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Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction explores the puzzles sketched out by the Presocratic philosophers: What is being? Suppose what is real is very different from what we seem to see and hear: what then? And if we can ever discover the truth about what exists, how exactly could we prove it? These questions grew out of a primitive interest in cosmology, but they have led directly into metaphysics, theory of knowledge, philosophy of language, logic, and many other branches of philosophy as we know it now. Moreover, these pioneering questions about knowledge, reality, and truth, were often accompanied by new insights into mathematics, astronomy, physics, politics, religion, and morality. ...Less

‘Socrates and later philosophy’ examines the legacy of Socrates, the most important aspect of which was his influence on Plato. Antisthenes, another personal associate, adhered to some of Socrates’ ethical doctrines and his austere lifestyle. The Stoics accepted the cardinal doctrines of Socratic ethics—that virtue is knowledge and that virtue is sufficient for eudaimonia—while the Epicureans were consistently hostile to his ideas. The major medieval philosophers showed little interest in Socrates, but the revival of Platonism in the late 15th century changed that. The tradition of adapting the figure of Socrates to fit the general preconceptions of the writer is discernible in his treatment by three 19th-century philosophers: Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. ...Less