The Self in Ancient and Early Modern Philosophy

This open access collection of studies by internationally distinguished scholars focuses on the philosophical concepts of the Self in Graeco-Roman antiquity and the early modern period. The contributors bring together a range of historical and comparative case-studies that highlight tensions as well as connections between ancient and early modern conceptions of the self. Ancient philosophers discussed include Plato, Lucretius, the Stoics, the Cynics, Augustine and the Neoplatonists; early modern philosophers include Descartes, Gassendi, Pascal, Fenelon, Abbadie, Diderot and Kant. The two periods are bridged by a series of chapters assessing the influence of ancient thought on emerging 17th-18th century philosophical and scientific theories of the Self, aiming to answer questions like these: ''Should we see references to ancient pagan or Christian authors merely as documents of a cultural code or a taste for antiquity? Or do they represent a genuine return to a real source of inspiration? Do these points of contact mark opposition, tension, or complementarity?'' The volume, which both contains new insights on particular periods of intellectual history and reassesses the possible connections between them, will be of interest to philosophers, classicists, psychologists, and historians of science and ideas. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary.

Product details

• Authors: Attila Nemeth, Daniel Schmal
• Assisted by: Attila Nemeth (Editor), Attila Németh (Editor), Nemeth Attila (Editor), Daniel Schmal (Editor), Dániel Schmal (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 15.05.2025
• EAN: 9781350380370
• ISBN: 978-1-350-38037-0
• No. of pages: 296
• Dimensions: 162 mm x 234 mm x 22 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; PHILOSOPHY / Mind & Body, HISTORY / Ancient / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, Philosophy of Mind, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, History of Western philosophy, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval