Aristotle : semantics and ontology.
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This study intends to show that the ascription of many shortcomings or obscurities to Aristotle is due to the persistent misinterpetation of key notions in his works, including anachronistic perceptions of statement making. In the first volume Aristotle's semantics is culled from the Organon. The second volume presents Aristotle's ontology of the sublunar world, and pays special attention to his strategy of argument in light of his semantic views. The reconstruction of the semantic models that come forward as genuinely Aristotelian can give a new impetus to the study of Aristotelian philosophic and semantic thought.
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1 online resource (xi, 498 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004321151 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Proclus' Commentary on the Cratylus in context : ancient theories of language and naming /
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The Cratylus contains Plato's important, yet ambiguous discussion of language. By studying the reception of this text in antiquity, this book explores the various ideas on language and its relation to philosophy in the Platonic tradition. This discussion provides the backdrop for a detailed analysis of the commentary on the dialogue by Proclus. His, often original, views on language are, it appears, the product of a critical reevaluation of those of his predecessors, whereas his interpretation of the Cratylus throws new light on that dialogue. This book will thus be of interest both to students of Plato and the Platonic tradition, as well as to those working on ancient theories of language.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-228) and indexes. :
9789047423720 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Galen on language and ambiguity : an English translation of Galen's "De captionibus (On fallacies)" with introduction, text, and commentary /
: English and/or Greek. : 1 online resource (xiii, 143 pages) : Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-141) and index. : 9789004320529 : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The language of the freedmen in Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis /
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Realistic representation of the speech of the lower classes in ancient literature is largely confined to the comic genres, and Petronius' realism in this area is more thorough-going than that of any other ancient author. A vast scholarly literature has grown up around the question of how faithfully the speeches of Petronius' freedmen reflect characteristics of actual popular speech; this literature is reviewed and evaluated. A survey of the phonological, morphological, lexical, and syntactic peculiarities in these speeches is then undertaken, in which they are compared with other 'vulgar' Latin sources such as the Pompeian inscriptions; Petronius is in fact one of our most important early sources for the study of popular Latin. The way in which Petronius used specific varieties of non-standard Latin to characterize different freedmen speakers is explored: Petronius has subtly modulated his freedmen's speeches to reflect differing emotional states and the different attitudes of the speakers toward their social position. The present study is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject undertaken in over forty years in any language and the only one in English.
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1 online resource (113 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-108) and index. :
9789004329133 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plato's Cratylus : Proceedings from the Eleventh Symposium Platonicum Pragense /
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The present volume offers a collection of papers on one of Plato's most intriguing dialogues. Although not a running commentary, the book covers the majority of difficult questions raised by the dialogue in which the subjects of language and ontology are tied closely together. It shows why Plato's Cratylus has been highly regarded among readers interested in ancient philosophy and those concerned with modern semantics and theory of language. This collection also presents original views on the position of the dialogue in the whole Plato's œuvre and in the context of Plato's contemporaries and successors.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004473027
9789004473010
Boethius on mind, grammar, and logic : a study of Boethius' Commentaries on Peri hermeneias /
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Boethius (c.480-c.525/6), who is best known for his Consolation of Philosophy , has been accused of misinterpreting Aristotle's logical works in his translations and commentaries thereof. Building on recent scholarship in the philosophy of late antiquity, this book challenges some of the past interpretations of Boethius and reveals significant features of his semantics and logic. With comparisons between his and contemporary arguments and attention to the terminology of late antiquity, this work is of use to those interested in semantics, logic and grammar from antiquity to the modern day. Furthermore, this book's new conclusions aim to reinvigorate interest in this much-maligned and poorly understood philosopher.
