古代哲学者のソクラテスが活動したのは紀元前4世紀頃でしたが、哲学はそれ以前にも存在していました。近年発見された古代のパピルスに記された詩人エンペドクレスの詩をはじめ、信頼できる最新調査をもとに、ソクラテス以前の古代哲学者たちの思想をあざやかに描き出します。現実性の本質、時間、宇宙の起源などに対する古代哲学の取り組みに注目し、タレスからピュタゴラス、ヘラクレイトス、プロタゴラスなど、西洋初の哲学者たちの思想世界に読者を誘います。
     

• A colourful and authoritative introduction to presocratic philosophy
• Uses as a starting point, the recent findings of the ancient papyrus fragment carrying a poem by the Greek magician and philosopher Empedocles
• Discusses early Greek philosophy thematically rather than chronologically
• There is no other book on the subject at this level and price

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This is a book about the invention of Western philosophy, and the first thinkers to explore ideas about the nature of reality, time, and the origin of the universe. It begins with the finding of the new papyrus fragment of Empedocles' poem, and uses the story of its discovery and interpretation to highlight the way our understanding of early philosophers is marked by their presentation in later sources.
 
Generations of philosophers, both ancient and modern, have traced their inspiration back to the presocratics, even though we have very few of their writings left. In this book, Catherine Osborne invites her readers to dip their toes into the fragmentary remains of thinkers from Thales to Pythagoras, Heraclitus to Protagoras, to try to fill in the bits of a jigsaw that has been rejigged many times and in many different ways.