Diogenes Laertius and Philosophical Lives (original) (raw)
Conversion to Philosophy in Diogenes Laertius: Forms and Functions
ATHANASIOS DESPOTIS & HERMUT LÖHR (eds.), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, Ancient Philosophy & Religion, Volume 5, Brill, Leiden-Boston 2022, pp. 219-237, 2022
I present a typological classification of the various forms of conversion to philosophy as they appear in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of Eminent Philosophers, demonstrating that this was a recurrent and well-developed theme in the biographies, with little variation between schools. These conversions also functioned as a means of conferring social legitimacy on the philosophers. This analysis allows us to shed light on the how ancient Greeks perceived their philosophers, who differed from other ‘cultural agents’ such as poets, and from other characters traditionally established in the collective imagination such as heroes. This analysis also highlights the similarities and differences between the conversions of ancient Greek philosophers and the Christian saints.
Lorenzo Gagliardi & Laura Pepe (eds.), Dike. Essays on Greek Law in Honor of Alberto Maffi , 2019
Diogenes Laertius is one of the major sources for the laws of Solon, with no less than 14 (usually small) references: frs. 4a, 38g, 66/1e, 89/1b, 104b, 123c, 131–5, 144c, 145, and 149 LEÃO & RHODES. Similarly to the other principal sources, he also provides important information about several poems composed by Solon (frs. 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 and 20 WEST), whose preservation is in two cases owed to him alone (frs. 10 and 20). Notwithstanding, Diogenes tends to be rather underappreciated as a provider of historically accurate and valuable data. This paper intends to analyse more in detail each one of those pieces of information, in order to examine the degree of reliability of Diogenes in what pertains to the poetic and the legal work of the most famous sophos from antiquity.
Classica - Revista Brasileira de Estudos Clássicos
Bios Philosophos. Philosophy in Ancient Greek Biography (Brepols, 2016), organized by Mauro Bonazzi and Stefan Schorn, delivers a both deep and wide tour through the philosophical aspects of Greek biographical production. On one hand, it does not concentrate only in the later periods of Greek philosophy, when biographical production abounded, but goes all the way back to the fourth century BCE, when biographical texts were fragmentary and mingled with other styles. On the other, it tries to unveil the philosophical motives in the works of authors who tend to be disregarded as historians, biographers, hagiographers or even as mere fans of the most prominent figures of their own schools. In our review, we will attempt to give a brief account of the ten articles that make up this volume, which, in turn, will hopefully provide an overview of the different connections between the biographies and biographers and their philosophical motives. Thomas Bénatouïl's Pythagore chez Dicéarque: anectodes biographiques et critique de la philosophie contemplative (p. 11-36) proposes an inversion of the traditional interpretation regarding the testimony of Dicaearchus of Messana about the life of Pythagoras. Since antiquity, Dicaearchus' reports tend to be seen as positive, because they present a Pythagoras devoid of mysticism and apparently more interested in practical matters. Bénatouïl shows, instead, that there are several evidences pointing in the opposite direction: the way Pythagoras uses of charm and persuasion in his dealings with the citizens of Croton, obtaining their admiration by means of elaborate discourses meticulously prepared to reach each type of audience (elders, women, young people, and even children and barbarians), and the fact that Pythagoras introduced a theory of soul contrary to that of Dicaearchus'. These tenets would actually be very different from Dicaearchus own idea of a practical life, making Pythagoras a perfect counterexample. Bénatouïl explores the motivations that underlie Dicaearchus' testimony, who was a close follower of Aristotle and heir
The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy
Ancient Philosophy, 2001
The format of this book is not a new one for treating the early Greek philosophers. The first 'companions' we composed by Fifth Century B.C. sophists, and were consulted by Plato and Aristotle. For most of the last two a half millennia, some form of 'companion' volume was used by just about everyone who worked on ancien philosophy. These books have always been organized either according to individual philosophers, or by topi (The present volume contains both types of essay.) Several of these, treating similar subject matter as the present volume, have been published in the last thirty years (see bibliographic entries #139-161). This volum compares favorably, but does not totally supersede them. The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosop (CCEGP) is recommended especially to undergraduates interested in any aspect of philosophy, graduate stud specializing in ancient philosophy, and professional scholars interested in the history of philosophy. As a graduate student specializing in ancient philosophy, I find the book a tremendous resource, which manages consolidate a lot of information, summarize recent scholarship, and, in many cases, introduce novel ways of approaching the material. Professional ancient philosophers might find the volume more hit-and-miss than But even they will probably find it a useful 'conspectus of recent developments', a sort of Presocratics versio 9.0 or Presocratics 2000, for those who have not updated their files and operating system lately. The first two essays deal with overarching issues fundamental to the study of the early Greek philosopherstheir scope and sources. The following two essays deal with two tribes of early Greek philosophers, the Milesians and the Pythagoreans. The next five deal with individual philosophers, followed by four topical essays. Finally, there are two essays on the sophists, and a 'coda' on poetics. Rounding the volume out is a 55 entry annotated bibliography (focusing on recent, standard, or English works), an index of passages (source and philosophers), and a crucial name and subject index (many of the philosophers and topics are treated in multiple essays). The official program starts with the editor's effort to define "the scope of early Greek philosophy." This is difficult in the extreme, because we are dealing with several figures and movements that are discrete geographically, temporally, and in dialect, yet interpenetrate intellectually and topically. Already in the ancie world some of them were considered 'ancient' and obscure. They are far-flung: they spanned about 20 degre of longitude, and two and a half centuries; they practiced variously as doctors, lawyers, politicians, priests, professors, engineers, and entertainers; they wrote in poetry, prose, paradoxes, and technical handbooks. (S the CCEGP conveniently contains a map, chronology, and summary of what is known about their lives and writings.) The question of what unites them, besides the fact that they lived before, say, Aristotle (some of th
Greek Philosophy in the Twenty-first Century
This article addresses contemporary efforts to understand how the earliest practitioners of philosophy conceived of the philosophic life. It argues that, for Plato, the concept of bios was a central, animating, and structuring object of philosophic inquiry. Concentration on the imagery Plato employed to draw bios into the purview of philosophic contemplation and choice points to interpretative avenues that further the aim of treating the dialogues as complex, integrated wholes, and offers a new approach to the question of the status of image-making in them. The article concludes with thoughts on how an exploration of bios might extend beyond Plato to Aristotle, via an examination of his treatment of the range of human and animal bioi, suggesting that such an examination clarifies the relationship between his analysis of the polis-dwelling animal and his broader investigation of living beings as such.
Philosophy in Antiquity: The Greeks
LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2015
This work looks at the main themes, concepts and lead figures of the Hellenic philosophical tradition that not only influenced the Greek and then Latin world in antiquity, but also had a lasting influence on intellectual and theological development in the West right up until the Age of Enlightenment. To this end, the focus is on the Socratic tradition, through Plato and then Aristotle, and then the Stoic tradition whose strong imprint can be found on early Christianity, representing the core seed of Western theological evolution via Judaism, Christianity and then Islam.
Diogenes' Epigramss, trans. P. Mensch, ed. J. Miller, OUP 2018, pp. 561-67
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laertius, trans. P. Mensch, ed. J. Miller, 2018
Philosophers with short poems known as epigrams, the majority of them selfcomposed but a good number written by earlier poets. 1 These epigrams typically comment on some aspect of the death of a philosopher whose biography has just been related from an earlier source. 2 The poetic quality of Diogenes' epigrams has been judged harshly, although his playful wit has appealed to some. 3 His poetry has been valued, almost universally, only as a window into his "own interests and views." 4 Although Diogenes often adapted the very words of his prose source, his epigrams provided the opportunity to express, in poetic form, his own opinion on the philosopher's character. By turning poet, Diogenes acquired a personalized voice that would otherwise not suit his role as an objective collector of information about the lives and beliefs of those who perished centuries before. When we read the Lives through the lens of Diogenes' epigrams, we uncover the nature of judgments he typically renders, how he connects philosophers of similar character types through linguistic play, and how he draws upon and situates himself within the tradition of Greek epigram.