Description: An anthology devoted to the intellectual developments that led up to the philosophy of Plato.
Brief description: Anthony Preus is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Binghamton University, State University of New York, and the secretary of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy.
Review Quotes: These essays explore many of the liveliest topics in the study of early Greek philosophy today; they deal with a significant range of the most important figures in the period, and represent several varying methodological approaches. Among the issues addressed include the origins of Hellenic speculative philosophy; the beginnings of "naturalistic" or "scientific" thought; the development of philosophical "schools" of thought; the reevaluation of Hegel's view of early Greek philosophy as dominated by a dialectic between the immobility of being posited by Parmenides and the absolute flux of Heraclitus; and the ways in which the work of early Greek philosophers anticipate some of the recent epistemological concerns of skeptics and postmodern philosophers.