Dialectic after Plato and Aristotle / edited by Thomas Bénatouïl, Université de Lille, Katerina Ierodiakonou, Université de Genève, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bénatouïl, Thomas, editor.

Ierodiakonou, Katerina, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dialectic.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 391 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Ancient dialectic started as an art of refutation and evolved into a science akin to our logic, grammar and linguistics. Scholars of ancient philosophy have traditionally focused on Plato's and Aristotle's dialectic without paying much attention to the diverse conceptions and uses of dialectic presented by philosophers after the classical period. To bridge this gap, this volume aims at a comprehensive understanding of the competing Hellenistic and Imperial definitions of dialectic and their connections with those of the classical period. It starts from the Megaric school of the fourth century BCE and the early Peripatetics, via Epicurus, the Stoics, the Academic sceptics and Cicero, to Sextus Empiricus and Galen in the second century CE. The philosophical foundations and various uses of dialectic are closely analysed and systematically examined together with the numerous objections that were raised against them.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title page

Copyright information

Contents

Contributors

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: Dialectics in Dialogue

1 Dialectic from Greece to Germany

2 The Dark Ages of Dialectic?

3 Ancient Dialectic as Practised and as Defined

4 Dialectic in Debate

5 Platonic and Aristotelian Dialectics after Plato and Aristotle

6 The Epistemology of Dialectic

7 The Metaphysics of Dialectic

Chapter 1 Megara and Dialectic

1 Introduction

2 'Megarics' as Precursors

3 The Problem of the Megaric 'School'

4 The Characters

5 One or Several Schools?

6 Naming the Schools

7 The 'Megarics' and Dialectic

8 The 'Dialectical School' and Dialectic

9 Philodemus on Hermarchus on Alexinus on Eubulides

10 'Dialecticians'

Chapter 2 Dialectic in the Early Peripatos

1 Theophrastus

1.1 Works of Theophrastus Linked with Dialectic

1.2 Theophrastus' Modification of the Grouping of the Predicables

1.3 Theophrastus on the Problems Pertaining to Sameness

1.4 Theophrastus on Division and Classification

1.5 Theophrastus' Definition of Place

1.6 Alexander's Examples

1.7 Dialectical Syllogisms and Propositional Logic in Theophrastus

1.8 Theophrastus on Precepts

1.9 Theophrastus' Contribution to Dialectic

2 Eudemus

2.1 Eudemus on Dialectic's Destructive Purpose

2.2 Eudemus on Dialectical Propositions

3 Strato

3.1 Strato: The Evidence Provided by the Titles of His Works

3.2 Strato: An Additional Place

Chapter 3 Epicurus on Dialectic

1 The Rejection of Dialectic

2 Fallacy

3 The Bat Riddle

4 Determinism

5 Definition

Chapter 4 Dialectic as a Subpart of Stoic Philosophy

1 Stoic vs. Platonic and Aristotelian Dialectic

2 Stoic Dialectic as a Subpart of Philosophy

2.1 Logic as Part or as Instrument of Philosophy.

2.2 Mathematics and Philosophy

3 Stoic Dialectic and Stoic Rhetoric

Chapter 5 Stoic Dialectic and Its Objects

2 'Sayables' within Stoic Dialectic as a Science

3 Stoic Semantics without Lekta?

4 The lekta in the Stoic Causal Theory

5 How to Make 'Things' Happen without Words and How to 'Do' 'Things' with Words

6 How Sayables Shape Stoic Dialectic

Chapter 6 Dialectic in the Hellenistic Academy

1 Arcesilaus and Carneades on Dialectic

2 Arcesilaus' and Carneades' (Dialectical?) Methods

3 How Dialectical Were Arcesilaus' and Carneades' Arguments?

3.1 The Core Academic Argument

3.2 Other Arguments in the Hellenistic Academy: Selective Overview

3.2.1 Sorites Arguments

3.2.2 Arguments Relying on Rival Philosophical Tenets

3.2.3 Arguments from Disagreement

3.2.4 Appeals to Presocratic Authorities

3.2.5 Reductio ad Absurdum Arguments

3.2.6 Dialectical Retortion Strategies

4 Conclusion: Arcesilaus, Carneades and the Boundaries of the Dialectical

Chapter 7 Pithana and probabilia

2 The Evidence From Sextus

2.1 Emphasis before Carneades

2.2 Back to Sextus, M 7

3 Stoic pithana

4 The Evidence from Cicero

5 Conclusion

Chapter 8 Terminology and Practice of Dialectic in Cicero's Letters

1 Questions of Terminology

2 Vocabulary and Technique of Dialectic in Cicero's Correspondence

3 The Influence of disputatio in utramque partem on Cicero's Letters

Chapter 9 The Sceptic's Modes of Argumentation

1 The Ten Modes

2 The Five Modes

2.1 Dispute

2.2 Relativity

2.3 Infinite Regress, Reciprocality, Hypothesis

2.3.1 Infinity

2.3.2 Reciprocality

2.3.3 Hypothesis

3 Two Objections to Barnes' Interpretation of the Modes of Infinite Regress, Reciprocality and Hypothesis.

4 The Positive Proposal: What the Sceptic Does When he Employs the Modes of Infinite Regress, Reciprocality and Hypothesis

5 Objections

6 Similarities with the Aristotelian topoi

Chapter 10 Galen and Middle Platonists on Dialectic and Knowledge

1 The Meanings of 'Dialectic'

2 Cosmology and its Arguments: Atticus and Galen on the Generation of the World

3 Common Notions and Definition

Bibliography

Index of Names

Index of Passages.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 29 Oct 2018).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-67625-1

1-108-68181-6

1-108-59678-9

OCLC:

1061312203