Method and Metaphysics

The publication of Jonathan Barnes's collected papers in ancient philosophy is a major event. Oxford University Press is bringing together in four sizeable volumes most of the articles and essays with select reviews written by Barnes over nearly half a century. The first two volumes, reviewed here, are followed by his essays on ancient epistemology in Proof, Knowledge, and Scepticism (2014), and by what remains in Mantissa (2015). [For the writings not collected in these volumes, see Maddalena Bonelli's bibliography of Barnes's more than 340 publications down to 2010 in Morison and Ierodiakonou ( 2001 ).] Since Barnes's mastery extends to all periods of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, and over a wide array of philosophical fields and topics, it makes good sense to have organized the materials collected here thematically rather than chronologically. The twenty-six chapters of Method and Metaphysics are devoted to the methods of modern interpreters in approaching ancient philosophical texts (chs 1–8), the methods of ancient thinkers in approaching philosophical problems (chs 9–13), and various metaphysical issues as treated by ancient philosophers from Parmenides and Leucippus to Syrianus and Proclus (chs 14–26). Eight of these essays are discussion reviews, a genre in which Barnes excels because he makes substantial contributions of his own in the discussions. The twenty-seven chapters of Logical Matters are devoted to topics and problems in ancient logic, especially in its principal Aristotelian and Stoic strains. Since several of the papers in these volumes were originally published in recherché locations, it is very useful to have them made more readily accessible. The originals have all been updated, standardized, and translated where necessary, with alterations and revisions indicated in the initial footnote to each chapter. The editorial decision to occasionally provide new titles in generating the chapters is irritating. So, for example, ‘Logic in Academica I and Lucullus’ from the proceedings of the seventh Symposium Hellenisticum appears in Essays II as ‘Cicero on logic’, and ‘Homonymy in Aristotle and Speusippus’ ( Classical Quarterly , 1971), revised in light of subsequent criticisms by W. F. R. Hardie and Leonardo Tarán, appears in Essays II as ‘Speusippus and Aristotle on homonymy’. Although some essays have undergone more substantial revisions than others, references will from now on need to be made to the versions published here rather than to the originals.

Ancient Greek · Ancient Greek philosophy · Ancient philosophy · Art · Eastern philosophy · Epistemology · Literature · Metaphysics · Skepticism · Western philosophy · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Classics · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy

• Episteme, etc.

  Jonathan Barnes, Benjamin Morison et al.•Episteme, etc•2011

  Add to list

• Doubt and Dogmatism

  Charlotte L Stough, Charlotte Stough et al.•The Philosophical Review•1983

  Add to list