Plato’s Phaedo has never failed to attract the attention of philosophers and scholars. Yet the history of its reception in Antiquity has been little studied. The present volume therefore proposes to examine not only the Platonic exegetical tradition surrounding this dialogue, which culminates in the commentaries of Damascius and Olympiodorus, but also its place in the reflections of the rival Peripatetic, Stoic, and Sceptical schools. This volume thus aims to shed light on the surviving commentaries and their sources, as well as on less familiar aspects of the history of the Phaedo’s ancient reception. By doing so, it may help to clarify what ancient interpreters of Plato can and cannot offer their contemporary counterparts.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

�I wish that you would tell me about his death. What did he say in his last hours? We were informed that he died by taking poison, but no one knew anything more; for no Phliasian ever goes to Athens now, and a long time has elapsed since any Athenian found his way to Phlius, and therefore we had no clear account. Phaed. Did you not hear of the proceedings at the trial? Ech. Yes; someone told us about the trial, and we could not understand why, having been condemned, he was put to death, as appeared, not at the time, but long afterwards. What was the reason of this? Phaed. An accident, Echecrates. The reason was that the stern of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos happened to have been crowned on the day before he was tried. Ech. What is this ship?�

Der Tagungsband enthält eine Auswahl von 41 Vorträgen, welche von den Wissenschaftlern der IPS am 11. Symposium Platonicum in Brasilien unter der Schirmherrschaft der University of Brasília gehalten wurden. Der Band behandelt alle wichtigen Fragen im Zusammenhang mit der Interpretation von Platons Phaidon und der Rezeption dieses zentralen Dialogs in der gesamten Antike.

Along with the Republic and the Symposium, Plato's Phaedo is one of the three important works of ancient Greek philosophy. The discussion is given from the viewpoint of Phaedo of Elis, a pupil of Socrates who was there when he died. The debate from that day is related by Phaedo to the Pythagorean philosopher Echecrates. The Cyclical Argument, also known as the Opposites Argument, argues that since Forms are timeless and unchangeable and since the soul continuously sustains life, it must not expire and is thus ineluctably "imperishable." The soul must be the indestructible opposite of the body since the latter is mortal and prone to physical death. Plato then offers the comparison of cold and fire. According to the Theory of Recollection, humans are born with some non-empirical information, which implies that the soul existed before birth to store that knowledge. Another explanation of the notion may be found in Plato's Meno, albeit Socrates makes less strong claims in Meno than he does in Phaedo. The Affinity Argument demonstrates how things that are unseen, eternal, and incorporeal differ from those that are visible, mortal, and corporeal. Since the soul is a component of the Form of Life by nature, it is immortal and cannot pass away.

Soon after its publication, Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy was hailed as the favorite to become the 'standard' text for survey courses in ancient philosophy. Nothing on the market touches it for comprehensiveness, accuracy, and readability.* (*APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy). Fifteen years on, that prediction has been borne out, and the volume's preeminence as the leading anthology for the teaching of ancient philosophy still stands. The Fourth Edition features a completely revamped and expanded unit on the Presocratics and Sophists that draws on the wealth of new scholarship published on these fascinating thinkers over the past decade or more. At the core of this unit, as ever, are the fragments themselves--but now in thoroughly revised and, in some cases, new translations by Richard McKirahan and Patricia Curd, among them those of the recently published Derveni Papyrus.