He is author of The Gods and Technology and has translated several volumes of the works of Martin Heidegger.

Translator's Foreword Preliminary Remarks PART ONE. General Introduction to Ancient Philosophy Chapter One. Working out of the central concepts and questions of ancient philosophy, with the first book of Aristotle's Metaphysics as guideline Chapter Two. The question of cause and of foundation as a philosophical question PART TWO. The Most Important Greek Thinkers: Their Questions and Answers Section One. Philosophy up to Plato Chapter One. Milesian philosophy of nature Chapter Two. Heraclitus Chapter Three. Parmenides and the Eleatics Chapter Four. The later philosophy of nature: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and atomism Chapter Five. Sophistry and Socrates Section Two. Plato's philosophy Chapter One. Biography, secondary literature, and general characterization of Plato's questioning Chapter Two. More concrete determination of the problem of Being in Plato's philosophy Chapter Three. Interpretation of the dialogue, Theatetus: the connection between the question of the Idea of science and the question of Being First definition Second definition Third definition Chapter Four. Central concepts of Plato's philosophy in the context of the understanding of Being and the question of Being Section Three. Aristotle's philosophy Chapter One. On the problem of the development and of the adequate reception of Aristotle's philosophy Chapter Two. The ontological problem and the idea of philosophical research Chapter Three. The fundamental questioning of the problematic of Being Chapter Four. The problem of motion and the ontological meaning of that problem. Chapter Five. Ontology of life and of Dasein APPENDICES Supplementary Texts Excerpts from the Mrchen Transcription Brcker Transcription Editor's Afterword Greek-English Glossary