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Course-Related Links
General Background
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Greek Philosophy—a good general overview from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Roman Philosophy—a useful complement to the preceding article from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The Presocratics
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John Burnet’s Early Greek Philosophy (3rd edition). A classic work on the Presocratics, with translations of many of the fragments.
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Translations of fragments and testimonia from the Hanover Historical Texts Project (translations from Arthur Fairbanks, ed. and trans. The First Philosophers of Greece [London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1898]).
- Thales
- Anaximander
- Anaximenes
- Xenophanes
- Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans
- Parmenides
- Zeno
- Anaxagoras
- Empedocles
- Melissus
- Supplementing that list, here is Fairbanks’ translation of the fragments of Heraclitus
- And here, on the Classic Persuasion site, is the G.W.T. Patrick translation of the fragments of Heraclitus
- Finally, on the Classic Persuasion site there’s another translation—a verse translation by William Ellery Leonard—of the fragments of Empedokles
The Sophists
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The Philosophical Background of the Fifth Century BCE—an overview of the Sophists with brief remarks on their relation to the Presocratics—from the Brooklyn College Core Curriculum site.
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Pertinent articles in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Socrates
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Socrates himself wrote nothing. The contemporary sources regarding him are Aristophanes, Xenophon, and Plato. For Plato, see below.
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From the Ian Johnston's Johnstonia site:
Aristophanes
- Clouds, trans. Ian Johnston. (This is, in my opinion, the best of the online translations of Aristophanes' Clouds.)
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From the Internet Classics Archives:
Aristophanes
- Clouds, trans. unknown. (The downloadable text version is complete.)
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From the Perseus Project:
Aristophanes
- Clouds, trans. William James Hickie. (The Jeffrey Henderson translation, which used to be available through the Perseus Project, is apparently no longer there.)
Xenophon
- Apology, trans., O.J. Todd.
- Economics, trans., O.J. Todd.
- Memorabilia, trans., E.C. Marchant.
- Symposium, trans., O.J. Todd.
Plato
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The corpus at the Perseus Project (includes the Stephanus numbers, and also includes dialogues of doubtful authenticity not included in the Hamilton and Cairns volume).
- Alcibiades I
- Alcibiades II
- Apology
- Charmides
- Cleitophon
- Cratylus
- Critias
- Crito
- Epinomis
- Euthydemus
- Euthyphro
- Gorgias
- Hipparchus
- Greater Hippias
- Lesser Hippias
- Ion
- Laches
- Laws
- Letters
- Lovers
- Lysis
- Menexenus
- Meno
- Minos
- Parmenides
- Phaedo
- Phaedrus
- Philebus
- Protagoras
- Republic
- Sophist
- Statesman
- Symposium
- Theaetetus
- Theages
- Timaeus
Aristotle
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The part of the corpus available at the Perseus Project (includes the Becker numbers).
- Constitution of the Athenians, trans., H. Rackham.
- Economics, trans., G.C. Armstrong.
- Eudemian Ethics, trans., H. Rackham.
- Metaphysics, trans., Hugh Tredennick.
- Nicomachean Ethics, trans., H. Rackham.
- Poetics, trans., W.H. Fyfe.
- Politics, trans., H. Rackham.
- Prior Analytics, trans., A. J. Jenkinson.
- Rhetoric, trans., J. H. Freese.
- Virtues and Vices, trans., H. Rackham.
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Nearly the entire corpus—available at Non-Contradiction.com (mostly without the Bekker numbers). [Note added Fall 2007: while these texts are currently unavailable at Non-Contradiction.com, the same translations of most of the works in the following list are available at the University of Adelaide Library's eBooks@Adelaide. They're available there both for download and for online reading.]
- Categories, trans., E.M. Edghill.
- On Interpretation, trans., E.M. Edghill.
- Prior Analytics, trans., A.J. Jenkinson.
- Posterior Analytics, trans., G.R.G. Mure.
- Topics, trans., W.A. Pickard-Cambridge.
- On Sophistical Refutations, trans., W.A. Pickard-Cambridge.
- Physics, trans., R.P. Hardie and R.K. Gaye.
- On the Heavens, trans., J.L. Stocks.
- On Generation and Corruption, trans., H.H. Joachim.
- Meteorologica, trans., E.W. Webster.
- On The Soul, trans., J.A. Smith.
- On Sense and Sensibilia, trans., J.I. Beare.
- On Memory and Reminiscence, trans., J.I. Beare.
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness, trans., J.I. Beare.
- On Dreams, trans., J.I. Beare.
- On Prophesying by Dreams, trans., J.I. Beare.
- On Length and Shortness of Life, trans., G.R.T. Ross.
