Last Updated 22/07/05
This course is designed to make you familiar with the thought and the ways of thinking of the major classical philosophers: the pre-Socratics, Plato and Aristotle. It is focused on metaphysics and epistemology; ancient ethics, politics and aesthetics are covered in the Ethics or Politics or Aesthetics courses. You will be encouraged to analyse and criticise the arguments of the ancients and to think both constructively and critically about ancient theories. To this end, there is no substitute for reading the texts themselves (in translation, or even in Greek! Courses are available to help you to learn Greek).
The intercollegiate lectures in this course are divided into two levels:
Level 1: two survey courses, one on Plato and the other on Aristotle: these lectures include material on the pre-Socratics.
Level 2: sets of lectures on Plato and Aristotle, and sometimes also on the pre-Socratics. sometimes organized around particular works; sometimes around particular topics; sometimes comparative between the two philosophers.
Lectures at Birkbeck offer the same mixture of survey, text and topic.
The examination paper requires you to answer three questions, at least two of which must be on Plato and/or Aristotle; a third question may be on the pre-Socratics. However, you are not required to answer a question on the pre-Socratics. All three of your answers may be on Plato and/or Aristotle. Credit is given both for careful and critical analysis of the ancient arguments and for wider scrutiny of the topics in question.
The reading lists below offer some general books and collections of papers on ancient philosophy; detailed advice on reading on texts and topics for Plato; then likewise for Aristotle; and lastly for the pre-Socratics.
Cooper, J. 2004 Knowledge, Nature and the Good Princeton.
Everson, S. 1990. ed. Epistemology. Companions to Ancient Thought 1. Cambridge.
—. 1991. ed. Psychology. Companions to Ancient Thought 2. Cambridge.
—. 1994. ed. Language. Companions to Ancient Thought 3. Cambridge.
Frede, M. 1987 Essays in Ancient Philosophy. Oxford
Frede, M., and G. Striker, eds. 1996. Rationality in Greek Thought. Oxford
Furley, D. 1997 Routledge History of Philosophy Vol II: From Aristotle to Augustine. London
Gentzler, J. ed. 1998. Method in Ancient Philosophy. Oxford
Hankinson, R.J. 1998 Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought. Oxford
Owen, G. E. L. 1985. Logic, Science and Dialectic: Collected Papers in Greek Philosophy. Ithaca, N. Y.
Price, A. W. 1995 Mental Conflict. London
Shields, C. 2002 Blackwell Guide to Ancient Philosophy. London
Taylor, C.C.W. 1998 Routledge History of Philosophy Vol. I: >From the beginnnings to Plato. London
The dialogues are translated in
J. Cooper, ed., The Complete Works of Plato.
Edith Hamilton, and Huntington Cairns, eds., The Collected Dialogues of Plato, including the Letters, (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1961).
You should buy one of these collections.
Dialogues of importance for this course include Euthyphro, Laches, Charmides, Lysis, Meno, Protagoras, Gorgias, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic, Parmenides, Phaedrus, Cratylus, Timaeus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Philebus. (Remember that ethical and political topics are dealt with elsewhere; see the Ethics and Political Philosophy sections of the study guide.)
Allen, R. E. ed. 1965. Studies in Plato's Metaphysics. London
Benson, ed., H.H. 1992 Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates. Oxford
Fine, G. ed. 1999. Plato. Vol.1. Metaphysics and Epistemology. Oxford
Gill C. and McCabe M.M. eds. Form and Argument in Late Plato. Oxford
Kraut, R. ed. 1992. The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge
Vlastos, G. 1973. ed. Plato I: Epistemology and Metaphysics.
Crombie, I. M. 1963. An Examination of Plato's Doctrines. 2 Vols. London.
Gosling, J. C. B. 1973. Plato. London.
Fine, G. 2003 Plato on Knowledge and Forms. Oxford
Harte, V. A. 2002 Plato on Parts and Wholes. Oxford
McCabe M.M., 2000 Plato and his Predecessors: The dramatisation of reason. Cambridge
Nehamas, A. 1999 Virtues of Authenticity. Princeton
Vlastos, G. 1973. Platonic Studies. Princeton
Kahn, C.H. 1996 Plato and the Socratic Dialogue Cambridge
One of the best ways of tackling Plato is to think hard and long about individual dialogues. To understand Plato's epistemology and metaphysics, the following are central.
