Ancient Philosophy Books

New and Published Books

1. Pliny’s Defense of Empire

   By Thomas R. Laehn

   Series: Routledge Innovations in Political Theory

   Despite perennial interest in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, the world’s first encyclopedia, as a record of the prodigious, the quotidian, and the useful in Rome in the first century AD, for centuries Pliny has been derided as little more than an inept compiler of facts and marvels...

   Published March 21st 2013 by Routledge
2. Greek Thought and the Origins of the Scientific Spirit

   By Leon Robin

   Originally published between 1920-70,The History of Civilization was a landmark in early twentieth century publishing. It was published at a formative time within the social sciences, and during a period of decisive historical discovery. The aim of the general editor, C.K. Ogden, was to summarize...

   Published March 3rd 2013 by Routledge
3. Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy

   Cities and Transcendence

   By Jonathan N. Badger

   Series: Routledge Innovations in Political Theory

   Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy is an inquiry into a fundamental political problem made visible through the tragic poetry of Sophocles. In part I Badger offers a detailed exegesis of three plays: Ajax, Antigone, and Philoctetes. These plays share a common theme, illuminating a persistent...

   Published December 14th 2012 by Routledge
4. Athletics and Philosophy in the Ancient World

   Contests of Virtue

   By Heather Reid

   Series: Ethics and Sport

   This book examines the relationship between athletics and philosophy in ancient Greece and Rome focused on the connection between athleticism and virtue. It begins by observing that the link between athleticism and virtue is older than sport, reaching back to the athletic feats of kings and...

   Published November 12th 2012 by Routledge
5. Plato's Dialectic on Woman

   Equal, Therefore Inferior

   By Elena Blair

   Series: Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies

   With the birth of the feminist movement classicists, philosophers, educational experts, and psychologists, all challenged by the question of whether or not Plato was a feminist, began to examine Plato’s dialogues in search of his conception of woman. The possibility arose of a new focus affecting...

   Published May 20th 2012 by Routledge
6. The World of Parmenides

   Essays on the Presocratic Enlightenment

   By Karl Popper

   Series: Routledge Classics

   With a new foreword by Scott Austin 'I hope that these essays may illustrate the thesis that all history is or should be the history of problem situations, and that in following this principle we may further our understanding of the Presocratics and other thinkers of the past. The essays also try...

   Published April 29th 2012 by Routledge
7. Ancient Philosophy

   A Contemporary Introduction

   By Christopher Shields

   Series: Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy

   In this re-titled and substantially revised update of his Classical Philosophy (2003), Christopher Shields expands his coverage to include the Hellenistic era, and now offers an introduction to more than 1,000 years of ancient philosophy. From Thales and other Pre-Socratics through Socrates,...

   Published November 22nd 2011 by Routledge
8. Edmund Burke

   By Frank O'Gorman

   First published in 1973, this title offers a concise and readable account of Burke's political philosophy. As well as examining the foundation for Burke's thought, the book also provides much needed connections between the fields of history and political theory. Critical comment and analysis of...

   Published September 14th 2011 by Routledge
9. Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists

   The Greek Tradition and its Many Heirs

   Edited by Paul T. Keyser, Georgia L. Irby-Massie

   The Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists is the first comprehensive English language work to provide a survey of all ancient natural science, from its beginnings through the end of Late Antiquity. A team of over 100 of the world’s experts in the field have compiled this Encyclopedia,...

   Published September 6th 2011 by Routledge
10. The Crowd and the Mob (Routledge Revivals)

    From Plato to Canetti

    By J. S. McClelland

    First published in 1989, this persuasive and original by John McClelland examines the importance of the idea of 'the crowd' in the writings of philosophers, historians and politicians from the classical era to the twentieth century. The book examines histories of political thought and their...

    Published June 12th 2011 by Routledge