New Perspective on Antisthenes

Dr. P.A. Meijer was associate professor of Ancient Philosophy in Leiden University until his retirement. He has published extensively on various subjects in this field. Among his most important publications are Plotinus on the Good or the One (Enneads VI 9), an analytical commentary (1992), and Stoic Theology, Proofs for the existence of the Cosmic God and of the Traditional Gods (2007).

"A New Perspective on Antisthenes provides a fresh and engaging treatment of some of the more interesting elements in Antisthenes’s philosophical legacy“his views on definition and predication, his literary criticism, and his ethics“in a manner that is accessible to specialist and non-specialist alike." - Sean McConnell, University of Otago, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 56, Number 1, January 2018

• Preface Abbreviations Primary Sources-Editions Used Introduction 1) Antisthenes' status 2) The importance of Antisthenes' philosophical views Part I Logos and Predicate Chapter I Contradiction 1) Did Antisthenes claim that there is no such thing as contradiction? 2) Was Antisthenes the first theoretician of the predicate? 3) Aristotle contra Antisthenes 4) A 'mad' contradictor 5) Antisthenes and ouden legein 6) Aristotle's unconvincing rejoinder 7) The silver-tin analogy 8) The Antistheneans 9) Was makros logos an unusual notion? 10) The enumerative definition 1) Was the enumerative definition a trouvaille of the Antistheneans? 2) Does 'one cannot say what a thing is' conflict with Antisthenes' own view? 11) Antisthenes' followers and teaching 12) Aristotle's to ti en einai and the 'was' of Antisthenes' explanation of logos 13) The imperfect tense in the logos-formula, why not also a future tense? Chapter II Investigation of names 1) Name (onoma) 2) An example of the investigation of a name (polytropos) 3) The logos formula reconsidered 4) Branccaci's solution to the imperfect ?n 5) An interim assessment: Antisthenes contra Plato? 6) Reconsideration of the issue about contradiction (Plato's Euthydemus) 7) 'To speak falsely' (ceÁdesyai) 8) 'Nearly' (sxedÓn) 9) Antisthenes' teaching practice 10) Appendix I: Guthrie's systematic survey Part II Antisthenes' views on Theology: His theoretical approach to the study of Homer Chapter I Theology 1) Antisthenes and monotheism: was Antisthenes the first monotheist? 2) Aphrodite's case 3) Pleasure as background to theological issues 4) Antisthenes and the popular gods Chapter II Antisthenes' scientific approach to the study of Homer 1) Polytropos 1) Section 1 2) Section 2 (lysis) 3) Section 3 2) Commentary on the sections 1) Strange Section 3 2) Antisthenes' logical style 3) Argumentation in Section 2 4) Section 3 revisited 3) Aristotle corrected Chapter III Antisthenes' interpretation of other Homeric Figures 1) A critical observation: Antisthenes in favour of Homer and the Cyclopes 2) Calypso 3) Other places in Homer: On wine Part III Antisthenean Ethics Chapter I Ethics and Myth 1) Introduction: Moral strength 2) Heracles: Ethics and paideia 3) Heracles and Heavenly Matters 4) Heracles and Money 5) Heracles and Virtue 6) Properties of virtue, wisdom (phronesis) Chapter II Sex, Marriage, Family 1) Antisthenes' teaching regarding sex and marriage 2) Adultery 3) Family Chapter III Aspasia 1) Introduction 2) Aspasia and Pericles 3) Aspasia and Menexenus Chapter IV Alcibiades 1) Alcibiades and beauty 2) Alcibiades' bad behaviour Chapter V Antisthenes and Politics 1) Introduction 2) Archelaus, the bad king? 3) Whence Antisthenes' preference for Cyrus as the good king? 4) Antisthenes' Cyrus-works, Xenophon's Cyropaedia 5) Good and Bad in the State 6) Social theory Chapter VI The Wise 1) The wise person 2) The wise as models Chapter VII Antisthenes and Xenophon 1) Introduction 2) Jealousy and envy 2) Friendship 3) Friendship and 'orthosemantics' Chapter VIII A portrait of Antisthenes in Xenophon's Symposium 1) Antisthenes in Xenophon's Symposium 2) The teachability of virtue 3) Antisthenes as a cross-examiner 4) Antisthenes and Niceratus on Homer 5) Antisthenes' speech 6) Pandering 7) Two incidental appearances 8) The final scene between Socrates and Antisthenes 9) Antisthenean themes in Xenophon's Symposium Epilogue: Antisthenes, an Assessment Appendix II The Speeches of Ajax and Odysseus Introduction Antisthenes' sources The aim of the speeches Aiax' speech: 'Not words but deeds' Odysseus' Speech: 'I alone am the saviour of the Greeks by secret acts' Antisthenes' book On Courage Bibliography Concordance Giannantoni (SSR) -Caizzi D.C. Index of Fragments Cited Index of Passage Cited Index of Names