Geach, P.T. 1966 ‘Plato's Euthyphro : Analysis and commentary', The Monist : 369-82
Burnyeat, M.F. 1977 ‘Examples in Epistemology', Philosophy : 381-98
This dialogue considers virtue and knowledge, and contains Plato's first extended epistemology.
Scott, D., 2005 Plato's Meno Cambridge
Sharples, R. W. ed., and trans. 1985. Meno / Plato. Chicago.
Vlastos, G. 1965. ‘Anamnesis in the Meno', Dialogue 4: 143-167.
Socrates' death and the conversation about the immortality of the soul that preceded it.
Bostock, D. 1986. Plato's Phaedo. Oxford
Vlastos, G. 1973. ‘Reasons and Causes in the Phaedo'. In G. Vlastos, Platonic Studies. Princeton: 76-110
Scott, D. 1987. ‘Platonic Anamnesis Revisited'. Classical Quarterly.
Wiggins, D. 1986. ‘Teleology and the good in Plato's Phaedo ', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 1-18.
This is usually considered Plato's masterpiece; it repays careful study.
Annas, J. 1981. An Introduction to Plato's Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Cross R. C., and A. D. Woozley. 1964. Plato's Republic: a Philosophical Commentary. London: Macmillan.
Fine, G. 1990 ‘Knowledge and Belief in Republic V-VII' in ed. Everson, S. Epistemology. Companions to Ancient Thought 1. Cambridge.
Kraut, R. 1997. Plato's Republic: Critical Essays. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
Pappas, N. 1995. Plato and the Republic. London: Routledge.
Reeve, 1988 Philosopher Kings: The argument of Plato's Republic. Princeton. C.D.C.
Vlastos, G. 1973. ‘Degrees of Reality in Plato'. In G. Vlastos, Platonic Studies. Princeton
This dialogue falls into two parts; the first (126-136) is an extended critique of the theory of Forms, the second (137-end) an intricate dialectical exercise. Most modern attention has been paid to the first part, and therein to the notorious Third Man Argument. Try to consider all the arguments of the first part, even if you find the second part uncongenial.
Vlastos, G. 1965. ‘The Third Man argument in the Parmenides'. In R. E. Allen ed., Studies in Plato's Metaphysics. London: Routledge.
Strang, C. 1972. ‘Plato and the Third Man'. In G. Vlastos, ed., Plato: a Collection of Critical Essays, Vol.1, Metaphysics and Epistemology. London: Macmillan.
Mignucci, M. 1990. ‘Plato's Third Man Argument in the Parmenides'. Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie.
McCabe, M. M. 1994. Plato's Individuals. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press. chs. 3 and 4.
Gill, M. L. trans. 1996. Parmenides. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co. Introduction.
Here Plato reconsiders the problems of epistemology in a manner which is readily accessible to modern readers.
Burnyeat, M. F. 1990. The Theaetetus of Plato. Indianapolis: Hackett. A long philosophical introduction with translation, a difficult but brilliant treatment of a dialogue which is readily accessible to those with modern epistemological concerns in mind.
Bostock, D. 1988. Plato's Theaetetus. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
McDowell, J. Plato: Theaetetus (Clarendon Plato Series)
Sedley D. 2005 The Midwife of Platonism Oxford
Here Plato tackles the problems of not-being and falsehood, and offers his own philosophical logic.
Owen, G. E. L. 1985. ‘Plato on Not-Being'. In Logic, Science and Dialectic: Collected Papers in Greek Philosophy. Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press. The place to start in considering modern interpretations of the Sophist.
Frede, M. 1992. ‘Plato's Sophist on False Statements'. In R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Heinaman, R. 1981. ‘Self-predication in the Sophist'. Phronesis 26: 55-66.
You should cross refer to the suggested reading for individual dialogues above.
Apology ; Euthyphro ; Charmides; Laches; Protagoras
Benson H.H. 2000 Socratic Wisdom. Oxford
Brickhouse T. and Smith N. 2000 The Philosophy of Socrates. Boulder Colorado
Nehamas, A. 1998 The Art of Living. Berkeley
Vlastos, G. 1991 Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher. Cambridge
Taylor, C.C.W. 1998 Socrates. Oxford.
Meno 80-98; Phaedo 72-78; Phaedrus 244-57
Day, Jane M. ed. 1994. Plato's Meno in Focus. London.
Fine, G. 1992. ‘Inquiry in the Meno ', in Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge: 200-26
Nehamas, A. 1985 ‘Meno's paradox and Socrates as a teacher', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 1-30.
Scott, D. 1995. Recollection and Experience: Plato's Theory of Learning and its Successors. Cambridge Chs 1 & 2.
Bostock D. 1986 Plato's Phaedo Oxford ch.4
Vlastos, G. 1965 ‘Anamnesis in the Meno,. Dialogue ; also in J. Day (ed.) Plato's Meno in Focus
Phaedo 72-78; 96-106; Symposium 199-212; Republic 476-536; 596-7; Parmenides 216-135
Fine G. 1986 ‘Forms as Causes: Plato and Aristotle' in Fine, Plato on Knowledge and Forms, Oxford: 350-396
Fine, G. 1993 On Ideas Oxford
Frede, M. 1988 ‘Being and Becoming in Plato,' Oxford Studies in Ancient
Philosophy, supplementary volume
Irwin, T. 1977 'Plato's Heracliteanism', Ph.Q. : 1-13
Nehamas, A. 1975 'Plato on the imperfection of the sensible world' A. Ph. Q. and in Nehamas, Virtues of Authenticity.
Sedley, D. 1998 ‘Platonic Causes', Phronesis : 114-32
Vlastos, G. 1981 'Degrees of Reality' and 'Reasons and Causes in the Phaedo' in Vlastos Platonic Studies
Republic book IV; Phaedo 78-95; 102-107; Phaedrus
Cooper, J. 1984 ‘Plato's Theory of Human Motivation,' History Ph. Quarterly
Frede, D. 1978 ‘The final proof of the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo ', Phronesis 27-41
Irwin, T.H. 1995 Plato's Ethics. Oxford 203-222
Lovibond, S. 1991 ‘Plato's theory of mind' in S. Everson, ed. Companions to Ancient Thought ii: Psychology. 35-55
Price, A. W. 1995 Mental Conflict. London 30-103
Williams, B. 1973 ‘The analogy of city and soul in Plato's Republic ', in E. Lee, A. Mourelatos and R.Rorty, eds. Exegesis and Argument : Phronesis supplement.
Meno 96-9; Republic 475-535; Theaetetus 200-210; Sophist 251-3
Burnyeat, M. and Barnes, J. 1980 ‘Socrates and the Jury', Proceedings of Aristotelian Society Supplement 177-206
Burnyeat, M. 1982 ‘Idealism and Greek Philosophy: What Descartes saw and Berkeley missed', Phil.Rev. 3-40
Fine, G. 1990 ‘Knowledge and Belief in Republic V-VII' in ed. Everson, S. Companions to Ancient Thought i: Epistemology. Cambridge.
Fine, G. 2003 ‘Knowledge and logos in the Theaetetus ', in Fine, Plato on Knowledge and Forms, Oxford: 225-251
Nehamas, A., ‘ Episteme and Logos in Plato's later thought', in Nehamas, Virtues of Authenticity. Princeton: 224-248
Theaetetus 187-201; Sophist 236-263; Euthydemus 283-8; Cratylus 383-391; 428-36; Philebus 36-41
Denyer, N. 1991 Language, Thought and Falsehood in Ancient Greek Philosophy. London
Fine, G. 1979 ‘False belief in the Theaetetus,' Phronesis 70-80
Frede, M. 1992 ‘Plato's Sophist on false statements,' in Kraut, R. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge 397-424
The following are central works of Aristotle, as examined under this paper, i.e. excluding ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics.
Physics, especially 1 on matter and form; 2 on explanation in natural science; 4 on space and time; 6 on continuity vs. atomism; 7 and 8 on the sources of motion.
