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Pauliina Remes and Juha Sihvola In the course of history, philosophers have given an impressive variety of answers to the question, “What is self?” Some of them have even argued that there is no such thing at all. This volume explores the various ways in which selfhood was approached and conceptualised in antiquity. How did the ancients understand what it is that I am, fundamentally, as an acting and affected subject, interpreting the world around me, being distinct from others like and unlike me? The authors hi- light the attempts in ancient philosophical sources to grasp the evasive character of the specifically human presence in the world. They also describe how the ancient philosophers understood human agents as capable of causing changes and being affected in and by the world. Attention will be paid to the various ways in which the ancients conceived of human beings as subjects of reasoning and action, as well as responsible individuals in the moral sphere and in their relations to other people. The themes of persistence, identity, self-examination and self-improvement recur in many of these essays. The articles of the collection combine systematic and historical approaches to ancient sources that range from Socrates to Plotinus and Augustine.
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Pauliina Remes Juha Sihvola Editors
The New Synthese Historical Library
Ancient Philosophy of the Self A B3
Ancient Philosophy of the Self
The New Synthese Historical Library Texts and Studies in the History of Philosophy VOLUME 64
Managing Editor: SIMO KNUUTTILA, University of Helsinki Associate Editors: DANIEL ELLIOT GARBER, Princeton University RICHARD SORABJI, University of London Editorial Consultants: JAN A. AERTSEN, Thomas-Institut, Universität zu Köln ROGER ARIEW, University of South Florida E. JENNIFER ASHWORTH, University of Waterloo MICHAEL AYERS, Wadham College, Oxford GAIL FINE, Cornell University R. J. HANKINSON, University of Texas JAAKKO HINTIKKA, Boston University PAUL HOFFMAN, University of California, Riverside DAVID KONSTAN, Brown University RICHARD H. KRAUT, Northwestern University, Evanston ALAIN DE LIBERA, Université de Genève JOHN E. MURDOCH, Harvard University DAVID FATE NORTON, McGill University LUCA OBERTELLO, Università degli Studi di genova ELEONORE STUMP, St. Louis University ALLEN WOOD, Stanford University
For other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com/series/6608
Pauliina Remes • Juha Sihvola Editors
Ancient Philosophy of the Self
Editors Pauliina Remes Uppsala University Sweden and University of Helsinki Finland
ISBN 978-1-4020-8595-6
Juha Sihvola Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies University of Helsinki Finland
e-ISBN 978-1-4020-8596-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008928521 © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
Acknowledgements
This collection of essays emerged from a colloquium on self in ancient philosophy we organized at the University of Helsinki in summer 2003. We are grateful for the speakers who accepted our invitation to contribute to this volume, but we also wish to express our gratitude to all the other participants of the colloquium, particularly to Simo Knuuttila, Martha Nussbaum and Holger Thesleff for their presence and share in the discussions that greatly promoted this project. We