- On Youth and Old Age, On Life and Death, trans., G.R.T. Ross.
- On Respiration, trans., G.R.T. Ross.
- Historia Animalium, trans., D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson.
- On the Parts of Animals, trans., William Ogle.
- On the Movement of Animals, trans., A.S.L. Farquharson.
- On the Progression of Animals, trans., A.S.L. Farquharson.
- On the Generation of Animals, trans., Arthur Platt.
- Metaphysics, trans., W.D. Ross.
- Metaphysics.
- Nicomachean Ethics, trans., W.D. Ross.
- Nicomachean Ethics.
- Eudemian Ethics.
- On Virtues and Vices, trans., H. Rackham.
- Politica, trans., H. Rackham.
- Politics, trans., Benjamin Jowett.
- Oeconomica, trans., G. Cyril Armstrong.
- Rhetoric, trans., W. Rhys Roberts.
- Poetics, trans., S.H. Butcher.
- Poetica, trans., W.H. Fyfe.
- The Athenian Constitution, trans., Sir Frederic G. Kenyon.
- Athenaion Politeia, trans., Sir Frederic G. Kenyon.
- The same translations of many of the same works, but in a form that makes them rather easier to read on line—available at The Internet Classics Archive.
The Epicureans
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At Vincent Cook’s site on Epicurus and Epicurean Philosophy:
Epicurus:- Principal Doctrines
- Vatican Sayings
- Letter to Menoeceus
- Letter to Herodotus
- Letter to Pythocles
- Letter to Idomeneus
- Last Will
Diogenes Laertius:
Lucretius:
Cicero:- De Finibus selection
- De Natura Deorum selection
Horace:- Ode “Carpe Diem”
- Ode “Otium”
- Letter to Tibullus
Lucian:
Cornelius Nepos:
Plutarch:- Adversus Colotem selection
Lactantius:- The Divine Institutes selection
- On the Anger of God
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Available at the Internet Classics Archive:
- Lucretius’ poem On the Nature of Things, William Ellery Leonard, trans.
The Stoics
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From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
- A general article on Stoicism.
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Kleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus
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Available at the Internet Classics Archive:
- The Enchiridion (or Manual) of Epictetus
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Available at The Constitution Society:
- The Discourses of Epictetus
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Available at the Internet Classics Archive:
- The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
The Skeptics
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From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
- A general article on Ancient Skepticism.
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From a site that may (or may not) be doomed to vanish:
- Book I of Sextus Empiricus’ Outlines of Pyrrhonism.
Plotinus
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A good general article on Plotinus at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Available at the Internet Classics Archive:
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- The Enneads, trans. Stephen MacKenna and B.S. Page.
General Plato Sites
- Christopher Planeaux’s Plato Pages—This site and the next are perhaps the best Plato sites on the web. This site contains general introduction to Plato, a biography, a brief discussion of Plato’s philosophy, and a description of Plato’s Academy (Warning: Planeaux’s site is not easy to visit if you have a slow modem connection.)
- Exploring Plato’s Dialogues—This site features a hierarchical index generated by a limited area search engine in lieu of the usual list of links.
General Aristotle Sites
- Non-Contradiction.com: Aristotle and Aristotelianism—Chris Howard’s Aristotle site. Features good translations of many of Aristotle’s works.
Miscellaneous Other Sites
- Diogenes Laertius’Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, trans. C.D. Yonge—from the Classic Persuasion site. Diogenes Laertius, of course, is to be taken with a great big grain of salt.
- Ralph McInerny’s A History of Western Philosophy (South Bend, Indiana: Notre Dame UP, 1963) is available online. Vol. I is on ancient philosophy.
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Garth Kemerling’s Philosophy Pages are well worth a look. The site includes:
- An overview of the history of Western philosophy which begins with useful discussions of the Presocratics, Sokrates, Plato (with articles on Immortality and the Forms, The State and the Soul, and Education and the Value of Justice), Aristotle (with articles on Logical Methods, Forms and Souls, Ethics and the Virtues, and Politics and Art), and the Hellenistic philosophers
- A timeline of Western philosophy of the sort that can help one remember who was when
- A section on major figures in Western philosophy, which includes useful articles on Sokrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Epictetus.
- A dictionary of philosophical terms and names, which includes brief entries on most of the minor figures in the history of Greek philosophy (most easily accessed from the timeline.
- FOLDOP—Another dictionary of philosophy that includes brief entries on most of the minor figures in the history of Greek philosophy.
- Euclid’s Elements. Trans. David E. Joyce. An extremely interesting on-line edition of the Elements featuring Java-enhanced constructions and a good deal more.
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