The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts

Citation

Kirk, G. S., Raven, J. E., & Schofield, M. (1983). The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chapter Summary

The second edition (1983) revises a book first published in 1957 by Kirk and Raven; Malcolm Schofield joined as author for this edition. The paperback is about 518 pages. Cambridge describes it as a long and extensively rewritten introduction on the predecessors of the Presocratics, followed by a critical study of the principal thinkers, based on a selection of some six hundred texts in Greek with a close English translation that this edition gives more prominence. Each chapter is devoted to one thinker or group, so the table of contents doubles as the book's structure.

Prefaces and Introductory Note: The Sources for Presocratic Philosophy

The front matter contains the prefaces to the first and second editions and a six-page note on the sources for Presocratic philosophy (pp. 1–6), which sets out what kind of evidence survives before the thinkers are taken in turn.

The Forerunners of Philosophical Cosmogony (pp. 7–74)

The long opening chapter provides the background to the first philosophers. The publisher says the book begins with a long and extensively rewritten introduction surveying the predecessors of the Presocratics, and at about 68 pages this chapter is longer than most of those on individual thinkers.

The Ionian Thinkers (pp. 75–212)

The first of three parts takes Thales of Miletus, whose work Cambridge presents as the beginning of the intellectual revolution the book traces, and continues with Anaximander of Miletus (the longest of these chapters, pp. 100–142), Anaximenes of Miletus, Xenophanes of Colophon and Heraclitus of Ephesus.

Philosophy in the West (pp. 213–350)

The second part covers Pythagoras of Samos, Parmenides of Elea, Zeno of Elea, Empedocles of Acragas, and Philolaus of Croton together with fifth-century Pythagoreanism. The publisher singles out the metaphysics of Parmenides as a culmination of the story told in the book.

The Ionian Response (pp. 351–452)

The final part comprises Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, Archelaus of Athens, Melissus of Samos, the Atomists Leucippus of Miletus and Democritus of Abdera, and Diogenes of Apollonia. The publisher identifies the complex physical theories of Anaxagoras and the Atomists as the other culmination in the fifth century. A selective bibliography (pp. 453–460) closes the main text.

Key Concepts

Introductory chapters

• Sources for Presocratic philosophy: the surviving evidence, the subject of the introductory note.
• Philosophical cosmogony: accounts of the origin and ordering of the world, with the forerunners surveyed before the first philosophers.

The three parts

• Ionian thinkers: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Xenophanes and Heraclitus, grouped as the first part.
• Philosophy in the West: Pythagoras, Parmenides, Zeno, Empedocles and Philolaus with fifth-century Pythagoreanism.
• The Ionian response: Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Melissus, the Atomists and Diogenes of Apollonia.
• Texts and critical history: each thinker is presented through selected texts in Greek and English, with commentary on the evidence and competing interpretations.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Texts and commentary together. Greek texts, a close English translation and critical commentary appear in one volume, so a reader can check the interpretation against the evidence. In this edition the translation is given more prominence, which makes the book usable without Greek.
• A sequence that carries an argument. The three parts follow the story from the Ionian thinkers through the Western tradition to the Ionian response, ending with the metaphysics of Parmenides and the physical theories of Anaxagoras and the Atomists, so the order of chapters is an interpretation as well as a table of contents.
• Background before the first philosopher. A long introduction on the forerunners of philosophical cosmogony places Thales against earlier thought instead of beginning with him as though from nothing.
• A model for sourcebooks. Long and Sedley's preface to The Hellenistic Philosophers says their scope and purpose closely resemble this book's second edition, which marks it as a model for sourcebooks of this kind.

Limitations

• Selective by design. About six hundred texts are selected; a reader who needs all the fragments and testimonia must turn to the standard collection by Diels and Kranz (Greek with German), or the 2016 collection by Laks and Most (original texts with English translation), both described in the Stanford Encyclopedia.
• Predates later finds. The Stanford Encyclopedia notes new Presocratic material that has come to light since, such as the Strasbourg papyrus of Empedocles (published 1999) and the edition of the Derveni papyrus (2006); a 1983 book cannot include them.
• Heavy and long. At over 500 pages and with chapters of more than 40 pages on Anaximander and Empedocles, it is not a quick introduction, and its title announces a critical history rather than a gentle overview.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the reference text for early Greek thought and belongs after an introduction. Catherine Osborne's short introduction is a rigorous undergraduate-level presentation of the Presocratics as pioneering thinkers and is the natural first step; Peter Adamson's volume tells the story of Greek philosophy from its earliest thinkers to Plato and Aristotle in short, conversational chapters and gives a narrative to read alongside.

Kirk, Raven and Schofield pairs most closely with Long and Sedley's The Hellenistic Philosophers, a sourcebook of the same kind for the period after Aristotle whose authors describe KRS as the book their own most resembles. The Plato Complete Works and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics are the primary texts that follow chronologically; the Presocratic chapters supply the background to their arguments.

How to Use This Book

The book is for students who have had an introduction to ancient philosophy and want to see the evidence behind the standard narrative. Greek is helpful for the texts but not required, since each is translated.

A practical plan: read the introductory note and the chapter on the forerunners lightly for background, then read Thales through Heraclitus in order. Parmenides, Anaxagoras and the Atomists, whom the publisher names as the culminations of the story, are the natural next targets. Do not read the book cover to cover as a continuous narrative; choose the thinkers a course assigns and read each as a unit of texts plus commentary.

For each thinker, make a two-column list: what the texts say and what the commentary infers. Questions on where the commentary goes beyond the evidence are good seminar questions. Pair the reading with the introduction by Osborne to keep the general picture in view, and consult the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries when a text cited in the commentary is unfamiliar.