The Beginning of Philosophy

(Paperback)

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In The Beginning of Philosophy Gadamer explores the layers of interpretation and misinterpretation that have built up over 2500 years of Presocratic scholarship. Using Plato and Aristotle as his starting point his analysis moves effortlessly from Simplicius and Diogenes Laertius to the 19th-century German historicists right through to Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Gadamer shows us how some of the earliest philosophical concepts such as truth, equality, nature, spirit and being came to be and how our understanding of them today is deeply indebted to Presocratic thinkers. The book is based on a series of lectures delivered by Gadamer in 1967 which were then translated into English and edited by Gadamer for this collection. This is a major philosophical-historical work from one of the 20th centurys greatest thinkers.

Reviews

These ten lectures on the pre-Socratic beginnings of philosophy, by one of the world's greatest living philosophers, were originally delivered in Italian at the Naples Institute for the Study of Philosophy in 1988....Directed to a general university audience, they reflect Gadamer's lively and engaging style. He takes major topics in Plato and Aristotle--reason, opinion, nature, spirit, and being--and traces them back to their pre-Socratic antecedents, especially Parmenides' Way of Truth. A careful and accurate translation of a lively, engaging, and accessible series of lectures on pre-Socratic philosophy. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *

Author Bio

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) was a celebrated and influential continental philosopher. He spent the majority of his teaching career at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where he became emeritus professor in 1968. He is the author of The Beginning of Knowledge and Truth and Method.