On the Soul (de Anima).
Categories, an introduction to metaphysics (on what there is).
Posterior Analytics, on scientific explanation.
Metaphysics, especially 4 (Gamma) on the law of contradiction; 7-9 (Zeta, Eta, Theta) on what there is; 12 (Lambda) on God
On The Heavens, (de Caelo).
On Interpretation, (de Interpretatione).
There are very useful summaries, in the commentaries by W. D. Ross, of the Physics, Metaphysics, Posterior Analytics and de Anima.
The best translations are in The Complete Works of Aristotle: the revised Oxford translation, edited by Jonathan Barnes, 2 Vols., (Princeton N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1984). J. L. Ackrill, A New Aristotle Reader, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987) covers some, but unfortunately not all, of what you need. The Clarendon Aristotle translations from the Oxford University Press of particular works are designed for Philosophy students: you will find many of these interesting and challenging.
Ackrill, J.L. 1981 Aristotle the Philosopher. Oxford
Barnes, J. 1982 Aristotle. Oxford
Barnes, J., Schofield, M. and Sorabji, R. 1975-1979 Articles on Aristotle. 4 Vols. London. These 4 collections of articles cover all aspects of Aristotle.
Barnes, J. ed. 1995. Cambridge Campanion to Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berti, E. ed. 1981. Aristotle on Science: ‘The Posterior Analytics'. Proceedings of the Eighth Symposium Aristotelicum. Padova.
Charles, D. 2000 Aristotle on Meaning and Essence. Oxford.
Gill, M.L. and Lennox, J. 1994 Self-Motion. Princeton.
Gotthelf, A. ed. 1985. Aristotle on Nature and Living Things: Philosophical and Historical Studies. Bristol
Gotthelf, A., and J. Lennox, eds. 1987. Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology. Cambridge.
Hintikka, Jaakko. 1973. Time and Necessity: Studies in Aristotle's Theory of Modality. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Irwin, T. 1988. Aristotle's First Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lear, J. 1988. Aristotle: the Desire to Understand. Cambridge.
Matthen, Mohan, ed. 1987. Aristotle Today: Essays on Aristotle's Ideal of Science. Edmonton, Alberta.
Sorabji, R. 1980. Necessity, Cause and Blame: Perspectives on Aristotle's Theory. London.
—. 1983. Time, Creation and the Continuum: Theories in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
Judson, L. ed. 1991. Aristotle's Physics: a Collection of Essays. Oxford
Wardy, R. The Chain of Change. Cambridge
Waterlow, S. 1982. Nature, Change and Agency in Aristotle's Physics: a Philosophical Study. Oxford
—. 1982. Passage and Possibility: a Study of Aristotle's Modal Concepts. Oxford
Frede, M, and Charles, D. 2000 Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda Oxford
Politis, V. 2004 Aristotle' and the Metaphysics London
Scaltsas, T., D. Charles, and M. L. Gill, eds. 1994. Unity, Identity and Explanation in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford
Nussbaum, M., and A. O. Rorty, eds. 1992. Essays on Aristotle's De Anima. Oxford
Wedin, M. 1988 Mind and imagination in Aristotle New Haven
Physics II.3 (194b16-195a26), 4-6, 8-9; 259a10-12; On the Parts of Animals I.1; Politics 1256b10-22; On Sense and the Sensible 436b17-437a3; Protrepticus B11-16
Ackrill, J.L. 1981 Aristotle the Philosopher chapter 4
Lear, J. 1988 Aristotle the desire to understand, 26-42
Sorabji, R. 1980 Necessity, Cause and Blame, chapter 10
Mackie, J.L. 1980 The Cement of the Universe chapter 11
Physics I, II.
Irwin, T. 1988 Aristotle's First Principles Oxford ch. 5
Lear, J. 1988 Aristotle, The desire to understand. Cambridge: ch 2
Moravcsik, J. 1991 'What makes reality intelligible?' in L. Judson, ed., Aristotle's Physics
Sorabji, R. 1980 Necessity Cause and Blame London: ch 2.