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Revised and expanded version of the author's thesis (Ph. D.--Saint Louis University, 2008), originally presented under the title: Boethius on language, mind, and reality. :
1 online resource (xiii, 296 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (; [237]-267) and index. :
9789004216044 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Aristotle on definition /
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This book argues that Aristotle offers us a consistent theory of definition, according to which a particular type of definition - one which states the formal cause of a simple item - is fundamental. It begins by considering definitions as indemonstrable first principles in demonstrations, and inquires how such definitions can have the certainty required by that role. Later chapters look to the Metaphysics to understand how the unity of definitions guarantees their certainty, and to the Topics to discover why definitions must be formulated in terms of the genus and differentia(e) of the object defined. This work contributes to our understanding of the connection between the function of definition in demonstration and its character as a statement of essence.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-217) and indexes. :
9789047420583 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Clause combining in ancient Greek narrative discourse : the distribution of subclauses and participial clauses in Xenophon's Hellenica and Anabasis /
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This study describes the usage of subclauses and participial clauses in Xenophon's Hellenica and Anabasis , with additional examples from other texts, using a text grammar-oriented approach, which can map more factors underlying the distribution of these clauses, and offers a more satisfactory explanation of a larger number of instances than is possible using the traditional sentence-level approach. The discourse-analytic description of the different clause types focuses on how relations are coded by means of subordinating conjunctions, the differences in form and function as discourse boundary markers between preposed, sentence-initially placed subclauses and participles, and the differences between clause types with respect to the information flow in on-going discourse. The discussion of many examples from the work of Xenophon makes this book interesting for both linguists and classical philologists.
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1 online resource (x, 277 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-268) and index. :
9789047406976 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Grammatical Observations on Euripides' Bacchae /
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Rijksbaron, A. Grammatical Observations on Euripides' Bacchae. 1990 'No other play of Euripides has been so much discussed as the Bacchae; very few have been the subject of such exact and careful study on the linguistic side'. Thus opens the preface to the first edition of Dodds' commentary. One might subscribe to these words nowadays even more readily than at their original date of publication (1944), if only because Dodds himself has added considerably to our understanding of the play. Nevertheless, as Dr Rijksbaron argues in this commentary-like book, the linguistic side may be due for a reappraisal. This reappraisal does not so much consist in applying the latest insights of general and Greek linguistics, but rather in making use of the impressive grammatical apparatus which is at the disposal of classical philologists, but whose value is not always fully acknowledged, as the commentaries on the Bacchae show. ASCP 1 (1990), 227 p. Cloth. - 32.00 EURO, ISBN: 9050630413
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1 online resource. :
9789004351639
9789050630412
Sophocles and the Greek language : aspects of diction, syntax and pragmatics /
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This volume offers an extensive overview of the various ways in which Sophocles' use of the Greek language is currently being studied. Greatly admired in antiquity, Sophocles' style only became a serious subject of investigation with Campbell's Introductory essay On the language of Sophocles (1879). Fourteen chapters, divided into three sections (diction, syntax, pragmatics), discuss the linguistic register and use of gnomai in Ajax' deception speech, Homeric intertextuality, the style of the Sophoclean satyr-plays in relation to tragedy and comedy, the relation between the repetition of words and focalization, the language of blindness, the image of 'fire', the use of deictic pronouns, the semantics of the middle-passive and of counterfactuals, the historic present and the constitution of the text, the suggestive power of descriptions, speech-acts, and strategies of politeness.
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1 online resource (xiv, 267 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [241]-249) and indexes. :
9789047417422 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Pelagonius and Latin veterinary terminology in the Roman Empire /
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The language of Latin veterinary medicine has never been systematically studied. This book seeks to elucidate the pathological and anatomical terminology of Latin veterinary treatises, and the general linguistic features of Pelagonius as a technical writer. Veterinary practice in antiquity cannot be related directly to that of the modern world. In antiquity a man could claim expertise in horse medicine without ever passing an examination. Owners often treated their own animals. The distinction between 'professional' and layman was thus blurred, and equally the distinction between 'scientific' terminology and laymen's terminology was not as clear-cut as it is today. The first part of the book is devoted to some of the non-linguistic factors which influenced the terminology in which horse diseases and their treatment were described.
