Ancient Epistemology (Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy) - Softcover

Gerson, Lloyd P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521691893 ISBN 13: 9780521691895

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

This is the first title in the Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy series, which provides concise books, written by major scholars and accessible to non-specialists, on important themes in ancient philosophy which remain of philosophical interest today. In this book, Professor Gerson explores ancient accounts of the nature of knowledge and belief from the Presocratics up to the Platonists of late antiquity. He argues that ancient philosophers generally held a naturalistic view of knowledge as well as of belief. Hence, knowledge was not viewed as a stipulated or semantically determined type of belief but was rather a real or objectively determinable achievement. In fact, its attainment was identical with the highest possible cognitive achievement, namely wisdom. It was this naturalistic view of knowledge at which the ancient Skeptics took aim. The book concludes by comparing the ancient naturalistic epistemology with some contemporary versions.

About this title

Book Description:

This first title in the Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy series explores ancient accounts of the nature of knowledge and belief from Socrates' predecessors up to the Platonists of late antiquity. Gerson argues that ancient philosophers generally held a naturalistic view of knowledge and compares this with some contemporary epistemologies.

About the Author:

Lloyd Gerson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He has published widely on ancient philosophy including most recently Aristotle and Other Platonists (2005) and Knowing Persons: A Study in Plato (2004).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0521691893
• ISBN 13: 9780521691895
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 190