Maieusis: Essays on Ancient Philosophy in Honour of Myles Burnyeat

438 Pages·2007·3.33 MB·English

by  Dominic Scott (ed)

MAIEUSIS
Photo:ByMaryCarruthers
Maieusis
Essays on Ancient Philosophy in Honour
of Myles Burnyeat
Editedby
DOMINIC SCOTT
1
1
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Editor’s Preface
ItisagreatpleasuretopresentthiscollectionofpaperstomarkMylesBurnyeat’s
retirement.Hisprofessionalcareerbeganin1964,oneyearafterhegraduatedin
Classics and Philosophyfrom King’sCollege Cambridge, with a Lectureship at
UniversityCollegeLondon.AftermovingbacktoCambridgein1978,hewent
ontosucceedG.E.L.OwenthereasLaurenceProfessorofAncientPhilosophy
in1984. In1995hetookupaSenior Research Fellowshipat AllSoulsCollege
Oxford,whereheremained untilhisretirementin2006. Over theyears hehas
alsoheldalargenumberofvisitingpositions,manyinNorthAmerica,butalso
inFrance,Germany,Hungary,Japan,andRussia.
Burnyeat’snamehasbeencloselyassociatedwithPlato’sTheaetetus,onwhich
he wrote a series of articles early on in his career before publishing his long-
awaited(andmodestlyentitled)‘Introduction’tothetranslationofthedialogue
by M. J. Levett, which instantly became the seminal analysis of the dialogue.
More recently he has been producing a series of essays on Plato’s Republic,
which will prove to be no less influential. His work on Aristotle—evenly
distributedbetweenepistemology,ethics,metaphysics,physics,psychology,and
rhetoric—hasbeenequallyseminal.Hehasalsobeenattheforefrontofresearch
on Hellenistic philosophy, not only through his own papers but also through
theedited collectionsthat he has helped bring to press. But his interestsspread
well beyond the ancient world. Throughout his career, he has deepened our
understandingoftherelationshipbetweenancientandmodernphilosophy;and
thenumberofhisreviewsonpurelycontemporaryphilosophyfurthertestifiesto
thebreadthofhisinterests.
What helps to make his work sui generis is the way in which he combines
a mastery of historical, philological, literary, and, above all, philosophical per-
spectives, often within the same essay. Like others of his generation, Burnyeat
has maintained and enhanced the profile of the subject around the world. But,
morethananyoneelse,hehasenlargedoursenseofwhataspecialist inancient
philosophy should be like. If we were to live up to the standards he has now
set,ourworkwouldnotjustcombinethebestofcontemporaryphilosophy—its
insightsaswellasitsrigour—withadeepsensitivitytoancienttexts.Wewould
also be able to move effortlessly between different periods in the history of
philosophy; to show how literary readings of texts unite, rather than compete,
withphilosophicalanalysis; andtodrawwitheaseupon otherspecialisms, such
asthehistoryofmathematics,thatmanyscholarsofancientphilosophystillview
withphobia.
Theintellectualauthoritysoevidentinhisworkhasalwaysbeentemperedby
adeepkindnesstowardshisstudentsandcolleagues,andIhavechosenthetitle
vi Editor’sPreface
Maieusis partly because it resonates with the Theaetetus, but also to capture the
sensethatallofthecontributorswillshareofMyles’sroleasteacherandcolleague.
Asareaderandcommentator,hehastheabilitytoseizeholdofthebestinone’s
work, perhaps an idea one had ventured only tentatively in a footnote, and to
makeonebringitcentrestage;thentonurtureit,pititagainstcriticism,andso
make it stronger. His beneficiaries also include his undergraduate students. At
Cambridge,hewasoneofthefewlecturerswhoseaudienceactuallyincreasedin
sizeasthetermwenton.Thereasonwashispeculiarabilitytolecturein‘layers’,
giving initiates an immediate sense of the importance and depth of ancient
texts, while at the same time giving more seasoned students (often experts in
the field) nuggets to take away and treasure. One famous example is the series
of lectures on the Republic that he gave in the mid-1980s to an audience that
includedsecond-yearundergraduates,JonathanLear,MalcolmSchofield,David
Sedley, and Gregory Vlastos. As Schofield testifies in his own contribution to
thisvolume,thoselectureshavecontinuedtocasttheirspellmanyyearslater.
Thisvolumeisanindicationofthegratitudethatsomanyowetohim.Someof
thecontributorsareformerstudents(Hankinson,Harte,Hobbs,Johansen,Lane,
Notomi,andmyself).OtherwerecolleaguesinLondon(Sorabji)orCambridge
(Denyer,Lloyd,McCabe,Schofield,Sedley,andWardy).Itwaswiththislatter
group that Burnyeat helped make Cambridge a mecca for ancient philosophy
in the 1980s and 1990s. A third group includes friends and collaborators from
otheruniversities(Barnes,Bobzien,Broadie,Cooper,Nehamas).Therearevery
many others in this category who would have liked to contribute; it is only to
preventthebookfrombulgingattheseamsthatIhavehadtobesoselective.
I have not tried to impose a theme upon the essays in this collection, but