Waterlow, S. 1982 Nature Change and Agency in Aristotle's Physics Oxford: ch.2
Physics II. 4-6, 8-9
Cooper, J. 1987 'Hypothetical necessity and natural teleology' in A. Gotthelf and J. Lennox, eds., Philosophical issues in Aristotle's Biology, Cambridge; and in Cooper, Knowledge, Nature and the Good.
Gotthelf, A. 1976-7 ‘Aristotle's conception of final causality' Review of Metaphysics, 30 1976/7. (Or, more recent version in A. Gotthelf and J.G. Lennox, Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology, Cambridge, 1987.)
Judson, L. 1991 'Chance and 'Always or for the most part' in Aristotle', in L. Judson, ed., Aristotle's Physics
Sedley, D. 1991 'Was Aristotle's teleology anthropocentric?' Phronesis, 1991
Wardy, R. 1993 'Aristotelian rainfall,' Phronesis
Wieland, W. ‘The problem of teleology' in J. Barnes, M. Schofield and R. Sorabji, Articles on Aristotle (London, 1975-9), vol.1.
De Interpretatione 9 . Rhetoric 1359a15-19, 1392b25-27, 1418a2-4. Metaphysics 996b26-30, 1005b19-23, 1011b23-24, 1051a34-b17; Physics 264a9-21; On Generation and Corruption 337a34-b9
Ackrill J.L 1963 Aristotle's Categories and De Interpretatione Oxford.
Anscombe, G.E.M. 'Aristotle and the sea battle' revised version in From Parmenides to Wittgenstein. Collected Papers vol 1.
Frede, D. 1985 'The sea-battle reconsidered', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy.
Kneale, W. and M. 1962 The Development of Logic, Oxford: 46-54.
Physics III.
Charlton W. 1991 'Aristotle's potential infinites' in Judson, L. ed. Aristotle's Physics: a Collection of Essays. Oxford.
Hintikka J. 1975'Aristotelian infinity' PR and in Barnes, Schofield and Sorabji v.3.
Hussey E. 1983 Aristotle's Physics III-IV, Oxford.
Lear J. 1979-80 'Aristotelian infinity' Proc Aristot Soc.
Kosman, L.A. 1969 ‘Aristotle's definition of motion' Phronesis 40-62.
Waterlow, S, 1982 Nature, Change and Agency in Aristotle's Physics Oxford: ch 3. 1.
Heinaman, R 1994 ‘Is Aristotle's definition of change circular?' Apeiron.
Loux, M.J. 1995 ‘Understanding Process: reflections on Physics III.1' in Sim, M The Crossroads of Norm and Nature.
Kostman, J, 1987 ‘Aristotle's definition of change', History of Philosophy Quarterly.
Hussey E. Aristotle's Physics III-IV, OUP 1983.
Inwood, B. 1991 ‘Aristotle on the reality of time' in Judson Aristotle's Physics.
Sorabji, R. 1983 Time, Creation and the Continuum. London.
Waterlow, S. 1984 ‘Aristotle's Now'. Philosophical Quarterly.
Annas, J. 1975 ‘Aristotle, Number and Time'. Philosophical Quarterly.
Owen, G.E.L. 1985 ‘Aristotle on time' reprinted in G. E. L. Owen, Logic Science and Dialectic.
Coope, U. 2001 ‘Why does Aristotle say that there is no time without change? ' Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society.
Bostock, D. 1980 ‘Aristotle's account of time' Phronesis
Corish, D. 1976 ‘Aristotle's attempted derivation of temporal order from that of movement and space' Phronesis
Hussey E. 1983 Aristotle's Physics III-IV, Oxford.
On the Soul (De Anima) I.1., I.2, 403b20-404b6 ; 1.3, 405b31-406b25, 407b12-26 ; 1.4, 408a29-b29, 409a1-3 ; I.5, 411a24-b30 ; II. 1-7, 12 ; III. 4-5 ; Metaphysics IX. 6 ; Nicomachean Ethics 1128b11-15; X.4 ; Physics 234b10-20
Ackrill, J.L. 1979 ‘Aristotle's definitions of psuche' in Barnes, Schofield and Sorabji, Articles on Aristotle 4 – Psychology and Aesthetics. (And in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 1972-3, 119-33.)
