Kindle Price: $33.99

Save $11.00 (24%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

eTextbook features:
  • Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
  • Create digital flashcards instantly
Read with our free app
Rent
$17.53

Today through selected date:

Rental price is determined by end date.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
eTextbook features:
  • Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
  • Create digital flashcards instantly
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

G. S. Kirk
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition

by G. S. Kirk (Author), J. E. Raven (Author), M. Schofield (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 68 ratings
See all formats and editions
Beginning with a long and extensively rewritten introduction surveying the predecessors of the Presocratics, this book traces the intellectual revolution initiated by Thales in the sixth century BC to its culmination in the metaphysics of Parmenides and the complex physical theories of Anaxagoras and the Atomists in the fifth century it is based on a selection of some six hundred texts, in Greek and a close English translation which in this edition is given more prominence. These provide the basis for a detailed critical study of the principal individual thinkers of the time. Besides serving as an essential text for undergraduate and graduate courses in Greek philosophy and in the history of science, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers with interests in philosophy, theology, the history of ideas and of the ancient world, and indeed to anyone who wants an authoritative account of the Presocratics.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. ISBN-13
    978-0521274555
  2. Edition
    2nd
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  5. Publication date
    December 29, 1983
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    27123 KB
  8. See all details
Next page
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Beginning with a long and extensively rewritten introduction surveying the predecessors of the Presocratics, the book traces the intellectual revolution initiated by Thales in the early sixth century B.C. to its culmination in the metaphysics of Parmenides and the complex physical theories of Anaxagoras and the Atomists in the fifth century. It is based on a selection of some six hundred texts, in Greek and a close English translation which in this edition is given more prominence. These provide the basis for a detailed critical study of the principal individual thinkers of the time.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00D2WQ01Q
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (December 29, 1983)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 29, 1983
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 27123 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 849 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 68 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
G. S. Kirk

G. S. Kirk

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
68 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

TheLyingThief
5.0 out of 5 stars With an all important caveat
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
the greek text is presented in jpeg or some other image form. you cannot access the greek for lookup. i repeat, you cannot access the greek for lookup. this makes translation worse than tedious. sad, of course—while not reaching the breadth and unprejudiced treatment of the material by Diels, et. al., this book provides a dependable, mostly accurate resource to a scholar of the ancients prior to plato, without his smoke and mirrors, nee ontology, obscuring matters.

in sum, not at all useful for the intended audience, those looking to abbreviate the tiresome work of translating ancient texts.
Helpful
 Report
Stuart Weinberg, Seven Stars
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent seller
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023
Verified Purchase
Classic and Scholarly. Includes Greek text. bought for Brick and mortar Resale.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
R. Richard Schweitzer
4.0 out of 5 stars Before the "Swerve."
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
Back in 1978 I acquired in London the paperback edition of volume 1 of Cambridge's "History of Greek Philosophy."
I am not a scholar or student of Greek philosophy, but I am generally antagonistic to the Platontic conceptions of the appropriate social order, and since much of our appreciation of Socrates comes through the work of Plato, I wanted to go further back into the concepts that had been developed up to the time of Socrates. This volume 1 contains extensive citations to the work of G S Kirk, particularly to this particular work.

While I have not been interested in enough to read "The Swerve" by Stephen Goldblatt,, which takes up from "On Nature" by Lucretius (post Plato-which I have read) and introduces many readers to the earlier concept of the composition of matter consisting of atoms, or very small particles. There is more to that concept and its overall application which readers may gain from Goldblatt's work.

A field of current interest to me has been in the works of Lisa Randall: " Warped Passages," "Knocking on Heaven's Door," and "Higgs Discovery" all of which I have on Kindle. These works relate to the investigations of particle physics and energy as well as the dimensions in which those subjects are studied (such as the Large Hadron Collider).

As I began to appreciate the "scientific" concepts of particulate matter and the relations to energy, which no doubt arise from the same human thinking processes as occurred in those ancient times, I decided to examine this work of G S Kirk et al., because it sets out both the original Greek texts and the English translations which convey those perceptions from so far back in human experience and thought. For those interested in the processes and development of human thought, this can be a valuable source for comparison and the understanding of certain ideas that are still being explored almost 3000 years later. It provides some insight into the curiosity and concerns of mankind.

I have rated this at four stars because I am not qualified to give it a higher rating. However I cannot imagine that true scholars in the field would give it a less than five stars.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
efg
5.0 out of 5 stars The Second Edition - long overdue but it has arrived.
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
An update to an important resource for research the presocratics.
Helpful
 Report
Marta
5.0 out of 5 stars More space in between paragraph helps to read it more comfortable.
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
I got what a need it. The fragments and the commentaries. It is a valuable book for an ambitious non specialist reader. The printing maybe to dense. More space in between paragraph helps to read it more comfortable.
Helpful
 Report
Charles P., Egan
5.0 out of 5 stars Aristotle should have read this!
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2007
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book out of curiosity. I haven't been a student for longer than I'd like to admit, but this book welcomed me home like I'd never left academia. The writing is superb. The analyses and time lines are expertly done. And, there is more than enough appropriate authorial humor. Edith Hamilton would have recommended this work of art.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ali R. Pharaa
5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book to understanding the presocratics
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2014
Verified Purchase
The most standard book compiling the Greek fragments of Presocratics with very clear commentary.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Rick
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
Indispensable for an understanding of the presocratics.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Christos
5.0 out of 5 stars Bon choix
Reviewed in France on November 12, 2019
Verified Purchase
Ceci est une oeuvre classique dans la philosophie presocratique et le volume est tres elabore et complet.
Report
mcewin
5.0 out of 5 stars What goes around comes around
Reviewed in Canada on August 1, 2017
Verified Purchase
41 years ago we used this text in a seminar on Philosophy of Biology, which I took in my first year in grad school. Now, I seem to be teaching the same course as part of History & Philosophy of Biology, and wanted to see if there was anything new on Empedocles. There is. Quick comparison with passages from the first edition shows extensive revision and reinterpretation, as advertised, and new scholarship. I particularly like the parallel Greek text and English rendering, which quells the compulsion to order the Loeb volume. Highly recommended as an antecedent (as planned) to Aristotle's natural history, Galen on medicine, and some of the Islamist writers on medicine.
3 people found this helpful
 Report
JG
3.0 out of 5 stars Not light reading!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2008
Verified Purchase
This is an extremely thorough and well-informed book covering almost everything you might need to know about pre-socratic philosophy. However, it is EXTREMELY scholarly and text-book in it's format. If you need something to use for studying then it would be fine. If you want to actually read a book cover to cover then it's not for you. Also, it it is heavily biased towards the protoscientific aspects of pre-socratic philosophy, and is very light on areas such as existence; being and such like.

I have given it 3 stars because it didn't suit my needs, but that's not to say it's not a good book for different needs.
12 people found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report