Synopses & Reviews
Hellenistic philosophers and scholars laid the foundations upon which Western tradition developed analytical grammar, linguistics, philosophy of language and other disciplines. Building on the pioneering work of Plato, Aristotle and earlier thinkers, they developed a wide range of theories about the nature and origin of language. Ten essays explore the ancient theories, their philosophical adequacy, and their impact on later thinkers from Augustine through the Middle Ages.
Synopsis
In this collection an international team of experts explores the philosophical and scientific study of human language and communication during the Hellenistic period. It provides a significant survey of the development of classical theories of language and their impact on the linguistic theories of later periods, notably the Middle Ages.
Synopsis
The philosophers and scholars of the Hellenistic world laid the foundations on which the Western tradition built analytical grammar, linguistics, philosophy of language, and other disciplines probing human communication. In this collection of essays a distinguished team of scholars explores ancient theories of language, their philosophical adequacy, and their impact on later theorists. With its broad scope and comprehensive introduction, the collection provides a significant survey of the development of the philosophy of language which will appeal to students of theories of language in the classical period and beyond.
About the Author
Dorothea Frede is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hamburg. She has written numerous articles on Greek philosophy and her previous publications include Philebos (Hackett, 1992) and (with AndréLaks) Traditions of Theology, Studies in Hellenistic Theology (Leiden 2002).Brad Inwood is Canada Research Chair in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Toronto. His recent publications include The Poem of Empedocles (Second edition, University of Toronto Press, 2001) and The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Table of Contents
Introduction Dorothea Frede and Brad Inwood; 1. The Stoics on the origin of language and the foundations of etymology James Allen; 2. Stoic linguistics, Plato's Cratylus, and Augustine's De dialectica A. A. Long; 3. Epicurus and his predecessors on the origin of language Alexander Verlinsky; 4. Lucretius on what language is not Catherine Atherton; 5. Communicating cynicism: Diogenes' gangsta rap Ineke Sluiter; 6. Common sense: concepts, definition and meaning in and out of the Stoa Charles Brittain; 7. Varro's anti-analogist David Blank; 8. The Stoics on fallacies of equivocation Susanne Bobzien; 9. What is a disjunction? Jonathan Barnes; 10. Theories of language in the Hellenistic age and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Sten Ebbesen.