Susanne Bobzien
Biographic Data
| ID | 462004 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susanne Bobzien |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susanne |
| FAMILY NAME | Bobzien |
| SIGNATURE | BOBZIEN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9406-6507 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A Generic Solution to the Sorites Paradox: Based on an Extension of the Modal Logic S4.1
This paper offers a generic revenge-proof solution to the Sorites paradox that is compatible with several philosophical approaches to vagueness, including epistemicism, supervaluationism, psychological contextualism and intuitionism. The solution is traditional in that it rejects the Sorites conditional and proposes a modally expressed weakened conditional instead. The modalities are defined by the first-order logic QS4M+FIN . (This logic is a mo…
Peripatetic Conditionals
Although Aristotle had no worked-out notion of a conditional, later Peripatetics did. Little has been said about Peripatetic conditionals so far. This paper examines the historical evidence and the philosophical and logical characteristics of these conditionals, thus providing some fresh insights. Specifically, it (i) explores the Peripatetic containment relations both between terms and between sentences; (ii) analyses how Peripatetic one-way and…
Frege, Hirzel, and Stoic logic
This paper is a discussion of Gabriel, Hülser and Schlotter’s pioneering 2009 article on a possible causal relation between Stoic logic and Frege. Additionally, this paper offers some very modest findings about some aspects of Frege's and Hirzel's lives and work habits, which may help us understand a little better Frege's connection to Hirzel and to Stoic logic as well as Frege’s failure to acknowledge the Stoics. This paper is a purely historica…
Frege, Sigwart, and Stoic Logic
This very brief paper provides plausible answers to the two residual questions that Jamie Tappenden states, but leaves unanswered, in his 2024 paper ‘Following Bobzien: Some notes on Frege’s development and engagement with his environment’, namely, why Frege read Sigwart’s Logik and what caused Frege to read Prantl
Chrysippus’ Theory of Causes
This chapter combines an in-depth analysis of Chrysippus’ defence of his determinism in Cicero’s On Fate with a systematic reconstruction of his theory of causes. It shows that our evidence does not support the standard view that Chrysippus’ distinction between proximate and auxiliary causes and perfect and principal causes corresponds to one between internal and external determining factors. Causes of the two types were not thought to cooperate,…
Did Epicurus Discover the Free-Will Problem?
This chapter shows, through painstaking analysis of the extant texts (Epicurus, Lucretius, Diogenes Laertius, et al.), that there is no evidence that Epicurus dealt with the kind of free-will problem with which he is traditionally associated, i.e. that he discussed free choice or moral responsibility grounded on free choice, or that the ‘swerve’ was involved in decision processes. Rather, for Epicurus, actions are fully determined by the agent’s …
Determinism, Freedom, and Moral Responsibility: Essays in Ancient Philosophy
This volume assembles nine of the author's essays on determinism, freedom, and moral responsibility in Western antiquity, ranging from Aristotle via the Epicureans and Stoics to the third century. It is representative of the author's overall scholarship on the topic, much of which emphasizes that what commonly counts as 'the problem of free will and determinism' is noticeably distinct from the issues the ancients discussed. It is true that one ma…
Demonstration and the Indemonstrability of the Stoic Indemonstrables
Since Mates’ seminal Stoic Logic there has been uncertainty and debate about how to treat the term anapodeiktos when used of Stoic syllogisms. This paper argues that the customary translation of anapodeiktos by ‘indemonstrable’ is accurate, and it explains why this is so. At the heart of the explanation is an argument that, contrary to what is commonly assumed, indemonstrability is rooted in the generic account of the Stoic epistemic notion of de…
Alexander of Aphrodisias on Aristotle’s Theory of the Stoic Indemonstrables
This chapter presents a new account of the development of ancient logic, focusing on how the Aristotelian commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias managed to effect a bridge between Aristotle’s categorical term-logic and Stoic propositional logic. It argues that Alexander connected passages from Aristotle’s Topics and Prior Analytics with the Stoic indemonstrables, appropriating at least four of the five kinds of Stoic indemonstrables as Aristotelian…
The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is the first and arguably most important treatise on ethics in Western philosophy. It remains to this day a compelling reflection on the best sort of human life and continues to inspire contemporary thought and debate. This Cambridge Companion includes twenty essays by leading scholars of Aristotle and ancient philosophy that cover the major issues of this text. The essays in this volume shed light on Aristotle's ri…
How to Give Someone Horns: Paradoxes of Presupposition in Antiquity
This paper discusses ancient versions of paradoxes today classified as paradoxes of presupposition and how their ancient solutions compare with contemporary ones. Sections 1-4 air ancient evidence for the Fallacy of Complex Question and suggested solutions, introduce the Horn Paradox, consider its authorship and contemporary solutions. Section 5 reconstructs the Stoic solution, suggesting the Stoics produced a Russellian-type solution based on a …
Episteme, etc: Essays in honour of Jonathan Barnes
"The sixteen essays written in honour of Jonathan Barnes for this volume reflect the impressive scope of his contributions to philosophy. Six are on knowledge, five on logic and metaphysics, five on ethics. The volume ranges widely over ancient philosophy, while also finding room for for two contemporary papers on truth and vagueness. Aristotle is prominent in eight of the essays; Plato, Sextus Empiricus, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and ancient G…
In defense of true higher-order vagueness
Moral responsibility and moral development in Epicurus' philosophy
For the purpose of this paper, I assume that if a person is morally responsible for an action, this is a necessary and sufficient condition for moral appraisal of that person for that action. For instance, if the action is morally wrong, moral blame is in order. Other morally relevant responses that are sometimes connected with moral responsibility are praise, pardon, shame, pride, reward, punishment, remorse.
