The most striking merits of Guthrie's work are his mastery of a tremendous range of ancient literature and modern scholarship.

Preface; Note on the sources; List of abbreviations; 1. The eleatics; 2. Ionians and eleatics: the rise and fall of monism; 3. Empedocles; 4. Anaxagoras; 5. Archelaus; 6. Philosophy in the second half of the fifth century; Bibliography; Indexes.