Customer Reviews

The Presocratics

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I consider myself at best an informed lay-person concerning philosophy and I found this book not only exceptionally informative about this topic, but beautifully written. I assume the translations are Wheelwright's; they are precise, elegant, and in modern English (that is the writing is free of archaic turns of phrase and the like). The notes and introductions tell the reader exactly what you need to know. Incidentally I heartily recommend his translation of Heraclitus also.

This is a very good collection of extant bits of pre-Socratic writings. It is organized well chronologically and includes enough orienting discussion to suggest why the ideas are important and how they are related. I find myself referring to this collection often, as I think and write about reason and religion and philosophy and science.
It is astounding to consider how "modern" and naturalistic these thinkers were. Not that they were modern-day scientists by any means, and their ideas are still confounded with the religion and metaphysics of their time. Still, they were struggling to be clear and consistent, and that is an amazing thing to think about for over 2500 years ago. One wonders what these researches would have led to if not for the "Platonic" turn in philosophy and the subsequent collapse of philosophy and reason altogether for a thousand years.