The Virtuous Life in Greek Ethics
There is now a renewed concern for moral psychology among moral philosophers. Moreover, contemporary philosophers interested in virtue, moral responsibility and moral progress regularly refer to Plato and Aristotle, the two founding fathers of ancient ethics. The book contains eleven chapters by distinguished scholars which showcase current research in Greek ethics. Four deal with Plato, focusing on the Protagoras, Euthydemus, Symposium and Repub…
Early Stoic Determinism
Bien que, du second siecle avant Jesus-Christ au troisieme apres, les problemes du determinisme aient ete quasi exclusivement traites dans le cadre de la question du Destin, le determinisme avance par Zenon et developpe par Chrysippe fut largement elabore dans des traites physiques, independamment de toute « doctrine du Destin ». Le determinisme stoicien etait fonde sur la cosmologie stoicienne et, pour le comprendre, il est indispensable de teni…
Language and Learning: Philosophy of Language in the Hellenistic Age
The philosophers and scholars of the Hellenistic world laid the foundations upon which the Western tradition based analytical grammar, linguistics, philosophy of language, and other disciplines probing the nature and origin of human communication. Building on the pioneering work of Plato and Aristotle, these thinkers developed a wide range of theories about the nature and origin of language which reflected broader philosophical commitments. In th…
Logic
Stoic logic is in its core a propositional logic. Stoic inference concerns the relations between items that have the structure of propositions. These items are the assertibles (axiômata). They are the primary bearers of truth-values. Accordingly, Stoic logic falls into two main parts: the theory of arguments and the theory of assertibles, which are the components from which the arguments are built.
The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics
This unique volume offers an odyssey through the ideas of the Stoics in three particular ways: first, through the historical trajectory of the school itself and its influence; second, through the recovery of the history of Stoic thought; third, through the ongoing confrontation with Stoicism, showing how it refines philosophical traditions, challenges the imagination, and ultimately defines the kind of life one chooses to lead. A distinguished ro…
XII-Chrysippus and the Epistemic Theory of Vagueness
Recently a bold and admirable interpretation of Chrysippus's position on the Sorites has been presented, suggesting that Chrysippus offered a solution to the Sorites by (i) taking an epistemicist position1 which (ii) made allowances for higher-order vagueness.2 In this paper I argue (i) that Chrysippus did not take an epistemicist position, but—if any —a non-epistemic one which denies truth-values to some cases in a Sorites-series, and (ii) that …
The Development of Modus Ponens in Antiquity: From Aristotle to the 2nd Century AD
Aristotelian logic', as it was taught from late antiquity until the 20th century, commonly included a short presentation of the argument forms modus (ponendo) ponens, modus (tollendo) tollens, modus ponendo tollens, and modus tollendo ponens. In late antiquity, arguments of these forms were generally classified as 'hypothetical syllogisms'. However, Aristotle did not discuss such arguments, nor did he call any arguments 'hypothetical syllogisms'.…
Pre-Stoic Hypothetical Syllogistic in Galen's Institutio Logica
PRE-STOIC HYPOTHETICAL SYLLOGISTIC IN GALEN's INSTITUTIO LOGICA Get access SUSANNE BOBZIEN SUSANNE BOBZIEN Department of Philosophy, Yale University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Volume 45, Issue Supplement_77, January 2002, Pages 57–72, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-5370.2002.tb02279.x Published: 22 February 2011
A Greek Parallel to Boethius' De Hypotheticis Syllogismis
In this paper I present the text, a translation, and a commentary of a long anonymous scholium to Aristotle's Analytics which is a Greek parallel to Boethius' De Hypotheticis Syllogismis, but has so far not been recognized as such. The scholium discusses hypothetical syllogisms of the types modus ponens and modus tollens and hypothetical syllogisms constructed from three conditionals ('wholly hypothetical syllogisms'). It is Peripatetic, and not …
Determinism and Freedom in Stoic Philosophy
The author presents a study of one of the most important intellectual legacies of the ancient Greek world. She identifies the problems that the Stoic tradition addressed and reconstructs the theory whilst exploring their defence of determinism.
