This monumental work on the history of ancient philosophy belongs in every serious library. Conceived after several decades of specialized study and originally published in German between 1893 and 1909, this contemporary translation was by far the most comprehensive work on the subject available in English. Though many related works have been written since, Gomperz’s Greek Thinkers remains a key source for all scholars in this field.
Gomperz recognized that philosophy in the ancient Greek world began as a universal science, inextricably linked with religion, literature and the special sciences. These themes and their protagonists are incorporated into the historical descriptions and arguments. Lucidly written and translated from the German under the attentive supervision of Gomperz himself, this work deserves to be known by everyone interested in the mind of antiquity. Tracing the history from its very beginnings, through Plato and Aristotle up until the third century BC with the transference of scientific progress away from philosophy to its subordinate branches, Greek Thinkers stands as a magnificent testimonial to a lifetime’s work.