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This volume presents a series of essays published by Charles Kahn over a period of forty years, in which he seeks to explicate the ancient Greek concept of Being. He addresses two distinct but intimately related problems, one linguistic and one historical and philosophical. The linguistic problem concerns the theory of the Greek verb einai, 'to be': how to replace the conventional but misleading distinction between copula and existential verb with a more adequate theoretical account. The philosophical problem is in principle quite distinct: to understand how the concept of Being became the central topic in Greek philosophy from Parmenides to Aristotle. But these two problems converge on what Kahn calls the veridical use of einai. In the earlier papers he takes that connection between the verb and the concept of truth to be the key to the central role of Being in Greek philosophy. In the later papers he interprets the veridical in terms of a more general semantic function of the verb, which comprises the notions of existence and instantiation as well as truth.
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These six diverse and difficult dialogues are seen together as aspects of Plato's project of reformulating his theory of Forms.
A fascinating portrait of the Pythagorean tradition, including a substantial account of the Neo-Pythagorean revival, and ending with Johannes Kepler on the threshold of modernism.
This book offers a new interpretation of Plato's early and middle dialogues as the expression of a unified philosophical vision. Whereas the traditional view sees the dialogues as marking successive stages in Plato's philosophical development, we may more legitimately read them as reflecting an artistic plan for the gradual, indirect and partial exposition of Platonic philosophy. The magnificent literary achievement of the dialogues can be fully appreciated only from the viewpoint of a unitarian reading of the philosophical content.
A reprint, with new introductory essay, of the D. Reidel edition of 1973. This reissue of Charles Kahn's classic work includes a substantial new introductory essay, which presents a reformulation of the theory of syntactic and semantic unity for the system of uses of the verb be in Greek (conceived primarily as a verb of predication), and hence a defense of the conceptual unity for the notion of Being in Greek philosophy. The book offers a systematic description of the use and grammar of the verb to be in Ancient Greek, before the philosophers took it over to express the central concepts in Greek logic and metaphysics. Evidence is taken primarily from Homer but supplemented by specimens from classical Attic prose. Topics discussed include the original status of the verb in Indo-European, as well as the logical and syntactic relations among copula, existential, and veridical uses.
Through criticism and analysis of ancient traditions, Kahn reconstructs the pattern of Anaximander's thought using historical methods akin to the reconstructive techniques of comparative linguists.
Fragments of Heraclitus: "To be wise is one thing: to know the thought that directs all things through all things." "We should not act like the children of our parents." This bright, deep, meditative jewel-like study brings Heraclitus to life in a new way, and shows him to be one of the principal sources of Western mystical thinking. From Geldard's point of view, the study of Heraclitus is not just an academic matter but, on the contrary, presents us with very real existential and phenomenological challenges. The book includes new translations of all the essential fragments. Geldard, through his exploration of Heraclitus, shows us, "The more that human beings openly and humbly seek higher knowledge, the more they develop the power to perceive it, until finally they penetrate to the hidden universal order. The result of this penetration is knowledge of the Logos, that 'which directs all things through all things.' The acquisition of this knowledge is not an event; it is a stance in the world. It is Being in its fullness."