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The Aporetic Tradition in Ancient Philosophy
About this book
Ancient philosophers from an otherwise diverse range of traditions were connected by their shared use of aporia - translated as puzzlement rooted in conflicts of reasons - as a core tool in philosophical enquiry. The essays in this volume provide the first comprehensive study of aporetic methodology among numerous major figures and influential schools, including the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Academic sceptics, Pyrrhonian sceptics, Plotinus and Damascius. They explore the differences and similarities in these philosophers' approaches to the source, structure, and aim of aporia, their views on its function and value, and ideas about the proper means of generating such a state among thinkers who were often otherwise opposed in their overall philosophical orientation. Discussing issues of method, dialectic, and knowledge, the volume will appeal to those interested in ancient philosophy and in philosophical enquiry more generally.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-title page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Contradiction and Aporia in Early Greek Philosophy
- Chapter 2 Socrates and the Benefits of Puzzlement
- Chapter 3 Aporia and Sceptical Argument in Plato’s Early Dialogues
- Chapter 4 Aporia in Plato’s Parmenides
- Chapter 5 Aporia in Plato’s Theaetetus and Sophist
- Chapter 6 Aporia and Dialectical Method in Aristotle
- Chapter 7 Aporia in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Beta
- Chapter 8 Uses of Aporiai in Aristotle’s Generation of Animals
- Chapter 9 Aporia and the New Academy
- Chapter 10 Aporetic Elements in Plutarch’s Philosophy
- Chapter 11 Aporia and Enquiry in Ancient Pyrrhonism
- Chapter 12 Aporia and Exegesis: Alexander of Aphrodisias
- Chapter 13 The Aporetic Character of Plotinus’ Philosophy
- Chapter 14 Aporia and the Limits of Reason and of Language in Damascius
- Bibliography
- Index Locorum
- Subject Index