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Best introductory texts to ancient Greek and Roman philosophy (or particular figures in ancient philosophy)?

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 28–MORE COMMENTS WELCOME

Continuing with our new series about the best introductory texts in various areas of philosophy, I now invite readers to name what they think are the best introductory texts to ancient Greek and Roman philosophy (or particular figures in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy [e.g., introductions to Plato, Aristotle, Cicero etc.]).  As before, don't just name a text, but say something about why you think it's particularly notable or valuable.  Although you don't have to sign  your comment, I do think signed ones will carry more weight with readers.

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14 responses to “Best introductory texts to ancient Greek and Roman philosophy (or particular figures in ancient philosophy)?”

  1. FairGoose

    In Early Greek Philosophy, John Burnet does two jobs at once, and well: he introduces the key figures of pre-Socratic philosophy while advancing a novel thesis on the development of materialism (the roots of atomism in Eleaticism). — F. Cullen

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  2. Andrew Mills

    I have found C.D.C Reeve's Women in the Academy (Hackett) a fantastic addition to a course that deals with the Republic. It's a collection of five dialogues written by Reeve that feature two women who are studying at the Academy. They talk about major themes in the Republic (Justice, Akrasia, the tripartite soul, Plato's feminism, the censorship of the arts, freedom, the Forms) and do so remarkably clearly. They not only explain what Plato is saying, but they raise interesting questions in their own right. The dialogues are well-written and entertaining also.

    For a class that engages with the Stoics, I've enjoyed using William Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life. This is less a scholarly analysis and critique of Stoicism and more a discussion of how the Stoic themes can connect to our own lives today. Irvine does a good job of presenting an introductory account of the Stoics.

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  3. Derek Pierson

    Anthony Gottlieb's "The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy From the Greeks to the Renaissance" (W.W. Norton) is probably the best general introduction to Greco-Roman philosophy written by a non-academic. It's clear Gottlieb has familiarized himself with the relevant ancient texts, and he does a superb job of covering every significant ancient philosopher, beginning with the Pre-Socratics, moving on to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and then finishing up with the Hellenistic schools of philosophy (Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Scepticism). It is written in more of a "narrative" than an "analytic" style, which I found delightful. Highly recommended!

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  4. Anon

    Richard Kraut's (ed.) *Cambridge Companion to Plato* (1992) is still an excellent collection of articles on a host of issues in Plato scholarship. Kraut has a magisterial 50pp. introduction to the various strands of interpretation and basic issues in interpreting the dialogues. Most of the articles within this collection are excellent.

    Gail Fine's (ed.) *Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology* (Oxford, 1999) is a good collection of essays on Plato's theoretical philosophy, from Gregory Vlastos' work on the Socratic elenchus all the way to the Timaeus and Sophist.

    Charles Kahn's *Plato and the Socratic Dialogue* (Cambridge, 1996) is my favorite introduction to the early and middle dialogues and the relationship between them. He makes an interesting argument for a "proleptic" reading of the corpus, but even if one doesn't buy this reading, the text is still a valuable work on scholarship.

    For Aristotle, I think Jonathan Lear's *Aristotle: The Desire to Understand* (Cambridge, 1988) is still the best bet for a lucid and fairly comprehensive introduction. For a shorter intro to Aristotle, Ackrill's *Aristotle the Philosopher* (1981) is a worth checking out.

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  5. Geezer Physicist

    I’m not a professional philosopher (a physicist by training) but took a few undergraduate and graduate philosophy courses that had good texts but recently I’ve come to really appreciate Peter Adamson’s introductory texts (including the ones on the pre Socratic, Greek, and Roman periods) as well as the podcasts that they’re based on.

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  6. Dirk Baltzly

    Another thumbs up for Adamson's podcasts — and not merely for reasons of content. If I'm teaching an intro to ancient class, I principally want students to read the primary texts. So if I'm going to ask poor kids and returning-to-university mums or dads in Tasmania to shell out for books, I want them to spend their hard-earned on decent versions of primary sources.

    Students can and do listen to the podcasts on the bus to university or while they are making dinner. So the *form* of presentation has virtues even apart from the charming and accessible content. Several students reported that they quite liked Peter's cultivated dagginess and his Dad-joke style.

    So this is a win all round: it's free; the content is good; the form appeals to many of my digital natives; and because at least some of them find Peter charming, they'll actually come to class having done the "reading" (that is actually hearing). What's not to like?

