Rationality in Greek Thought

This book, a collection of specially written essays by leading international scholars, reexamines ancient ideas of reason and rationality. The application of changing notions of rationality down the ages has led to consistent misinterpretation of standard ancient philosophical texts: the distinguished contributors here redress the balance, clarifying how the great thinkers of antiquity themselves conceived of rationality.

Rationality in Greek Thought, a collection of specially written essays by leading international scholars, re-examines ancient ideas of reason and rationality. Conceptions of reason, rationality, and reasonableness have changed considerably over time, and scholars have all too easily projected contemporary ideas of reason onto ancient thought. This tendency has made it impossible for us fully to understand either the central tenets of ancient philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, or empiricist tendencies in ancient thought. Rationality in Greek Thought examines distinctive aspects of ancient conceptions of reason, sharpening awareness of the considerable conceptual change, and helping to remove a serious obstacle to a full understanding of ancient philosophical texts. At the same time, the essays stimulate a reassessment of our own ideas of reason and rationality, helping us set them in historical context and explore alternatives to them.

1 - The Philosophical Economy of Plato's Psychology: Rationality and Common Concepts in the Timaeus
2 - What Kind of Cause is Aristotle's Final Cause?
3 - Reason, Moral Virtue, and Moral Value
4 - Rule and Exception: On the Aristotelian Theory of Equity
5 - Aristotle's Rationalism
6 - Grammar on Aristotle's Terms
7 - Perfection and Reduction in Aristotle's Prior Analytics
9 - Scepticism, Old and New
10 - Theories and Practices of Demonstration in Galen
11 - Ammonius on Future Contingent Propositions
12 - Rationality