Everson S., 1995 ‘Psychology' in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, ed. J. Barnes.
Frede, M. 1993 ‘On Aristotle's conception of the soul' in R.W. Sharples (ed) Ancient Thinkers and Modern Thinkers, London, 1993. (And in M.C. Nussbaum and A.O. Rorty (ed.) Essays on Aristotle's De Anima, Oxford, 1992.)
Heinaman, R. 1990 'Aristotle and the Mind-Body problem', Phronesis.
Menn, S 2002 'Aristotle's definition of soul and the programme of the de anima' Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy.
Shields, C. essay at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-psychology/.
Williams, B. 1986 ‘Hylomorphism'. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy : 186-99.
De anima II, III.
Burnyeat, M. 1992 'Is an Aristotelian philosophy of mind still credible?' in M. Nussbaum and A Rorty, Essays on Aristotle's de Anima.
Langton, R. 2000 ‘The musical, the magical and the mathematical soul' in T Crane and S Patterson History of the Mind-Body Problem . London : 13-33.
Sorabji R., 1975 ‘Body and soul in Aristotle' Philosophy, 63-89. Reprinted in J. Barnes, M. Schofield and R. Sorabji Articles on Aristotle iv (1979), 42-64.
Sorabji, R. 1992‘Intentionality and physiological processes: Aristotle's theory of sense-perception.' in M. C. Nussbaum and A. O. Rorty Essays on Aristotle's De Anima.
De anima III
Lear, J. 1988 Aristotle, The desire to understand, ch.4.3 and 4.5.
Schofield, M. ‘Aristotle on the imagination' in M. Nussbaum and A Rorty, Essays on Aristotle's de Anima (and in J. Barnes, M. Schofield and R. Sorabji Articles on Aristotle iv (1979)).
Kahn, C.H. ‘Aristotle on thinking' ' in M.Nussbaum and A Rorty, Essays on Aristotle's de Anima.
L. Kosman, 'What does the maker mind make?' in M.Nussbaum and A Rorty, Essays on Aristotle's de Anima .
Barnes, J. 1994 Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, translated with notes. Oxford.
Berti, E. ed., 1981 Aristotle on Science (esp. the paper by Burnyeat, ‘Aristotle on understanding knowledge') Padua.
Everson S. ed., 1990 Companions to ancient thought I: Epistemology. Cambridge.
Hankinson, R.J. 1998 Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought. Oxford.
Irwin, T. 1988 Aristotle's First Principles. Oxford.
Lear, J. 1988 Aristotle, the desire to understand. Cambridge.
R. Sorabji, 1980 Necessity, Cause and Blame, esp. chs 2-3.
Categories; Topics I.9.
Ackrill, J.L. Aristotle's Categories and De Interpretatione, translated with notes.
Gillespie R. in J. Barnes, M.Schofield, R. Sorabji, eds., Articles on Aristotle : vol. 3 Metaphysics.
Frede, M. 'Categories in Aristotle' and 'Individuals in Aristotle', both in his Essays in Ancient Philosophy.
Furth, M. 1978 Journal of Philosophy, 624-46.
Metaphysics 998b22-27, IV. 1, 2 (to 1003b19); VI.1; VII.1; 1028b27-31, 1030a28-b3, 1037a10-17, 1043a29-37, 1053b16-24, 1076a8-13. Physics 192a34-36. Topics 121a14-19, 144a36-b3. Eudemian Ethics 1217b25-35, 1236a16-32.
Frede, M. “General and Special Metaphysics,” in his Essays in Ancient Philosophy.
Owen, G.E.L. “Logic and Metaphysics in Some Earlier Works of Aristotle,” in G.E.L. Owen and I. During (eds.) Aristotle and Plato in the Mid-Fourth Century ; also in J. Barnes, M.Schofield and R. Sorabji (eds.) Articles on Aristotle 3. Metaphysics ; also in G.E.L. Owen, Logic, Science and Dialectic.
Metaphysics VII (Zeta).
Lear, J. 1988 Aristotle, the desire to understand (esp. the chapter on Met. Z).
Frede, M. “Substance in Aristotle's Metaphysics,” in his Essays in Ancient Philosophy ; also in A. Gotthelf (ed.) Aristotle on Nature and Living Things, pp. 72-80.
