This volume provides a comprehensive exposition of the arguments of the Presocratics--the founding fathers of the Western philosophical tradition and the first masters of rational thought. While previous books have concentrated on historical and philological issues, "The Presocratic Philosophers" focuses on the philosophical content of Presocratic ideas and arguments, offering a rigorous assessment of their contribution to philosophical thought. The book considers all the main thinkers from Thales to the Sophists and pays particular attention to Parmenides, Zeno, Anaxagoras and Democritus.

Preface. Preface to the Revised Edition. Note to Citations. PROLOGUE. 1. The Springs of Reason 2. Anaximander on Nature 3. Science and Speculation 4. The Natural Philosophy of Heraclitus 5. The Divine Philosophy of Xenophanes 6. Pythagoras and the Soul 7. The Moral Law 8. The Principles of Human Knowledge THE SERPENT. 9. Parmenides and the Objects of Inquiry 10. Being and Becoming 11. Stability and Change 12. Zeno: Paradox and Plurality 13. Zeno: Paradox and Progression 14. The Ports of Knowledge Closed PARADISE REGAINED. 15. The Ionian Revival 16. Anaxagoras and the Nature of Stuffs 17. The Corpuscularian Hypothesis 18. Philolaus and the Formal Cause 19. The Logic of Locomotion 20. The Neo-Ionian World Picture 21. The Sophists 22. De Anima 23. Conduct Unbecoming 24. The Bounds of Knowledge EPILOGUE. 25. The Last of the Line Appendix A Sources. Appendix B Chronology. Notes. Bibliography (revised 1981). Indexes. Concordance.