Peter S. Adamson

Peter Adamson adapts his podcasts A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps into a series of books, of which Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds is volume two. Like the podcasts the book is enjoyable while also making this history very accessible to any audience.

As a history rather than an in-depth philosophy book this work presents the ideas and the connections (as well as disconnections) to other ideas clearly. Philosophy is an ongoing discussion or debate. A philosophy book, show more the kind that many people think of as a sleep aid, takes as its starting point a reaction to another school of thought then proceeds to develop its own argument. A history of philosophy, however, is more concerned with what each school or thinker thought in relation to what came before and what follows. For this reason ideas are presented with enough explanation for them to be understandable as a response to another idea. Adamson excels at giving excellent overviews of ideas and connecting them forward and backward with great humor and insight.

This is ideal for those who want to read about philosophy without feeling overwhelmed. Especially valuable for these readers are the notes and suggestions for further reading. When you find a thinker or idea that intrigues you, the resources are presented for you to delve deeper. I know that this will be a great addition to those who have studied philosophy because we usually tend to focus as time goes on on narrow expanses of philosophical thought. This is a refreshing step back to help regain the perspective of the larger conversation, as well as suggest new connections we might have overlooked.

As a potential textbook I think it has great value for an intro course. Also it would accompany an honors sequence which might be multidisciplinary very well because it presents the ideas in relation to the cultures within which they flourished. Also a good book for a high school course.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

I suppose you wouldn't even know this book existed unless you were the kind of person who hangs out in the philosophy section of the bookstore (which I do). And "the history of philosophy" may sound impressive to the point of being off-putting, and the book is from Oxford University Press, which adds to the whole why-would-you-read-this-unless-it-was-assigned-in-class feeling. Well, it's a lot more readable—and enjoyable—than that sounds. It's based on a series of podcasts, so it's show more written in a casual style, almost conversational. Each chapter is fairly short and self-contained, probably because of its podcast ancestry. But Adamson does an excellent job of linking each chapter to earlier ones so that you get the sense that this really is a continual, gap-less history.

Okay, minor quibble here: I would have liked a pronunciation guide for the unfamiliar Greek names that pepper this book. I'm not that familiar with this period in philosophic history beyond the big names of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and a pronunciation guide—obviously not needed with the original podcasts!—and maybe a short list of the lesser-known philosophers would have been helpful. But overall, I'd highly recommend this as a readable introduction to early philosophy, at least for readers who'd be interested in philosophy in the first place. show less

Classical Philosophy is the first book in Peter Adamson’s series “A History of Philosophy without any Gaps”. The aim of this series is, unsurprisingly, to tell the history of philosophy without any gaps; that is, without passing over less well known traditions, authors or works. This alone makes it a valuable addition to the existing histories of philosophy, since even a professional philosopher like myself will find much that is unfamiliar or completely unknown. The continuous story show more made possible by Adamson’s approach makes it much easier to understand how humanity’s ideas have actually evolved – something that is hard to grasp when one jumps from Aristotle to Augustine with little discussion of what came in between.

In some ways, this first volume is the least representative of the series, since its focus is squarely on authors that do form part of the standard histories of philosophy. It is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the Presocratics from Thales to Empdocles, while also paying some attention to the medical writings of Hippocrates and the ideas of the sophists. The second part is about Socrates and especially Plato; while the third part tackles Aristotle. The book ends with a chapter on early women philosophers and a chapter on the immediate followers of Plato and Aristotle.

Although most of the attention goes to the Presocratics, Plato and Aristotle, the without-any-gaps approach is still in evidence. Adamson tackles Plato and Aristotle by discussing many of their individual works, and he picks up a generous amount of them. For instance, the discussion of Plato doesn’t stop with the usual suspects like the Republic and the Symposium, but extends to less famous dialogues like the Gorgias, the Sophist, the Cratylus and even the Charmides and Euthydemus. The part about Aristotle ranges widely over the logic, the biology, the physics, the metaphysics, the ethics and even works like On the soul and the Politics. Anyone but a specialist will discover much that is new.