Fine, G. ‘Plato and Aristotle on Form and Substance,' in Plato on Knowledge and Forms.
Politis V. Aristotle and the Metaphysics.
Metaphysics XII (Lambda), Physics VIII.
Frede, M. and Charles, D. eds. 2000 Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda Oxford
Kosman, L.A. 1994 ‘Aristotle's Prime Mover', in M.L.Gill and J. Lennox, eds. Self-Motion Princeton.
Norman, R. 1969 ‘Aristotle's Philosopher-god', Phronesis : 63-74
The work of the Presocratics survives in fragments. This means that their work needs considerable interpretation; it also means that everything they said is easily accessible to you. There is a full account of the evidence for the Presocratics, with a Greek text and translations in G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers: a Critical History with a Selection of Texts, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). In translation, there is R. McKirahan, Philosophy before Socrates. You can find translations of the fragments in J. Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy, and with a large and vigorous philosophical commentary in J. Barnes, The Presocratic Philosophers, (rev. ed., London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982). All of these are available in paperback; you should own at least one of them if you are planning to work on these philosophers.
Furley, D. 1987. The Greek Cosmologists. Vol.1. Cambridge.
Furley, D.1989. Cosmic Problems: Essays on Greek and Roman Philosophy of Nature. Cambridge.
Allen, R. E., and D. J. Furley. eds. 1970. Studies in Presocratic Philosophy. Vol.1, The Beginnings of Philosophy; Vol.2, The Eleatics and Pluralists. London.
Hussey E. 1972 The Presocratics. London.
Mourelatos, Alexander P. D., ed. 1974. The Pre-Socratics: a Collection of Critical Essays. Rev. ed. Princeton 1993.
Long, A. A. ed. 1999. The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy. Cambridge.
Osborne C. 1987 Rethinking early Greek philosophy London.
Kahn, Charles H. 1979. The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: an Edition of the Fragments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wiggins, D. 1982. ‘Heraclitus' Conceptions of Fire, Flux and Material Persistence'. In M. Schofield, and M. Nussbaum, eds., Language and Logos: Studies in Ancient Greek Philosophy Presented to G. E. L. Owen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mackenzie, M. M. 1988. ‘Heraclitus and the Art of Paradox'. In Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Vol. 6. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Gallop, D. 1984. Parmenides of Elea: Fragments. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Furley, D. 1967. ‘Parmenides'. In P. Edwards, ed., The Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. London: Collier-Macmillan.
Furth, M. 1974. ‘Elements of Eleatic Ontology'. In Alexander P. D. Mourelatos, ed., The Pre-Socratics: a Collection of Critical Essays. Rev. ed. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.
Owen, G. E. L. 1985. ‘Eleatic Questions'. In Logic, Science and Dialectic: Collected Papers in Greek Philosophy. Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press.
When you think about Zeno, consider both the paradoxes described and criticised by Aristotle and the fragments quoted in Simplicius.
Aristotle, Physics, VI.9, VIII.8.
Vlastos, G. 1967. ‘Zeno'. In P. Edwards, ed., The Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. London
Owen, G. E. L. 1985. ‘Zeno and the Mathematicians'. In Logic, Science and Dialectic: Collected Papers in Greek Philosophy. Ithaca
Lear, J. 1981. ‘A note on Zeno's Arrow'. Phronesis 26: 91-104.
Sainsbury, R. M. 1995. Paradoxes. 2 nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ryle, G. 1954. Dilemmas. Cambridge
Sorabji, R. 1983. Time, Creation and the Continuum: Theories in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. London Ch.21
Long, A. A. 1966. ‘Thinking and Sense-perception in Empedocles'. Classical Quarterly.
Sorabji, R. 1993. Animal Minds and Human Morals: the Origins of the Western Debate. Ithaca
Furley, D. 1967. Two Studies in the Greek Atomists: Study 1—Indivisible magnitudes.; Study 2—Aristotle and Epicurus on Voluntary Action. Princeton
Sedley, D. 1982. ‘Two Conceptions of Vacuum'. Phronesis 27: 175-193