Ancient Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction

314 Pages·2023·19.936 MB·English

by  Christopher Shields

Ancient Philosophy
In Ancient Philosophy (2012), Christopher Shields expanded on the coverage of
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in his earlier book, Classical Philosophy (2003), to
include the philosophy of the Hellenistic era. In this new edition (2023), Shields
reaches even further to include material on Neoplatonism and on Augustine
and Proclus, capturing—from Thales of Miletus to the end of the sixth century
CE—all of what might be called ancient philosophy. It traces the important
connections between the periods and individuals of more than 1,200 years of
philosophy’s history without losing sight of the novelties and dynamics unique
to each. The coverage of the Presocratics, Sophists, Plato, and Stoicism has also
been expanded so as to highlight Plato’s responses to the Sophistic movement
in the development of his theory of Forms.
And finally, a valuable companion volume, with Shields’s focused translations
of the important sources referred to in Ancient Philosophy, Second Edition, will
soon be published, obviating the need for a massive anthology of discordant voices.
Ancient Philosophy, Second Edition, retains its helpful structure: each
philosophical position receives (1) a brief introduction, (2) a sympathetic
review of its principal motivations and primary supporting arguments, and
(3) a short assessment, inviting readers to evaluate its plausibility. The result
is a book that brings the ancient arguments to life, making the introduction
truly contemporary. It continues to serve as both a first stop and a well-visited
resource for any student of the subject.
Key updates in the second edition
• Extends the range of coverage well into the sixth century CE by offering
a new chapter on Neoplatonism and early Christian philosophy, featuring
discussions of Proclus and Augustine.
• Explains the conflicts between Plato and the Sophists by highlighting their
approaches to rhetoric as an instrument of persuasion, offering a helpful
explanation of two senses of argument.
• Includes new coverage of Plato’s argument from the Simplicity of the Soul,
Argument from Affinity, and Argument against Rhetoric.
• Includes coverage of Aristotle’s political naturalism.
• May be used with a soon-to-be-published companion volume of primary
source material, all of it translated by Christopher Shields specifically for
the reader of this Second Edition.
Christopher Shields is UC Distinguished Professor and Henry B. Allison Chair
in the History of Philosophy at UC San Diego. His publications include The
Blackwell Guide to Ancient Philosophy (ed., 2002) and The Oxford Handbook
of Aristotle (ed., 2012).
ROUTLEDGE CONTEMPORARY
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Ancient Philosophy
A Contemporary Introduction
Second Edition
Christopher Shields
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Second edition published 2023
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First edition published by Routledge 2012
ISBN: 978-0-367-45834-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-45835-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-02565-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003025658
Typeset in Times New Roman
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Contents
Preface to the second edition vii
Acknowledgments ix
1 Philosophy before Socrates 1
1.1 Thales and the earliest natural philosophers 1
1.2 Xenophanes 7
1.3 Heracleitus 11
1.4 Parmenides and Zeno 14
1.5 Democritus and fifth-century atomism 22
1.6 The Sophistic movement 26
1.7 Challenges from the Presocratics and Sophists 35
Notes 36
Suggestions for additional readings 38
2 Socrates 40
2.1 The Socratic elenchus 42
2.2 The failures of Meno and Euthyphro 44
2.3 Socratic ignorance and Socratic irony 51
2.4 Socratic conviction and the Socratic paradoxes 52
2.5 Socrates on trial and in prison 58
2.6 Conclusions 63
Notes 64
Suggestions for additional readings 65
3 Plato 67
3.1 From Socrates to Plato 68
3.2 Meno’s paradox of inquiry; Plato’s response 74
3.3 Three functions of Plato’s theory of forms 78
3.4 Plato’s response to Sophistry: relativism and rhetoric 79
3.5 Three arguments for Forms 87
3.6 Plato’s general characterizations of forms 100
vi Contents
3.7 Platonic analysis: a case study 103
3.8 The special role of the Form of the Good 113
3.9 Plato’s line and cave: our epistemic prospects 115
3.10 Problems about Forms 121
3.11 Conclusions 126
Notes 127
Suggestions for additional readings 131
4 Aristotle 133
4.1 From Plato to Aristotle 134
4.2 Aristotle’s introduction of category theory 135
4.3 The four causes introduced 141
4.4 The four causes defended 143
4.5 The four causes applied: soul and body 157
4.6 The four causes applied: happiness and the human function 161
4.7 The virtues of a happy person 167
4.8 Aristotle’s treatment of a Socratic paradox: akrasia 171
4.9 Aristotle’s political naturalism 173
4.10 Aristotle on philosophical analysis: homonymy 177
4.11 Conclusions 184
Notes 184
Suggestions for additional readings 185
5. Hellenistic philosophy 188
5.1 The Hellenistic period 188
5.2 The Epicureans 192
5.3 The Stoics 204
5.4 Skepticism 230
5.5 Conclusions 252
Notes 253
Suggestions for additional readings 256
6 Late-antique philosophy 258
6.1 Proclus 259
6.2 Augustine 269
6.3 Conclusions 286
Notes 286
Suggestions for additional readings 288
Suggestions for further reading 290
Index 301
Preface to the second edition
This second edition offers expansions in two directions, first by augmenting the
periods and figures already covered, and then also by moving forward in time
to cover Late Antiquity into the dawn of Christian Philosophy.
First, in the periods already assayed, this edition offers broader and deeper
coverage of the Presocratic philosophers and the Sophistic movement, thus pro-
viding greater context for the Platonic and Aristotelian reactions to these earlier
thinkers; enhanced treatment of Plato’s approach to the immortality of the soul;
a discussion of Plato’s Gorgias, a work in which he considers Sophistic conten-
tions regarding the value of rhetoric and its proper place in intellectual inquiry;
and a treatment of Aristotle’s political naturalism, intended to augment the pre-
