Ancient philosophy is indeed a specific period in the history of philosophy, but it is also the period in which the field of philosophy, as we know it in the Western world at least, is shaped and crystallized, both in terms of the questions that are asked, those that we today call philosophical questions, and the ways in which they are managed. However, ancient philosophy is also a subject that concerns not only those with specific philosophical interests, but also every educated person, to the extent that a large part of our conceptual horizon was formed in the works and through the discussions of the philosophers of Greco-Roman antiquity. This conceptual horizon, in turn, shaped a plethora of cultural and intellectual phenomena, such as our political and scientific thought, our legal culture, and Christian theology.
The texts in this volume aim on the one hand to introduce the interested reader to the basic areas of ancient philosophy (e.g. logic, epistemology, ethics), and on the other hand to stimulate the reader's interest in issues of central importance to our conceptual formation, such as the relationship between the sensible and the intelligible, the individual and the common good, reason and emotion, or the structure of knowledge. The chapters of the volume are thematically organized and are written by Greek experts who are active in academic institutions in Greece and abroad.