Of course, none of this would be worth much if the quality of the work were poor. In fact, it is superb. Adamson manages to be at the same time accessible and authoritative, funny and engaged in serious philosophy. He is excellent at conveying the main ideas of the works he discusses, while also touching on contemporary issues of interpretation. It is no mean feat to write a text that is useful both to the general reader with an interest in philosophy and to the professional academic philosopher, but I have not hesitation in saying that Adamson pulls it off.

Nevertheless, the book does have a weakness. It is based very closely on a series of podcasts by the same title; and because of this background, it consists entirely of approximately 7-page chapters that mostly focus on a single work and are thus relatively self-contained. For a podcast, this is the perfect format; I love the podcast without any reservations and would award it 5 stars. But for a book, this format makes less sense, since it makes it harder to keep a general overview of a philosophical system and almost impossible to discuss issues that can only be understood by linking up ideas from multiple works. Thus, the book doesn’t take full advantage of what the book format has to offer. It is still very good; but it fully comes into its own only as a companion piece to the podcast, allowing one to reread the material one has previously heard and benefit from references in the footnotes. show less

Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Volume 2 by Peter Adamson is a detailed look at the philosophers of the Greek and Roman Era. Adamson holds a joint appointment with the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Previously Professor of Philosophy at King’s College, London. He has published on Aristotle, Plotinus, al-Farabi and other members of the Baghdad School, Avicenna, and Averroes. A special focus of research is the output of the show more translation circle of al-Kindi, on which he has written The Arabic Plotinus: a Philosophical Study of the "Theology of Aristotle" and Great Medieval Thinkers: al-Kindi. Adamson is also editor or co-editor of several books.

In graduate school, political philosophy was taught by a newly minted Ph.D. with a dissertation on Kierkegaard. I enjoyed the class immensely mostly in part because my project that semester centered around Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, which I read and reread several times as an undergraduate. Others were not so confident with Hegel, Kant, and Nietzsche. The thought of philosophy puts fear into many students. Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine can be intimidating, but Adamson does a remarkable job delivering the message of the Greek philosophers through the early Roman Christian philosophers.

Adamson does not give the reader a "philosophy for dummies" course but explains in uncomplicated detail more than just what the philosopher said, but his influences, worldview, and how it all ties together. He compares himself to a cover band for each philosopher and it makes sense. To be a KISS cover band, you need to do more than play "Hotter Than Hell," you need the makeup, costumes, and the fire breathing. It's the complete picture that makes everything work. Adamson, also, isn't afraid to use his sense of humor and plenty of puns (obvious and not so obvious). The reader will now he is in for a treat with chapters titles "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Like a Rolling Stone."

The Greek period covers, my favorite, the Cynics, the Stoics, the Skeptics, and the Epicureans. The Cynic Diogenes was the a man who told Alexander the Great, that he was blocking his sun and needs to move. He was also the man who traveled with only a stick, a pouch, and a cup for drinking. Once he saw a young boy cupping his hands to drink and decided not to be outdone by a child, he threw away his cup. However, there is one area where his minimalism didn't come into play -- education, "The foundation of every state is the education of its youth."

I found the Greek philosophers far more interesting than the Romans, but there are interesting aspects of the latter especially when Christianity is introduced into the mix. I found that one of my favorite paradoxes is mentioned -- that of an all-knowing God and free will. Perhaps one of the most important philosophers of the period was Augustine is discussed in detail. In the Pagan era, there is coverage of Plotinus and Porphyry.

Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds is a great introduction, or review, of the philosophers of the era. It is very well written and presented in a welcoming way and there is more than enough detail for those with some background in philosophy without being intimidating to those without previous knowledge on the subject. Adamson writes in a conversational tone that makes the reader feel they are being spoken to rather than spoke at. A very well written book in both subject matter and readability. I look forward to future volumes covering the Medieval and Enlightenment philosophers. show less