Presocratics Collection (20 volumes)

Description

The Presocratics are the earliest Greek philosophers, who appeared before Socrates and are also referred to as natural philosophers. The earliest sophists are also included among the Presocratics.

Presocratic philosophy was born in Ionia, in the Greek colonies along the coast of Asia Minor. The Presocratics combined philosophy with science in their quest to discover the truth and gain knowledge of the origin or essence of the world.

They were poets, lawmakers, politicians, but above all scientists, engaging in astronomy, geometry, mathematics, theoretical mechanics, and medicine.
They were also teachers of rhetoric and philosophy, encouraging their students to discuss and question, developing their own ideas as well as critical thinking. They were distinguished for their wisdom, in the sense that the word acquired in the 6th century B.C. with the flourishing of the sciences, when “wise” referred not only to those involved in the arts and politics but also in the sciences, such as mathematics, geometry, astronomy, and medicine.

The Presocratics wrote in both poetic and prose form. Their works have survived only in fragments, preserved in various ways over the centuries. The main sources for their lives and writings are later philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and others.

The series “Presocratics”, which includes the original text, modern Greek translation, and commentary, consists of 20 volumes. Specifically, it includes:

• Orpheus, Musaeus, Epimenides, Hesiod, Phocylides, Cleostratus, Pherecydes, Theagenes, Acusilaus, Seven Sages – Complete Works 1
• Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes – Complete Works 2
• Cercops, Petros, Brontinus, Hippasus, Calliphon and Democides, Parmeniscus, Epicharmus, Paron, Alcmaeon, Amynias, Ikkos – Complete Works 3
• Pythagoras 1: Golden Verses – Complete Works 4
• Pythagoras 2: Porphyry – Life of Pythagoras; Iamblichus – On the Pythagorean Life – Complete Works 5
• Pythagoras 3: The Pythagoreans – Complete Works 6
• Xenophanes – Complete Works 7
• Heraclitus of Ephesus – Complete Works 8
• Parmenides – Complete Works 9
• Zeno, Melissus – Complete Works 10
• Empedocles – Complete Works 11
• Μενέστωρ, Ξούθος, Βοΐδας, Θρασυάλκης, Ίων ο Χίος, Δάμων, Ίππων, Φαλέας-Ιππόδαμος, Πολύκλειτος, Οινοπίδης, Ιπποκράτης ο Χίος – Αισχύλος, Θεόδωρος, Φιλόλαος, Εύρυτος, Άρχιππος, Λύσις, Όψιμος Άπαντα 12
• Archytas, Ocellus, Timaeus, Icetas, Ecphantus, Xenophilus, Diocles–Echecrates–Polymnastus–Phanton–Arion, Prorus–Amyclas–Cleinias, Damon and Phintias, Simus, Myonides–Euphranor, Lycon, Iamblichus’ Catalogue, Anonymous Pythagoreans, Sayings and Symbols, from Aristoxenus: Pythagorean Decisions and Pythagorean Life – Complete Works 13
• Anaxagoras – Complete Works 14
• Archelaus, Metrodorus of Lampsacus, Cleidemus, Idaios, Diogenes of Apollonia, Cratylus, Antisthenes the Heraclitean – Complete Works 15
• Leucippus, Nessas, Metrodorus of Chios, Diogenes of Smyrna, Anaxarchus, Hecataeus of Abdera, Apollodorus, Nausiphanes, Diosimos, Bion of Abdera, Volus – Complete Works 16
• Democritus 1 – Complete Works 17
• Democritus 2 – Complete Works 18
• Sophists 1: Protagoras, Xeniades, Gorgias, Lycophron, Prodicus, Thrasymachus, Hippias – Complete Works 19
• Sophists 2: Antiphon, Critias, Anonymous (of Iamblichus), Dissoi Logoi – Complete Works 20

Presocratic philosophy is considered the source of the philosophical and scientific spirit that developed later. If today the sciences—Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Geometry, and others—have reached such impressive levels of advancement, we owe it to the first observers, on whose shoulders later great minds of thought have stood!