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G. E. R. Lloyd explores the amazing diversity of views that humans have held on being, humanity, and understanding. In a cross-cultural study that ranges from ancient to modern times, he asks how far we are bound by the conceptual systems to which we belong, and explores topics such as ontology, morality, philosophy of language, and communication.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: Humanity between Gods and Beasts?
- 2: Error
- 3: Ancient Understandings Reassessed and the Consequences for Ontologies
- 4: Language and Audiences
- 5: Philosophical Implications
- Epilogue
- Glossary of Key Chinese Terms and Names
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
G. E. R. Lloyd is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Science at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of nineteen books, including Cognitive Variations: Reflections on the Unity and Diversity of the Human Mind (OUP, 2007) and Disciplines in the Making: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Elites, Learning, and Innovation (OUP, 2009). He became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1983, and received the Sarton medal in 1987. Lloyd was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Kings in 1991, to Honorary Foreign Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995, to the International Academy for the History of Science in 1997, to an Honorary Fellowship at Darwin in 2000, and to an Honorary D.Litt by the University of Athens in 2003. He was knighted for 'services to the history of thought' in 1997, and received the Kenyon Medal for Classical scholarship from the British Academy in 2007.
Summary
G. E. R. Lloyd explores the amazing diversity of views that humans have held on being, humanity, and understanding. In a cross-cultural study that ranges from ancient to modern times, he asks how far we are bound by the conceptual systems to which we belong, and explores topics such as ontology, morality, philosophy of language, and communication.
Additional text
Lloyd's nuanced comprehension of the historiography of science studies is compellingly employed to unack previous misunderstandings and misreadings, while speaking to the future of the field. ... For the scholar of the history of science, Lloyd's study is an insightful and often philosophical examination of the nature of the human condition in ancient societies.
