This book offers a reconstruction of the early Stoic doctrine of prolepsis, revealing it to be much closer to Platonic recollection in certain respects than previously thought. The standard interpretation of prolepsis as preconceptions is inconsistent with their status as criteria of truth. Rather, prolepsis is a form of tacit knowledge that requires articulation and systematization. This reconstruction is supported by a comprehensive collection of texts relating to prolepsis from Epicurus to Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Author(s): Henry Dyson
Edition: 1
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 301
Prolepsis and Ennoia in the Early Stoa......Page 4
Acknoledgemets......Page 6
Note on Translations
......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
Introduction: The Seeds of Virtue and Knowledge......Page 16
I. Are Porlepses and Common Conceptions Identical?......Page 36
II. Prolepsis and Common Conceptions as Criteria of Truth......Page 58
III. Stages in the Development of Reason......Page 83
Interim Conclusions: Meno's Paradox and the Early Stoa......Page 107
IV. The Formation of Prolepses......Page 115
V. Prolepsis in Ordinary and Philosophical Cognition......Page 145
Conclusions: Are the Stoics Empiricists or Rationalists?......Page 180
Tables: The Usage of Πρόληψις, Ἕννοια, and Related Terms......Page 187
Appendix A: Epicurus and Later Epicureans......Page 198
Appendix B: The Early Stoa......Page 207
Appendix C: Cicero and Seneca......Page 216
Appendix D: Epictetus......Page 228
Appendix E: Plutarch......Page 243
Appendix F: Sextus Empiricus......Page 262
Appendix G: Alexander of Aphrodisias......Page 279
Appendix H: Alcinous......Page 285
Bibliography......Page 288
Index Locorum......Page 296
