Plato (427–347 BC)

By Schofield, Malcolm

Plato was an Athenian Greek of aristocratic family, active as a philosopher in the first half of the fourth century bc. He was a devoted follower of ...

Plato (427–347 BC)

Plato was an Athenian Greek of aristocratic family, active as a philosopher in the first half of the fourth century bc. He was a devoted follower of ...

African philosophy

By Appiah, K. Anthony

In order to indicate the range of some of the kinds of material that must be included in a discussion of philosophy in Africa, it is as well ...

Political philosophy

By Miller, David

Political philosophy can be defined as philosophical reflection on how best to arrange our collective life - our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic ...

Heraclides of Pontus (4th century BC)

By Gottschalk, H.B.

Heraclides, a pupil of Plato, was roughly contemporaneous with Aristotle. Best known in antiquity as a writer of dialogues on moral and religious themes, he also held interesting ...

Platonism in Islamic philosophy

By Burrell, David

Plato seems to have been more an icon and an inspiration than an authentic source for Islamic philosophers. So far as is known, the only works available to ...

Cratylus (late 5th/early 4th century BC)

By Long, A.A.

Probably an Athenain, Cratylus was a radical Heraclitean, holding that the world is in constant and total flux. Through this doctrine he had a seminal influence on Plato. ...

Hippias (late 5th century BC)

By Kahn, Charles H.

The Greek Sophist Hippias of Elis is a familiar figure in Plato’s dialogues. He served his city as ambassador, and he earned a great deal of money from ...

Aretē

By Sedley, David

A pivotal term of ancient Greek ethics, aretē is conventionally translated ‘virtue’, but is more properly ‘goodness’ – the quality of being a good human being. Philosophy ...

Academy

By Barnes, Jonathan

The Academy was a public gymnasium in northwest Athens. Plato taught there, and the Academy remained the centre of Platonic philosophizing until the first century bc. Hence ...

Mimēsis

By Most, Glenn W.

A crucial term in the literary theories of Plato and Aristotle, mimesis describes the relation between the words of a literary work and the actions and events ...

Nous

By Long, A.A.

Commonly translated as ‘mind’ or ‘intellect’, the Greek word nous is a key term in the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus. What gives nous its ...

Aristotle Commentators

By Sorabji, Richard

Aristotle’s school treatises were given renewed prominence by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc, and from then on numerous commentaries were written on them. The ...

Aristotle Commentators

Aristotle’s school treatises were given renewed prominence by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc, and from then on numerous commentaries were written on them. The ...

Prodicus (fl. late 5th century BC)

By Kahn, Charles H.

Prodicus was a Greek Sophist from the island of Ceos; he was active in Athens. He served his city as ambassador and also became prominent as a professional ...

Apuleius (c. AD 125–180)

By Dillon, John

The Latin writer Apuleius of Madaura was a professional rhetorician, a novelist and an amateur Platonist. His handbook of Platonism and his essay on the guardian spirit of ...

Neo-Pythagoreanism

By Schibli, Hermann S.

Neo-Pythagoreanism is a term used by modern scholars to refer to the revival of Pythagorean philosophy and way of life in the first century bc. It coincides ...

Callicles (late 5th century BC)

By Hobbs, Angela

Callicles, although known only as a character in Plato’s Gorgias (the dramatic date of which is somewhere between 430 and 405 bc), was probably an actual historical ...

Katharsis

By Most, Glenn W.

One of the central concepts of Aristotle’s Poetics, katharsis (’purgation’ or ‘purification’; often spelled catharsis) defines the goal of the tragic poet: by depiction of human ...

Physis and nomos

By Hobbs, Angela

In the fifth and fourth centuries bc a vigorous debate arose in Greece centred on the terms physis (nature) and nomos (law or custom). It ...

Epicharmus (c. early 5th century BC)

By Most, Glenn W.

One of the earliest Greek dramatists, Epicharmus wrote mostly comedies with mythological content in Sicily around 500 bc. A number of philosophical passages were attributed to him ...

Celsus (late 2nd century AD)

By Dillon, John

The Greek philosopher Celsus of Alexandria was a Middle Platonist, known only for his anti-Christian work The True Account. The work is lost, but we have Origen’s reply ...

Alcinous (c. 2nd century AD)

By Dillon, John

Long misidentified with the Middle Platonist philosopher Albinus, Alcinous is author of a ‘handbook of Platonism’, which gives a good survey of Platonist doctrine as it was understood ...

Iamblichus (c. AD 242–327)

By Siorvanes, Lucas

The late ancient philosopher Iamblichus was, alongside Plotinus and Porphyry, a founder of Neoplatonism. He established a new curriculum for the teaching of philosophy and formulated many distinctions ...

Ammonius, son of Hermeas (c. AD 440–521)

By Wildberg, Christian

The Greek philosopher Ammonius, ‘son of Hermeas’ was an Alexandrian Neoplatonist. Educated by Proclus in Athens, he succeeded his father as head of the school in Alexandria, where ...