Language and Learning

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.

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 André Laks) 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).