Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy: Volume 2: Volume 2

M. F. Burnyeat

Jun 2012 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

M. F. Burnyeat taught for 14 years in the Philosophy Department of University College London, then for 18 years in the Classics Faculty at Cambridge, 12 of them as the Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, before migrating to Oxford in 1996 to become a Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at All Souls College. The studies, articles and reviews collected in these two volumes of Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy were all written, and all but two published, before that decisive change. Whether designed for a scholarly audience or for a wider public, they range from the Presocratics to Augustine, from Descartes and Bishop Berkeley to Wittgenstein and G. E. Moore. Their subject-matter falls under four main headings: 'Logic and Dialectic' and 'Scepticism Ancient and Modern', which make up the first volume, with 'Knowledge' and 'Philosophy and the Good Life' contained in this, the second volume. The title 'Explorations' well expresses Burnyeat's ability to discover new aspects of familiar texts, new ways of solving old problems. In his hands the history of philosophy becomes itself a philosophical activity.

About the author

M. F. Burnyeat is an Honorary Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge, and an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded a CBE for his services to scholarship in 2007.