This page presents a linked list of introductory material in academic writing, peer-reviewed encyclopedia articles and starting-points for bibliography in the discipline of ancient Mediterranean philosophy.
These resources might be helpful for essays in your course. But see also the online readings for your particular course (in Canvas, under Modules) for specific material relevant to the class.
- General resources on academic writing
- UBC Writing Centre tutorials and links, including contact information for free student tutorials at UBC.
- How to write a philosophy essay? With annotated example.
- What Makes a Good Essay? From Language and Learning Online. Good starting resource. (See left sidebar for more).
- How to form a research question, and how to form a thesis statement.
- Academic writing in English, from Using English for Academic Purposes.
- Academic skills in philosophy, from the UBC Department of Philosophy.
- Common citation styles (bibliography) and how to use them
- Beginning your research
- UBC Library Summon Search
- Google Scholar and Google Books
- L'Année Philologique (for bibliographical searches on ancient Greek and Roman topics)
- Philosopher's Index (for bibliographical searches on philosophical topics)
- Exam Study Suggestions
- Peter Adamson, History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps [Free, online podcast introducing and surveying each figure and school of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy].
- Methodological surveys of the discipline of Greek philosophy
- Michael Frede, "Introduction: The Study of Ancient Philosophy," in Essays in Ancient Philosophy (University of Minnesota Press, 1987). [Overview of the discipline and methods of ancient philosophy. Online access via UBC Library].
- Julia Annas, "Ancient Philosophy for the Twenty-First Century," in B. Leiter (ed.), The Future for Philosophy (OUP, 2004). [Survey and discussion of the practice of ancient philosophy in the twentieth century with a focus on the Anglo-American, analytical tradition, looking forward to the next century. Online PDF via OUP].
- David Sedley, The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy (CUP, 2003).
- A (very select!) list of Greek philosophical terms.
- R. McKirahan, Philosophy Before Socrates (Hackett, 2010), 2nd ed. Full text online (UBC login required).
- D. W. Graham and P. Curd (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Presocratic Philosophy (Oxford, 2008). Full text online (UBC login required).
- P. Curd, "Presocratic Philosophy", in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2011). Full text online.
- A.A. Long, The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy (CUP, 1999).
- Thales (IEP)
- Anaximander (IEP)
- Pythagoras (SEP)
- Parmenides (SEP)
- Heraclitus (SEP)
- Empedocles (SEP)
Socrates
- D. Morrison, The Cambridge Companion to Socrates (2011).
- R. Blondell, The Play of Character in Plato's Dialogues (CUP, 2002). [Online via UBC Library]
- D. Nails, "Socrates" (SEP).
- Gareth Matthews, "The Epistemology and Metaphysics of Socrates", in G. Fine (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (OUP, 2008). [Online via UBC Library]
- Daniel Devereux, "Socratic Ethics and Moral Psychology", in G. Fine (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (OUP, 2008). [Online via UBC Library]
Plato
- Peer-reviewed encyclopedia articles on Plato
- G. Fine (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford, 2008), online with full text via the UBC Library.
- Peter Adamson's introduction to Plato's life and work (podcast at The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps)
- R. Kraut, The Cambridge Companion to Plato (CUP, 1993).
A selection of peer-reviewed encylopedia articles on individual topics in Plato, with references
- Ethics
- Plato's Shorter Ethical Works (i.e., focusing on the 'early' or 'Socratic' dialogues)
- Plato's Ethics: An Overview
- Plato on Friendship and Erōs
- Ethics and Politics in the Republic
- See Julia Annas, Platonic Ethics: Old and New (Cornell UP, 1999), ch. 4 and course lecture notes for the view that the Republic is not strictly speaking a political treatise.
- Metaphysics, Science and Epistemology
- Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology
- Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus
- Method and Metaphysics in Plato's Sophist and Statesman
- Plato's Parmenides
- Plato's Timaeus (physics, metaphysics)
- Plato's Cratylus(correctness of names)
- Political Thought
- Ancient Political Philosophy
- Ethics and Politics in the Republic
- Plato on Utopia (the Laws)
- G.R.F. Ferrari, The Cambridge Companion to Plato's Republic (CUP, 2007).
- Plato's Aesthetics
- Plato's way of writing, literary aspects of his thought, and relationship to contemporary artists
- Some related figures and legacy
- Socrates (teacher)
- Aristotle (pupil at the Academy and founder of the Lyceum)
- Parmenides, Heraclitus and Pythagoras (intellectual ancestors)
- Legacy in Platonism
- Immediate successors (Speusippus, Xenocrates): see J. Dillon, The Heirs of Plato (OUP; full text online via UBC Library)
- Later (Middle) Platonists in the early Roman Empire: see J. Dillon, The Middle Platonists (1977 or 1999) and Peter Adamson on Middle Platonism with bibliography
- Neoplatonism: see Peter Adamson's introductory entries on Plotinus with bibliography (episode 87 and following)
Plato's Dialogues: Alternative Translations
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- A list of translations maintained by Bernard Suzanne
Aristotle
- Aristotle (SEP)
- C. Shields, The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (OUP, 2012).
- Themes in Aristotle
- Aristotle's Ethics (SEP)
- Aristotle's Political Theory (SEP)
- Aristotle's Psychology (SEP)
- Aristotle's Logic (SEP)
- Aristotle's Rhetoric (SEP)
- Aristotle's Categories (SEP)
- Aristotle's Metaphysics (SEP)
- Aristotle on Non-Contradiction (SEP)
- Aristotle on Causality (SEP)
- Aristotle and Mathematics (SEP)
- Aristotle's Natural Philosophy (Physics) (SEP)
- Aristotle's Biology (SEP)
- Commentators on Aristotle (SEP)
- Aristotelianism in the Renaissance (SEP)
- Aristotle's Theology (SEP)
- Monte Johnson, Aristotle on Teleology (OUP, 2005). [Online access via UBC Library].
General resources
- Algra, Barnes, Mansfeld and Schofield (eds.), The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy [Online access via UBC]
Stoicism
- Stoicism (SEP)
- Chrysippus (IEP)
- Brad Inwood (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics [Online access via UBC]
- Lives of the Stoics by Diogenes Laertius [Translation by Yonge 1895]
Epicureanism
- Epicurus (SEP)
- Lucretius (IEP)
- James Warren (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism (2009).
- Stuart Gillespie and Philip Hardie, The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius (2007).
- Life of Epicurus by Diogenes Laertius at epicurus.info
- Principal Doctrines (kuriai doxai) of Epicurus at epicurus.info
Skepticism
- Ancient Skepticism (SEP)
- Carneades (SEP)
- Pyrrho (SEP)
Middle and Neoplatonism
- Antiochus of Ascalon (SEP)
- Plotinus (SEP)
- Proclus (SEP)
- Bibliography on Proclus (Leuven)
- The Study of Neoplatonism Today (Gerson)
- J. Dillon, The Middle Platonists (1977/1996)
- Adam Kamesar, The Cambridge Companion to Philo (2009)
- L. P. Gerson, The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus (1996)
- L. P. Gerson, The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity (2010): Volume 1, Volume 2 [Online via UBC Library]
- Erik Gunderson, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rhetoric
- Marianne McDonald & J. Michael Walton, The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre (2007)
- Stephen Salkever, The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought (2009)
Ancient Medicine
- R. J. Hankinson, The Cambridge Companion to Galen (2008)
[NB: "SEP" = Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; "IEP" = Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy].