Books of Titans Podcast

In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Parmenides of Elea. Robin Waterfield calls him “the single most important Pre-socratic thinker.” He introduced a puzzle about Being that required a response by philosophers who followed him. From that puzzle, we have the Atom / Void idea from Democritus and the Forms / Shadows idea from Plato. Plato even has a dialogue named after this influential philosopher who lived from 515 - 450BC.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library


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In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Gorgias, the father of the Sophistic Movement. We can pinpoint a shift from philosophy to sophism in the life of Gorgias. Each of the early Greek philosophers had a First Principle, an arche they considered to be the foundation of everything else. That stops with the Sophists. Instead of a love of wisdom using speech to seek after truth, the Sophists value persuasion and the ability to get results irrespective of truth.
The work of most early Greek philosophers only survives in minor fragments. With Gorgias, we have some surviving full works that are simply delightful. I talk about the life of Gorgias, these surviving works, and the one thing the stuck out to me the most about this early Sophist.
Books Referenced:
* The Greek Sophists - Translation by John Dillon and Tania Gergel - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Sophists - Philostratus - Loeb Classical Library 134
Show Notes:
* Encomium of Helen


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Democritus of Abdera. He is one of my favorite early Greek philosophers, mainly because of his wisdom/ethical sayings. He barely made the Presocratic cut, being just 1 - 10 years before Socrates. However, his ideas, way ahead of their time, were picked up by Aristotle and Epicurus and have influenced humankind to our time. A true Renaissance Man before it was popular 😉, Democritus is worthy of study. His First Principle(s) of Atoms and the Void are revolutionary and are great responses to the ideas of earlier philosophers.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. His first principle, the thing that organized everything else, was the nous or the mind. He thought that in the beginning, there was an original mixture of unchanging seeds that a mind set in motion and began to organize. Anaxagoras was born in Asia Minor and moved to Athens, becoming one of the first philosophers to establish Athens as a hub of philosophy. In fact, Anaxagoras is a philosophical grandfather to Socrates through his student Archelaus. Socrates learned from Archelaus who learned from Anaxagoras.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Empedocles of Acragas. He lived from 495 - 435 BC before dramatically diving into the volcano at Mt. Etna to prove he was immortal. As we find out in this episode, the accounts of the life and death of Empedocles are varied and contradictory and contain an element of myth, which is appropriate given his use of epic poetry to present his ideas. With Empedocles, we have the largest stash of fragments of any of the early Greek Philosophers.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe