Democritus...used to claim that he would rather discover a single causal explanation than become king of the Persians.

The works collected in this volume form the true foundation of Western philosophy - the base upon which Plato and Aristotle and their successors would eventually build. Yet the importance of the Presocratic thinkers lies less in their influence - great though that was - than in their astonishing intellectual ambition and imaginative reach. Zeno's dizzying 'proofs' that motion is impossible; the extraordinary atomic theories of Democritus; the haunting and enigmatic epigrams of Heraclitus; and the maxims of Alcmaeon: fragmentary as they often are, the thoughts of these philosophers seem strikingly modern in their concern to forge a truly scientific vocabulary and a way of reasoning.

For this edition, Jonathan Barnes has brought together the surviving Presocratic fragments in their original contexts, utilizing the latest research and a recently discovered papyrus of Empedocles. His introduction provides a reassessment of this group of fascinating men and discusses the ways in which these ancient works remain profoundly relevant today.

MAP

PREFACE TO THE

SECOND EDITION

INTRODUCTION

SYNOPSIS

NOTE TO THE READER

   PART I

Precursors

Thales

Anaximander

Anaximenes

Pythagoras

Alcmaeon

Xenophanes

Heraclitus

   PART II

Parmenides

Melissus

Zeno

   PART III

Empedocles

Fifth-century

 Pythagoreanism

Hippasus

Philolaus

Ion of Chios

Hippo

Anaxagoras

Archelaus

Leucippus

Democritus

Diogenes of Apollonia

APPENDIX: The Sources

FURTHER READING

SUBJECT INDEX

INDEX OF QUOTED TEXTS

INDEX TO DIELS-KRANZ

B-TEXTS