Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought

R. J. Hankinson traces the history of ancient Greek thinking about causation and explanation, from its earliest beginnings around 600 BC through to the middle of the first millennium of the Christian era. The ancient Greeks were the first Western civilization to subject the ideas of cause and explanation to rigorous and detailed analysis, and to attempt to construct theories about them on the basis of logic and experience. Hankinson examines the ways in which they dealt with questions about how and why things happen as and when they do, about the basic constitution and structure of things, about function and purpose, laws of nature, chance, coincidence, and responsibility. Such diverse questions are unified by the fact that they are all demands for an account of the world that will render it amenable to prediction and control; they are therefore at the root of both philosophical and scientific enquiry. Hankinson draws on a wide range of original sources, in philosophy, natural sciences, medicine, history, and the law, in order to create a synoptic picture of the growth and development of these central concepts in the Graeco-Roman world.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: The Presocratics 2: Science and Sophistry 3: Plato 4: Aristotle: Explanation and Nature 5: Aristotle: Explanation and the World 6: The Atomists 7: The Stoics 8: The Sceptics 9: Explanation in the Medical Schools 10: The Age of Synthesis 11: Science and Explanation 12: The Neoplatonists Appendix; Bibliography; Index

About the Author :
R. J. Hankinson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin.

Review :
`Review from previous edition 'This book is nothing less than a history of ancient Greek philosophy from the beginnings up to the end of the Academy in CE 520 focussing on causes and explanations ... The scope of this book is truly impressive ... I am not aware of another contemporary work of scholarship in ancient philosophy that covers such a vast amount of material ... Hankinson writes vividly and with precision and he is analytically acute, dissecting sometimes with exquisite care the various possible interpretations of philosophical claims before opting in most cases for the obvious. Perhaps understandably, there is a great deal more precise analysis applied to the more familiar territory of 4th century philosophy than to the later period where the amount of material is dauntingly immense'' Lloyd Gerson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review `'This is a big book in every sense of the word - lengthy, thorough and important, and impressive in scope. In this book he evinces a lucid and magisterial touch with all periods of Greek thought, from the Presocratics to the Neoplatonists. What impresses one about Hankinson's book is not just its breadth, but also its depth. Because of the clarity of his writing and exposition, this wealth of detail does not detract from the overarching story Hankinson has to tell. At the same time, because of all the detail, new insights and interpretations abound, and one can find neat ways of expressing old insights on almost every page. And so the book becomes an invaluable source for any student of almost any thinker in the history of Greek philosophy and science. I have no doubt that it will stand as one of the landmarks of scholarly work on Greek thought in the last quarter of this century.'' Robin Waterfield - Heythrop Journal `'It is a masterpiece of synthesis which bears the fruit of many years of detailed work on causation and explanation. It covers the whole of ancient philosophy (from the Presocratics to Neoplatinism), science (i.e. medicine, the mathematical sciences) and astrology.'' Keimpe Algra, Phronesis