sentation of Aristotle’s investigations into the character of human flourishing
and our best means for achieving it.
Second, moving into a new era, this edition offers a concise introduction
to late-antique philosophy, which we may conventionally date from the mid-
third to the mid-seventh centuries AD. This period has been a lively area of
professional research over the last several decades and is, of course, vast in
time and scope. As a first foray into this territory, this introduction selects two
representative figures: Proclus, who offers a kind of epitome of one core area of
Neoplatonic philosophy, and Augustine, who attempts throughout his career to
offer a philosophy adequate to the demands of his Christian theism.
Spanning several centuries, Neoplatonism comprises a range of figures,
many of whom attempt to defend and expand Plato’s philosophy, often in ways
surprising to a modern temperament, above all by working to harmonize his
views with the those of Aristotle, even though, as the earlier sections of this text
show, Plato and Aristotle appear sharply at variance with one another across
a range of topics. In its effort to harmonize the views of these earlier figures,
Neoplatonism is, to some extent, backward-looking, but it does not treat all
figures of earlier periods as if they were on equal footing: its first impulse is
to defend the philosophy of Plato. This holds true of the representative figure
we discuss, Proclus, a pagan who aims to preserve and defend the teachings
of Plato as he understands them. Even so, he serves as a kind of a bridge into
the Christian philosophy which followed him, because not too very long after
viii Preface to the second edition
his death, his Elements of Theology was recast by a Christianizing expounder,
one Ps.-Dionysius. Because of this appropriation, Proclus, perhaps malgré lui,
came to exert a great influence on the Christian philosophers who made use of
his system. Many of these Christians found his work, as recast in Christian garb
by Ps.-Dionysius, and the Platonism it represents, in both its pagan and Chris-
tianized forms, altogether congenial and, they supposed, a useful medium for
promulgating their own versions of the philosophical underpinnings of Chris-
tian theism.
The other pivotal figure of Late Antiquity is, unlike the pagan Proclus,
avowedly, in some ways almost maniacally, Christian: Augustine. Like Pro-
clus, Augustine bears a heavy debt to Plato, whose works he knew principally
through its representations in Neoplatonism. He was also versed in the Skepti-
cism of the Hellenistic period, treated in the fifth chapter of the present volume.
This work, too, he knew mainly indirectly, in this case as it was transmitted by
Cicero. After studying Cicero, Augustine remained alert throughout his career
to the challenges skeptical arguments posed for his Christian theism and saw
Platonism as providing one fruitful framework for coming to terms with it. In
part in response to these challenges, Augustine developed a new form of Chris-
tian philosophy, one which managed to take all of philosophy in some arrest-
ingly new directions. His influence on later figures, extending down even to the
present day, is profound.
In keeping with the broader orientation of this introduction, its brief invita-
tion to late-antique philosophy seeks to highlight the ways in which later phi-
losophers were indebted to the earlier philosophers whose views they studied.
Students will notice the idiom of Aristotle in Proclus and the play of Skepticism
in Augustine. In their different ways, both Proclus and Augustine had a special
affinity with the philosophy of Plato; it is thus helpful to hold the principles
of Platonic philosophy firmly in mind when encountering and assessing their
works. This is not to say that they were slavishly devoted to explicating Plato’s
works as an exercise in exegesis. On the contrary, each presents as an original
thinker, each engaging with Plato in his own way. Still, they were, in their
different ways, equally animated by Plato’s philosophy and found it natural
to enter into silent dialogue with him as they forged their own, strikingly new
ways forward.
Acknowledgments
Second edition
This second edition has benefited from the many students and teachers of phi-
losophy, at all levels, who have kindly contacted me with queries and sugges-
tions pertaining to the first edition and its precursor, Classical Philosophy: A
Contemporary Introduction. I am most grateful to them all and encourage those
with reactions of any kind to the current edition to follow suit. While I cannot
promise to incorporate all requests for expanded coverage in future editions,
I do endeavor to meet the needs of those engaged in the teaching of ancient
philosophy where practicable. Nonetheless, and perhaps needless to say, like its
forerunners, the current edition remains highly selective; it is intended, like the
earlier versions, to serve as a springboard for students wanting to come to grips
with the primary works of the philosophers it discusses. Again, it will have
served its best function if it has succeeded in assisting them to read the primary
sources with understanding and appreciation.
The treatment of Late Antiquity new to this edition has benefited in its
presentation of Neoplatonism from readings and conversations with Gonzalo
Gamarra Jordan, and for its presentation of Augustine from the informed,
sure-footed instruction of Scott MacDonald. The entire chapter was read
with care and intelligence by Colin Shields, who also read earlier versions
of the book, and who once again returned with many welcome corrections
and suggestions for improvement. It is a special pleasure to acknowledge my
debt to him.
Special thanks are due to a team of Japanese translators of the first edition.
They peppered me with a remarkable number of highly alert questions, demand-
ing clarity where I had been vague or ambiguous, introducing precision where I
had been ill-focused, and correcting me where I had been inaccurate. They are
Kazuya Matsuura, Fuminori Miyazaki, Taichi Miura, Kyungnam Moon, and Ai
Kawamoto. I am deeply grateful for their interventions; it has been my honor
to receive their highly educated attention and assistance. I have the sense that if
they undertake to translate the material new to this edition, subsequent editions
will be benefited afresh.