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  7. Tom Llewellyn

    My favorite general introductions to ancient Greek philosophy remain W.K.C. Guthrie's History of Greek Philosophy (six volumes). Each volume is detailed (around 500 pp.), and the interpretations are readable and reliable. For advanced students of Presocratic philosophy the gold standard remains The Presocratic Philosophers by Jonathan Barnes. Not for beginners, but very rewarding for those who are willing to invest the time and effort. For Plato I really like An Introduction to Plato's Republic by Julia Annas and also Plato's Ethics by Terence Irwin. For Aristotle the best first introduction may be Christopher Shield's volume published by Routledge. For Aristotle's ethics, C.D.C. Reeve has published three books that have been highly praised, and I heartily concur. For Hellenistic philosophy A.A. Long's Hellenistic Philosophy is eminently worthy of its good reputation. I particularly like the Cambridge Companion to Stoicism. The essays are very good and written by world-class scholars. As for scepticism, the best book by far is R.J. Hankinson's The Sceptics in the prestigious Arguments of the Philosophers series by Routledge. This work is comprehensive,lucidly written, and shows sound judgment. For graduate students all the relevant volumes in the Oxford Companions to philosophy series are highly recommended.

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  8. Tom Llewellyn

    A correction. The two outstanding anthology series are the Cambridge Companions (to Plato, to Aristotle, etc.) and the Oxford Handbooks (to Plato, to Aristotle, etc.) The former are usually more elementary and the latter for the more advanced student.

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  9. Francesco

    – On Greek philosophy in general, Terence Irwin's Classical Philosophy is an excellent single-volume contemporary textbook: an anthology of texts with clear, stimulating introductions.

    – On Plato, two small gems. (1) Bernard Williams, Plato and the Invention of Philosophy, published as a separate booklet by Phoenix and then Routledge, but also included in his collected papers on the history of philosophy, The Sense of the Past. Williams packs an astonishing amount of information in little space, quotes a number of relevant texts, and gets across the main points in a way which is both concise and attractive. (2) Myles Burnyeat, "Plato", a "Master-Mind" lecture published in the Proceedings of the British Academy, 111 (2001). Another amazing feat of saying very much in very few words, explaining why Plato's philosophy is so important for us and so fascinating, and also giving a sense of its relevance to the subsequent history of philosophy.

    – On Aristotle, (1) despite the many advances of more recent scholarship, in many respects it is still hard to find an introduction which is better than W.D. Ross's classic (Aristotle, 1923). Ross was so conversant with Aristotle that he was able to clarify difficult doctrines while staying close to the original text. So, if you read Ross and then turn to the text, you will find it unexpectedly familiar. Alternatively, (2) Jonathan Barnes's Oxford Very Short Introduction is enlightening and entertaining.

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  10. G

    An oldie but Goodie–nettleship's _lectures on the Republic of Plato_ though I guess the focus is narrower than your question

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  11. Charles Pigden

    I’m not sure if these books count as introductory, (though my third year students seem to find them useful) but for the Plato and Socrates I would particularly recommend Vlastos’s twin books Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher and Socratic Studies, and Beversluis Cross Examining Socrates. They make Socrates & Plato fun & *interesting* (which a lot of introductions ,including some already named ,don’t) and are devoid of the whiney, moralistic and occasionally belligerent defensiveness that disfigures so many introductions to the ancients. (‘Plato’s/Socrates/Aristotle’s claim that X may seem outrageous, ridiculous or morally offensive but if we understand it from his point of view, in context or whatever it really isn’t so bad ….’ Don’t you get utterly sick of this kind of thing? Guthrie is OK but in comparison with Vlastos or Beversluis he is a dull dog.

    I also like Rachel Barney on Thrasymachus and Callicles, both in the Blackwell Guide to Plato’s Republic and in her online Stanford article.

    In the nineties I taught a highly successful 300/400 level course (good results/satisfied customers/enjoyable classes) using Nussbaum’s Fragility of Goodness as the main text. Even though her prose is clunky and verbose, this again was a book which made Plato and Aristotle *interesting* not least because her basic view is that wrt moral luck, Aristotle and the tragedians are right and Plato is wrong. (and, though she does not quite say this, intellectually dishonest). In this she is clearly correct. I love her stuff on Phaedra and the bagels, ditto her defence of Lysias’ oration on behalf of the non-lover (which occasioned so much pious outrage).

    In teaching the Gorgias I found C.C.W.Taylor’s annotations in his annotated OUP edition very helpful.

    Query: What exactly did the Athenian beautician *do* for his male clients? Plato seems to be suggesting that he could duplicate the *appearance* of the kind of buffed, toned body that you could get from working out with the trainer, but how did he manage to do this?

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  12. Charles Pigden

    Correction: That should be should be C.C.W Taylors's notes to his edition of the *Protagoras*.

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  13. David44

    Since no one seems to have mentioned Cicero yet (perhaps because it's only recently that ancient philosophers have started to think of him as philosophically interesting in his own right, rather than as a source for his Stoic/Epicurean/Sceptic predecessors), I thought I should add a recommendation to Raphael Woolf, "Cicero: The Philosophy of a Roman Sceptic" (Routledge, 2015), which provides a good introduction to his thought, clearly written and addressing his arguments with a careful and measured seriousness.

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  14. Phil Bold

    Just want to second Francesco's recommendations of Terence Irwin's "Classical Philosophy" and (for Plato) Bernard Williams' "Plato: The Invention of Philosophy" (which, aside from being a helpful survey of central themes in Plato, is a wonderful essay).

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