have instead allowed the contributors to write on whatever is their passion of
the moment. The result, as I hope the reader will agree, is an appropriately
widerangeofstylesandapproaches,eventhoughmanyofthemconverge(often
in pairs) as far as their topic is concerned. Cooper and Lane focus on related
themesconcerningSocratesandthenatureofphilosophy;NehamasandIdiscuss
different aspects of ero¯s in the Symposium, Republic, and Phaedrus; Denyer and
Sedley come to the rescue of two of the Phaedo’s arguments for immortality;
HobbsandWardywriteonwarandwarriorsinPlato(andbeyond);Harteand
SchofieldbothdiscussdifferentaspectsoftheCaveallegoryintheRepublic.
My thanks go to all those at OUP who have helped make this possible,
especially Peter Momtchiloff and Jean van Altena, to the anonymous readers,
and, above all, to the contributors—not least for the alacrity with which they
agreedtowrite,anothertributetothehonorand.
Contents
1. LookingInsideCharmides’Cloak:SeeingOthersandOneselfin
Plato’sCharmides
MaryMargaretMcCabe 1
2. SocratesandPhilosophyasaWayofLife
JohnM.Cooper 20
3. VirtueastheLoveofKnowledgeinPlato’sSymposiumandRepublic
MelissaLane 44
4. EqualSticksandStones
DavidSedley 68
5. ThePhaedo’sFinalArgument
NicholasDenyer 87
6. BeautyofBody,NobilityofSoul:ThePursuitofLoveinPlato’s
Symposium
AlexanderNehamas 97
7. Ero¯s,Philosophy,andTyranny
DominicScott 136
8. Virgil’sSacredDuo:Phaedrus’SymposiumSpeechandAeneid IX
RobertWardy 154
9. PlatoonWar
AngelaHobbs 176
10. LanguageintheCave
VerityHarte 195
11. Metaspeleology
MalcolmSchofield 216
12. WhynoPlatonisticIdeasofArtefacts?
SarahBroadie 232
13. PlatoonWhatisNot
NoburuNotomi 254
14. TheSoulasanInnerPrincipleofChange:TheBasisofAristotle’s
PsychologicalNaturalism
ThomasJohansen 276
15. Aristotle’sDeInterpretatione 8isaboutAmbiguity
SusanneBobzien 301
viii Contents
16. SextanScepticism
JonathanBarnes 322
17. TheWifeofPhilinus,ortheDoctors’Dilemma:MedicalSigns
andCasesandNon-deductiveInference
G.E.R.Lloyd 335
18. Self-RefutationandtheSorites
R.J.Hankinson 351
19. IdeasLeapBarriers:TheValueofHistoricalStudiestoPhilosophy
RichardSorabji 374
MylesBurnyeat:Publications 391
GeneralIndex 403
NameIndex 407
IndexLocorum 412
Notes on Contributors
JnathanBtaughtancientphilosophyattheuniversitiesofOxford,Geneva,and
Paris,andisaFellowoftheBritishAcademyandoftheAmericanAcademyofArtsand
Sciences.Hehaspublishedenoughpagestosatisfythemostdemandingbureaucrat,his
latestbookbeingonTruth,Etc.(Oxford,2006).HelivesinretirementindeepestFrance.
SBisProfessorofPhilosophyatYaleUniversity,havingpreviouslyheld
apositionatOxfordUniversity.SheistheauthorofDeterminismandFreedominStoic
Philosophy (Oxford, 1998) and Die stoische Modallogik (Wuerzburg, 1986), and has
published on many aspects both of logic and of freedom and determinism, mainly in
ancientphilosophy.
S B has taught at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Texas
(Austin), Yale, Rutgers, Princeton, and most recently at the University of St Andrews.
She has mainly published on Aristotle’s Physics and Ethics. She is a Fellow of the
BritishAcademy,theAmericanAcademyofArtsandScience,andtheRoyalSocietyof
Edinburgh.
JC,StuartProfessorofPhilosophyatPrincetonUniversity,hastaughtthere
since1981,havingpreviouslyheldpositionsatHarvardandtheUniversityofPittsburgh.
He is the author of Reason and Human Good in Aristotle (Cambridge, Mass 1975),
ReasonandEmotion(Princeton,1999),andKnowledge,Nature,andtheGood (Princeton,
2004), and editor of Seneca: Moral and Political Essays (Cambridge, 1995) and (with
J.F.Procope)Plato:CompleteWorks(Indianapolis,1997).
N D is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge,anda SeniorLecturer inthe FacultyofClassics,UniversityofCambridge,
HismostrecentbooksareeditionsofPlato’sAlcibiades(Cambridge,2001)andProtagoras
(forthcoming),intheCambridgegreekandLatinClassicsseries.
R.J.HwaseducatedatBalliolCollege,Oxford,andKing’sCollege,Cambridge,
heiscurrentlyProfessorofPhilosophyandClassicsattheUniversityofTexasatAustin.
He has written numerous articles on many aspects of Greek philosophy and science,
and is the author of several books, including The Sceptics (London, 1995), Cause and
Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought (Oxford, 1998) and Galen on Antecedent Causes
(Cambridge,1998).
V H is Professor of Philosophy and Classics at Yale University. SHe is the
author of Plato on Parts and Wholes (Oxford, 2002) and of various articles in ancient
philosophy.
A H is Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University
ofWarwick.SheistheauthorofPlatoandtheHero(Cambridge,2000)andiscurrently
preparingatranslationandcommentaryofPlato’sSymposiumfortheOxfordClarendon
Series.Shehasalsogivennumerousbroadcastsonphilosophyandthehistoryofideasfor
theBBC.