Basic Concepts of Ancient Philosophy

Richard Rojcewicz teaches philosophy at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. He is author of The Gods and Technology and has translated several volumes of the works of Martin Heidegger.

"[A]n excellent resource for students and Continental thinkers . . . who make use of Heidegger's interpretation of ancient philosophy."—Robert Metcalf, University of Colorado at Denver

• Translator's ForewordPreliminary RemarksPART ONE. General Introduction to Ancient Philosophy Chapter One. Working out of the central concepts and questions of ancient philosophy, with the first book of Aristotle's Metaphysics as guidelineChapter Two. The question of cause and of foundation as a philosophical questionPART TWO. The Most Important Greek Thinkers: Their Questions and Answers Section One. Philosophy up to PlatoChapter One. Milesian philosophy of natureChapter Two. HeraclitusChapter Three. Parmenides and the EleaticsChapter Four. The later philosophy of nature: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and atomismChapter Five. Sophistry and SocratesSection Two. Plato's philosophyChapter One. Biography, secondary literature, and general characterization of Plato's questioningChapter Two. More concrete determination of the problem of Being in Plato's philosophyChapter Three. Interpretation of the dialogue, Theatetus: the connection between the question of the Idea of science and the question of BeingFirst definitionSecond definitionThird definitionChapter Four. Central concepts of Plato's philosophy in the context of the understanding of Being and the question of BeingSection Three. Aristotle's philosophyChapter One. On the problem of the development and of the adequate reception of Aristotle's philosophyChapter Two. The ontological problem and the idea of philosophical researchChapter Three. The fundamental questioning of the problematic of BeingChapter Four. The problem of motion and the ontological meaning of that problem. Chapter Five. Ontology of life and of DaseinAPPENDICESSupplementary TextsExcerpts from the Mörchen TranscriptionBröcker TranscriptionEditor's AfterwordGreek-English Glossary