M. F. Burnyeat taught for 14 years in the Philosophy Department of University College London, then for 18 years in the Classics Faculty at Cambridge, 12 of them as the Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, before migrating to Oxford in 1996 to become a Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at All Souls College. The studies, articles and reviews collected in these two volumes of Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy were all written, and all but two published, before that decisive change. Whether designed for a scholarly audience or for a wider public, they range from the Presocratics to Augustine, from Descartes and Bishop Berkeley to Wittgenstein and G. E. Moore. Their subject-matter falls under four main headings: 'Logic and Dialectic' and 'Scepticism Ancient and Modern', which are contained in this first volume; 'Knowledge' and 'Philosophy and the Good Life' make up the second volume. The title 'Explorations' well expresses Burnyeat's ability to discover new aspects of familiar texts, new ways of solving old problems. In his hands the history of philosophy becomes itself a philosophical activity.

The first of two volumes collecting the published work up to 2000 of one of the greatest living scholars of ancient philosophy alive today.

About the Author
M. F. Burnyeat is an Honorary Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge, and an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded a CBE for his services to scholarship in 2007.


Book Information
ISBN 9780521750721
Author M. F. Burnyeat
Format Hardback
Page Count 408
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 760g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 158mm * 22mm