Ancient Relativity: Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, and Sceptics

Author:   Matthew Duncombe (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Nottingham)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
ISBN:  

9780198846185


Pages:   306
Publication Date:   20 February 2020
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Ancient Relativity: Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, and Sceptics


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Overview

Ideas about relativity underlie much ancient Greek philosophy, from Protagorean relativism, to Plato's theory of Forms, Aristotle's category scheme, and relational logic. In Ancient Relativity Matthew Duncombe explores how ancient philosophers, particularly Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and Sextus Empiricus, understood the phenomenon and how their theories of relativity affected, and were affected by, their broader philosophical outlooks. He argues that ancient philosophers shared a close-knit family of views referred to as 'constitutive relativity', whereby a relative is not simply linked by a relation but is constituted by it. Plato exploits this view in some key arguments concerning the Forms and the partition of the soul. Aristotle adopts the constitutive view in his discussions of relativity in Categories 7 and the Topics and retains it in Metaphysics Delta 15. Duncombe goes on to examine the role relativity plays in Stoic philosophy, especially Stoic physics and metaphysics, and the way Sextus Empiricus thinks about relativity, which does not appeal to the nature of relatives but rather to how we conceive of things as correlative.

Full Product Details

Author:   Matthew Duncombe (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Nottingham)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.80cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.602kg
ISBN:  

9780198846185


ISBN 10:   0198846185
Pages:   306
Publication Date:   20 February 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

1: Introduction 2: Constitutive Relativity in Plato 3: Relativity and Separation in the Theory of Forms 4: Relativity and Partition in Republic 4 5: Relativity in Categories 7, Topics, and Sophistical Refutations 6: Aristotle on the Distinction Between Substances and Relatives 7: Relativity in Aristotle's Metaphysics 5.15 8: Relativity and Independence in Aristotle's On Ideas 9: Stoic Relativity 10: Relativity in Stoic Physics, Metaphysics, and Ethics 11: Relativity Against Dogmatism in Sextus Empiricus 12: Conclusion

Reviews

This book is a rare kind of achievement in ancient scholarship, dealing as it does with a subject that is understudied and yet, as Duncombe convincingly shows, indispensable for properly understanding ancient philosophical thought on many key topics. Given the range of problems on which the book makes new progress, it will be a rewarding read for just about anyone working on Greek philosophy. * Ian J. Campbell, Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Journal of the History of Philosophy *


"This book is a rare kind of achievement in ancient scholarship, dealing as it does with a subject that is understudied and yet, as Duncombe convincingly shows, indispensable for properly understanding ancient philosophical thought on many key topics. Given the range of problems on which the book makes new progress, it will be a rewarding read for just about anyone working on Greek philosophy. * Ian J. Campbell, Humboldt-Universit""at zu Berlin, Journal of the History of Philosophy *"


Author Information

Matthew Duncombe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. He held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Durham University and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Groningen. He studied philosophy and Classics at the University of Cambridge. His research interests focus on ancient Greek philosophy, particularly logic, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.

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