
Selfhood and Rationality in Ancient Greek Philosophy
From Heraclitus to Plotinus
A. a. Long(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 27. October 2022
Book
Hardback
282 pages
978-0-19-880339-3 (ISBN)
Description
A. A. Long presents fourteen essays on the themes of selfhood and rationality in ancient Greek philosophy. The discussion ranges over seven centuries of innovative thought, starting with Heraclitus' injunction to listen to the cosmic logos, and concluding with Plotinus' criticism of those who make embodiment essential to human identity. For the Greek philosophers the notion of a rational self was bound up with questions about divinity and happiness called eudaimonia, meaning a god-favoured life or a life of likeness to the divine. While these questions are remote from current thought, Long also situates the book's themes in modern discussions of the self and the self's normative relation to other people and the world at large. Ideas and behaviour attributed to Socrates and developed by Plato are at the book's centre. They are preceded by essays that explore general facets of the soul's rationality. Later chapters bring in salient contributions made by Aristotle and Stoic philosophers. All but one of these pieces has been previously published in periodicals or conference volumes, but the author has revised and updated everything. The book is written in a style that makes it accessible to many kinds of reader, not only professors and graduate students but also anyone interested in the history of our identity as rational animals.
Reviews / Votes
In Selfhood and Rationality in Ancient Greek Philosophy, a sequel to Greek Models of Mind and Self, the reader is given the privilege to peer into the laboratory of A. A. Long's scholarly life, in which he spent many years traveling the highways and byways of ancient Greek thought. This book gives the reader the opportunity to become acquainted with the author's hitherto unfinished project, the fruit of his personal, extended, and productive scholarly adventure in the vast Greek world. * Despina Vertzagia, Journal Of Philosophy * This is a most stimulating and enlightening volume, from the hand of an authority who has been giving much thought to these topics for some considerable time nowaas for instance, in Greek Models of Mind and Self (2015), but also in a host of articles over the last few decades. And in fact the present volume consists of a selection of these articles and talks, produced at intervals over the last thirty years, lightly re-worked to constitute a coherent book...Anthony Long has produced, in this very well constructed sequence of papers, a most instructive and comprehensive study of the concept of the rational self, and of rationality in general, in the Greek philosophical tradition. * John Dillon, Trinity College Dublin * This is a worthy collection of essays and contains an excellent bibliography. * Choice * Long is best known for his contributions to Hellenistic and Stoic thought. This volume is powerful proof that he has as much to teach us about earlier Greek thought and the practice of philosophy, more generally speaking. * Christopher Martin, Religious Studies Review * This volume is a rich study on selfhood and rationality and an excellent starting point to approach them. * Gabriele Flamigni, GNOMON *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-880339-3 (9780198803393)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2022
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€59.99
Available for download
Person
A. A. Long served as Professor of Classics at the University of California Berkeley from 1983-2013, where he continues to teach from time to time as an emeritus professor and affiliated professor of philosophy and rhetoric. Long's research is principally on ancient Greek, especially Hellenistic, philosophy. He is a fellow of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Author
Emeritus Professor of ClassicsEmeritus Professor of Classics, University of California Berkeley
Content
- Introduction
- 1: Finding Oneself in Greek Philosophy
- 2: Ancient Philosophy's Hardest Question: What to make of Oneself?
- 3: Eudaimonism, Divinity, and Rationality in Greek Ethics
- 4: Heraclitus on Measure and the Explicit Emergence of Rationality
- 5: Parmenides on Thinking Being
- 6: Socratic Idiosyncrasy and Cynic Exhibitionism
- 7: Socrates' Divine Sign
- 8: Politics and Divinity in Plato's Republic: The Form of the Good
- 9: Platonic Souls as Persons
- 10: Cosmic Craftsmanship in Plato and Stoicism
- 11: Aristotle on Eudaimonia, Nous, and Divinity
- 12: Second Selves and Stoic Friends
- 13: Marcus Aurelius on the Self
- 14: Plotinus On Self and Happiness
- Epilogue