Chrysippus’ Theory of Causes
We know very little about Chrysippus’ theory of causation. Our textual evidence which names Chrysippus directly and can be straightforwardly considered as belonging to a theory of causes is this: a passage in Stobaeus (Eel. 1.138.23–139.4) that presents Chrysippus’ basic account of causation; a distinction of causes in Cicero’s On Fate (Fat. 41–5); and an indirect reference to a distinction of causes in Plutarch’s On Stoic Self-Contradictions (St…
The Inadvertent Conception and Late Birth of the Free-Will Problem
In this paper I argue that the "discovery" of the problem of causal determinism and freedom of decision in Greek philosophy is the result of a mix-up of Aristotelian and Stoic thought in later antiquity; more precisely, a (mis-)interpretation of Aristotle's philosophy of deliberate choice and action in the light of Stoic theory of determinism and moral responsibility. The (con-)fusion originates with the beginnings of Aristotle scholarship, at th…
The Development of Modus Ponens in Antiquity: From Aristotle to the 2nd Century AD
Aristotelian logic', as it was taught from late antiquity until the 20th century, commonly included a short presentation of the argument forms modus (ponendo) ponens, modus (tollendo) tollens, modus ponendo tollens, and modus tollendo ponens. In late antiquity, arguments of these forms were generally classified as 'hypothetical syllogisms'. However, Aristotle did not discuss such arguments, nor did he call any arguments 'hypothetical syllogisms'.…
Demonstration and the Indemonstrability of the Stoic Indemonstrables
Since Mates’ seminal Stoic Logic there has been uncertainty and debate about how to treat the term anapodeiktos when used of Stoic syllogisms. This paper argues that the customary translation of anapodeiktos by ‘indemonstrable’ is accurate, and it explains why this is so. At the heart of the explanation is an argument that, contrary to what is commonly assumed, indemonstrability is rooted in the generic account of the Stoic epistemic notion of de…
A Greek Parallel to Boethius' De Hypotheticis Syllogismis
In this paper I present the text, a translation, and a commentary of a long anonymous scholium to Aristotle's Analytics which is a Greek parallel to Boethius' De Hypotheticis Syllogismis, but has so far not been recognized as such. The scholium discusses hypothetical syllogisms of the types modus ponens and modus tollens and hypothetical syllogisms constructed from three conditionals ('wholly hypothetical syllogisms'). It is Peripatetic, and not …
Stoic Syllogistic
Stoic logic is a propositional logic, and Stoic negation and conjunction are truthfunctional. This has, naturally, led to comparisons with the ‘classical’ propositional calculus (as e.g. presented in Principia Mathematical including repeated examinations of Stoic syllogistic on completeness in the modern sense. The Stoic theory of deduction invariably comes out as deficient, inferior, or simply outlandish in such comparisons, which has evoked adj…
The Stoics on Hypotheses and Hypothetical Arguments
In the list of Chrysippus' logical writings in Diogenes Laertius, in its fourth section of works on (X6yot), we find ten books on (Uno0euxro' X6byos, D.L. VII 196). The question I shall follow up in this paper is: what were these Stoic about which Chrysippus had so much to say? Little has been written on this issue, the situation of the sources being not exactly favourable. No example of an argument assigned to Chrysippus or any other early Stoic…
Stoic Conceptions of Freedom and Their Relation to Ethics
In contemporary discussions of freedom in Stoic philosophy we often encounter the following assumptions: (i) the Stoics discussed the problem of free will and determinis; (ii) since in Stoic philosophy freedom of the will is in the end just an illusion, the Stoics took the freedom of the sage as a substitute for it and as the only true freedom; (iii) in the c. 500 years of live Stoic philosophical debate, the Stoics were largely concerned with th…
The Inadvertent Conception and Late Birth of the Free-Will Problem
