Strategies of Polemics in Greek and Roman Philosophy brings together papers written by specialists in the field of ancient philosophy on the topic of polemics. Despite the central role played by polemics in ancient philosophy, the forms and mechanisms of philosophical polemics are not usually the subject of systematic scholarly attention. The present volume seeks to shed new light on familiar texts by approaching them from this neglected angle. The contributions address questions such as: What is the role of polemic in a philosophical discourse? What were the polemical strategies developed by ancient philosophers? To what extent did polemics contribute to the shaping of important philosophical doctrines or standpoint?
Contributors are: Mauro Bonazzi, André Laks, Robert Lamberton, Carlos Lévy, Daniel Marković, Jozef Müller, Charlotte Murgier, Christopher Shields, Naly Thaler, Voula Tsouna, and Sharon Weisser.
Sharon Weisser, Ph.D. (2012) Hebrew University of Jerusalem and l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) is lecturer of Philosophy at Tel-Aviv University. She is the author of several papers on Stoicism, and on Philo of Alexandria.
Naly Thaler, Ph.D (2008) Princeton University, is lecturer of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published various papers on Plato’s Theaetetus and Republic, and on Plotinus’ philosophy of nature.
"The volume prepared by Weisser and Thaler has extraordinary coherence, something remarkable when it comes to collective volumes. Its pages approach Greek and Roman philosophy in an original way, revisit many unresolved problems, and are an invitation for future research." - Rodrigo Verano,
Universidad de los Andes, in:
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Introduction,
Sharon Weisser and Naly Thaler
The Continuation of Philosophy by Other Means?,
André Laks The Young Dogs of Eristic: Dialectic and Eristic in the Early Academy,
Christopher Shields A Hidden Argument in Plato’s Theaetetus,
Naly Thaler Polemical Arguments about Pleasure: The Controversy within and around the Academy,
Charlotte Murgier The Politics of Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato’s Republic,
Jozef Müller Cyrenaics and Epicureans on Pleasure and the Good Life: The Original Debate and Its Later Revivals,
Voula Tsouna Polemics in Translation: Lucretius,
Daniel Marković The Perfidious Strategy; or, the Platonists against Stoicism,
Mauro Bonazzi Vehementia: A Rhetorical Basis of Polemics in Roman Philosophy,
Carlos Lévy The Art of Quotation: Plutarch and Galen against Chrysippus,
Sharon Weisser The Invisible Adversary: Anti-Christian Polemic in Proclus’s Commentary on the Republic of Plato,
Robert Lamberton
Index
The readership of this book includes scholars and students from the field of Ancient Philosophy but also from other disciplines such as Classical Studies, Ancient History, Philosophy, and early Christianity.