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1 online resource (viii, 695 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 672-684) and indexes. :
9789004377363 :
0925-1421 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Cratylus : Plato's critique of naming /
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The Cratylus has puzzled many readers with its lengthy discussion of the 'true meanings' of more than a hundred Greek names. This book aims to give a coherent interpretation of the whole dialogue, paying particular attention to these etymologies. The book discusses the rival theories of naming offered by Cratylus, Hermogenes, and Socrates, arguing that Socrates presents a prescriptive theory, laying down what names should be, rather than describing what they are. This distinction between prescriptive and descriptive theories is elaborated and used to illuminate the etymologies themselves. After discussing possible sources for the etymologies, the author argues that the etymological section amounts to a Platonic critique of the muddled attitude of Greek poets and thinkers towards names.
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1 online resource (viii, 203 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 188-193) and indexes. :
9789004320796 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Aristotle : semantics and ontology.
:
This study intends to show that the ascription of many shortcomings or obscurities to Aristotle is due to the persistent misinterpetation of key notions in his works, including anachronistic perceptions of statement making. In the first volume Aristotle's semantics is culled from the Organon. The second volume presents Aristotle's ontology of the sublunar world, and pays special attention to his strategy of argument in light of his semantic views. The reconstruction of the semantic models that come forward as genuinely Aristotelian can give a new impetus to the study of Aristotelian philosophic and semantic thought.
:
1 online resource (xviii, 749 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004321144 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Two studies in Attic particle usage : Lysias and Plato /
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In the first part C.M.J. Sicking - by using two speeches by Lysias - discusses the articulation of the text by devices marking the beginning of sentences. A separate index offers some considerations bearing on the value and use of (1) five so-called 'interactive' particles and (2) some particles found in interrogative sentences. In the second part J.M. van Ophuijsen deals with ουν, ྄ρα, δῄ and τοίνυν, all of them traditionally regarded as 'inferential' particles. The discussion focuses on, but is not restricted to, Plato's Phaedo . There is an 'excursus' on ྄ρα in Herodotus. Both authors have adopted a deliberately eclectic approach, taking advantage of what modern linguistic research has to offer without at the same time neglecting what many generations of scholars from Hoogeveen to Denniston have contributed to our understanding of ancient Greek.
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1 online resource (xii, 175 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. xi-xii) and index. :
9789004329256 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Natural language and possible minds : how language uncovers the cognitive landscape of nature /
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In Natural Language and Possible Minds: How Language Uncovers the Cognitive Landscape of Nature Prakash Mondal attempts to demonstrate that language can reveal the hidden logical texture of diverse types of mentality in non-humans, contrary to popular belief. The widely held assumption in mainstream cognitive science is that language being humanly unique introduces an anthropomorphic bias in investigations into the nature of other possible minds. This book turns this around by formulating a lattice of mental structures distilled from linguistic structures constituting the cognitive building blocks of an ensemble of biological entities/beings. This turns out to have surprising consequences for machine cognition as well. Challenging mainstream views, this book will appeal to cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind, linguists and also cognitive ethologists.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004344204 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Philosophy of language and other matters in the work of Anton Marty : analysis and translations /
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One of the most important students of Franz Brentano was Anton Marty, who made it his task to develop a philosophy of language on the basis of Brentano's analysis of mind. It is most unfortunate that Marty does not receive the attention he deserves, primarily due to his detailed and distracting polemics. In the analysis presented here his philosophy of language and other aspects of his thought, such as his ontology (which ultimately diverges from Brentano's), are examined first and foremost in their positive rather than critical character. The analysis is moreover supplemented by translations of four important works by Marty, including his entire work On the Origin of Language . These are in fact the first English translations of any substantial writings by him. The resulting picture that emerges from the analysis and translations is that Marty has much to say that proves to be of enduring interest for the philosophy of language on a range of topics, especially the meanings of statements, of emotive expressions, and of names as regards both their communicative and their ontological aspects. The volume will be of interest not only to philosophers and historians of philosophy, but also to historians of linguistics and psychology.
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1 online resource (xiv, 374 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-369) and index. :
9789042031203 :
0167-4102 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.