In this paper I argue that the "discovery" of the problem of causal determinism and freedom of decision in Greek philosophy is the result of a mix-up of Aristotelian and Stoic thought in later antiquity; more precisely, a (mis-)interpretation of Aristotle's philosophy of deliberate choice and action in the light of Stoic theory of determinism and moral responsibility. The (con-)fusion originates with the beginnings of Aristotle scholarship, at th…
Determinism and freedom in stoic philosophy
Determinism and Freedom in Stoic Philosophy is the first comprehensive study of one of the most important intellectual legacies of the ancient Greek world: the Stoic theory of causal determinism. The book identifies the main problems that the Stoics addressed and reconstructs the theory, and explores how they squared their determinism with their conceptions of possibility, action, freedom, and moral responsibility, and how they defended it agains…
Chrysippus’ Theory of Causes
We know very little about Chrysippus’ theory of causation. Our textual evidence which names Chrysippus directly and can be straightforwardly considered as belonging to a theory of causes is this: a passage in Stobaeus (Eel. 1.138.23-139.4) that presents Chrysippus’ basic account of causation; a distinction of causes in Cicero’s On Fate (Fat. 41-5); and an indirect reference to a distinction of causes in Plutarch’s On Stoic Self-Contradictions (St…
Logic
Late antiquity learned two logics: categorical syllogistic and hypothetical syllogistic. Categorical syllogistic studies categorical arguments. An argument is categorical if all its components (its premisses and its conclusion) are categorical propositions. A proposition is categorical if it 'says one thing of one thing' – or better, if it is simple in the sense of not containing two or more propositions as components. Hypothetical syllogistic st…
Chrysippus’ Theory of Causes
We know very little about Chrysippus’ theory of causation. Our textual evidence which names Chrysippus directly and can be straightforwardly considered as belonging to a theory of causes is this: a passage in Stobaeus (Eel. 1.138.23–139.4) that presents Chrysippus’ basic account of causation; a distinction of causes in Cicero’s On Fate (Fat. 41–5); and an indirect reference to a distinction of causes in Plutarch’s On Stoic Self-Contradictions (St…
Did epicurus discover the free will problem?
In 1967 Epicurus was credited with the discovery of the problem of free will and determinism.1 Among the contestants were Aristotle and the early Stoics. Epicurus emerged victorious, because—so the argument went—Aristotle did not yet have the problem, and the Stoics inherited it from Epicurus. In the same year David Furley published his essay Aristotle and Epicurus on Voluntary Action’, in which he argued that Epicurus’ problem was not the free w…
Wholly Hypothetical Syllogisms
In antiquity we encounter a distinction of two types of hypothetical syllogisms. One type are the 'mixed hypothetical syllogisms'. The other type is the one to which the present paper is devoted. These arguments went by the name of 'wholly hypothetical syllogisms'. They were thought to make up a self-contained system of valid arguments. Their paradigm case consists of two conditionals as premisses, and a third as conclusion. Their presentation, e…
Why the order of the figures of the hypothetical syllogisms was changed
In chapter 6 of Alcinous’ Handbook of Platonism we find a discussion of categorical, hypothetical, and mixed syllogisms. Alcinous distinguishes three figures of the hypothetical syllogism, and illustrates each figure with a syllogism based on an argument from Plato. Here he remarks in passing that most people called the second hypothetical figure the third and that some called the third figure the second. We may assume that those who called the t…
Determinism and Freedom in Stoic Philosophy
The author presents a study of one of the most important intellectual legacies of the ancient Greek world. She identifies the problems that the Stoic tradition addressed and reconstructs the theory whilst exploring their defence of determinism.
XII-Chrysippus and the Epistemic Theory of Vagueness
Recently a bold and admirable interpretation of Chrysippus's position on the Sorites has been presented, suggesting that Chrysippus offered a solution to the Sorites by (i) taking an epistemicist position1 which (ii) made allowances for higher-order vagueness.2 In this paper I argue (i) that Chrysippus did not take an epistemicist position, but—if any —a non-epistemic one which denies truth-values to some cases in a Sorites-series, and (ii) that …
The Development of Modus Ponens in Antiquity: From Aristotle to the 2nd Century AD
Aristotelian logic', as it was taught from late antiquity until the 20th century, commonly included a short presentation of the argument forms modus (ponendo) ponens, modus (tollendo) tollens, modus ponendo tollens, and modus tollendo ponens. In late antiquity, arguments of these forms were generally classified as 'hypothetical syllogisms'. However, Aristotle did not discuss such arguments, nor did he call any arguments 'hypothetical syllogisms'.…
Pre-Stoic Hypothetical Syllogistic in Galen's Institutio Logica
PRE-STOIC HYPOTHETICAL SYLLOGISTIC IN GALEN's INSTITUTIO LOGICA Get access SUSANNE BOBZIEN SUSANNE BOBZIEN Department of Philosophy, Yale University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Volume 45, Issue Supplement_77, January 2002, Pages 57–72, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-5370.2002.tb02279.x Published: 22 February 2011
A Greek Parallel to Boethius' De Hypotheticis Syllogismis
In this paper I present the text, a translation, and a commentary of a long anonymous scholium to Aristotle's Analytics which is a Greek parallel to Boethius' De Hypotheticis Syllogismis, but has so far not been recognized as such. The scholium discusses hypothetical syllogisms of the types modus ponens and modus tollens and hypothetical syllogisms constructed from three conditionals ('wholly hypothetical syllogisms'). It is Peripatetic, and not …
Logic
Stoic logic is in its core a propositional logic. Stoic inference concerns the relations between items that have the structure of propositions. These items are the assertibles (axiômata). They are the primary bearers of truth-values. Accordingly, Stoic logic falls into two main parts: the theory of arguments and the theory of assertibles, which are the components from which the arguments are built.
The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics
This unique volume offers an odyssey through the ideas of the Stoics in three particular ways: first, through the historical trajectory of the school itself and its influence; second, through the recovery of the history of Stoic thought; third, through the ongoing confrontation with Stoicism, showing how it refines philosophical traditions, challenges the imagination, and ultimately defines the kind of life one chooses to lead. A distinguished ro…
Early Stoic Determinism
Bien que, du second siecle avant Jesus-Christ au troisieme apres, les problemes du determinisme aient ete quasi exclusivement traites dans le cadre de la question du Destin, le determinisme avance par Zenon et developpe par Chrysippe fut largement elabore dans des traites physiques, independamment de toute « doctrine du Destin ». Le determinisme stoicien etait fonde sur la cosmologie stoicienne et, pour le comprendre, il est indispensable de teni…
Language and Learning: Philosophy of Language in the Hellenistic Age
The philosophers and scholars of the Hellenistic world laid the foundations upon which the Western tradition based analytical grammar, linguistics, philosophy of language, and other disciplines probing the nature and origin of human communication. Building on the pioneering work of Plato and Aristotle, these thinkers developed a wide range of theories about the nature and origin of language which reflected broader philosophical commitments. In th…
Moral responsibility and moral development in Epicurus' philosophy
For the purpose of this paper, I assume that if a person is morally responsible for an action, this is a necessary and sufficient condition for moral appraisal of that person for that action. For instance, if the action is morally wrong, moral blame is in order. Other morally relevant responses that are sometimes connected with moral responsibility are praise, pardon, shame, pride, reward, punishment, remorse.
The Virtuous Life in Greek Ethics
There is now a renewed concern for moral psychology among moral philosophers. Moreover, contemporary philosophers interested in virtue, moral responsibility and moral progress regularly refer to Plato and Aristotle, the two founding fathers of ancient ethics. The book contains eleven chapters by distinguished scholars which showcase current research in Greek ethics. Four deal with Plato, focusing on the Protagoras, Euthydemus, Symposium and Repub…
Episteme, etc: Essays in honour of Jonathan Barnes
"The sixteen essays written in honour of Jonathan Barnes for this volume reflect the impressive scope of his contributions to philosophy. Six are on knowledge, five on logic and metaphysics, five on ethics. The volume ranges widely over ancient philosophy, while also finding room for for two contemporary papers on truth and vagueness. Aristotle is prominent in eight of the essays; Plato, Sextus Empiricus, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and ancient G…
In defense of true higher-order vagueness
How to Give Someone Horns: Paradoxes of Presupposition in Antiquity
This paper discusses ancient versions of paradoxes today classified as paradoxes of presupposition and how their ancient solutions compare with contemporary ones. Sections 1-4 air ancient evidence for the Fallacy of Complex Question and suggested solutions, introduce the Horn Paradox, consider its authorship and contemporary solutions. Section 5 reconstructs the Stoic solution, suggesting the Stoics produced a Russellian-type solution based on a …
Classical Philosophy and Thought (30 works) · Philosophy (30 works) · Epistemology (29 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (16 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Linguistics (8 works) · Syllogism (8 works) · Art (7 works) · Mathematics (7 works)