The Beginning of Knowledge

by Hans-Georg Gadamer

Overview

This book brings together nearly all of GadamerÆs previously published but never translated essays on the Presocratics. Beginning with a hermeneutical and philological investigation of the Heraclitus fragments (1974 and 1990), he then moves on to a discussion of the Greek Atomists (1935) and the Presocratic cosmologists (1964). In the last two essays (1978 and 1994/95), Gadamer elaborates on the profound debt that modern scientific thinking owes to the Greek philosophical tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826414595
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/14/2003
Series:	Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.32(d)

About the Author

Hans-Georg Gadamer was born on 11 February 1900 and died on 13 March 2002. He was the author, most notably, of Truth and Method, and, more recently, of The Beginning of Philosophy and The Beginning of Knowledge.

Table of Contents

	Translator's Preface	7
	Author's Preface	13
1.	On the Tradition of Heraclitus	21
2.	Heraclitus Studies	33
3.	Ancient Atomic Theory	82
4.	Plato and Presocratic Cosmology	102
5.	Greek Philosophy and Modern Thought	119
6.	Natural Science and the Concept of Nature	127
	Publication History	141
	Index	142

Editorial Reviews

Ten lectures by Gadamer (emeritus, U. of Heidelberg) explore various issues in pre-Socratic philosophy. The volume begins with two hermeneutical and philological investigations of the Heraclitus fragments. Other topics include, for example, Ancient Greek atomic theory and the contributions of Greek philosophy to modern science. The essays have all been published previously in various journals in German. This is the first English translation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

[Gadamer's] views on the ancient Greeks provide a powerful reply to Heidegger's enormously creative, but less than accurate interpretations…Whether or not one finds Gadamer's Platonic route to the pre-Socratics to be successful, he produces stimulating insights into their views and challenges one to rearticulate why Gadamer might be wrong, if he is wrong. Such challenges are always welcome.” —David Vessey in Philosophy in Review

From the Publisher