The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India
The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India
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Summary
Locates the origins and early form of Indian and Greek philosophy, and the striking similarities between them, in their entire societal and religious context. The cities of Greece and northern India were distinctive by virtue of being pervasively monetised, which was a central factor in their metaphysical transformation.
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The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India by Richard Seaford
Why did Greek philosophy begin in the sixth century BCE? Why did Indian philosophy begin at about the same time? Why did the earliest philosophy take the form that it did? Why was this form so similar in Greece and India? And how do we explain the differences between them? These questions can only be answered by locating the philosophical intellect within its entire societal context, ignoring neither ritual nor economy. The cities of Greece and northern India were in this period distinctive also by virtue of being pervasively monetised. The metaphysics of both cultures is marked by the projection (onto the cosmos) and the introjection (into the inner self) of the abstract, all-pervasive, quasi-omnipotent, impersonal substance embodied in money (especially coinage). And in both cultures this development accompanied the interiorisation of the cosmic rite of passage (in India sacrifice, in Greece mystic initiation).
'… this is an insightful and interesting contribution to the literature' G. J. Reece, Choice
Richard Seaford is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Greek at the University of Exeter. His books include commentaries on Euripides' Cyclops and on Euripides' Bacchae, as well as Reciprocity and Ritual (1994), Dionysos (2006), Money and the Early Greek Mind (Cambridge, 2004), and Cosmology and the Polis (Cambridge, 2012). A volume of his selected papers has recently been published entitled Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece (Cambridge, 2018).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781108730815 |
| ISBN 10 | 1108730817 |
| Title | The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India |
| Author | Richard Seaford |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2024-07-04 |
| Number of pages | 385 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |