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Shaul Tor presents an illuminating and wide-ranging treatment of the relation between the epistemology and theology of Hesiod, Xenophanes, Parmenides, and, to a lesser extent, Empedocles. Over six detailed chapters, he combines philosophical innovation with philological and cultural sensitivity to offer new and fascinating insights on several widely discussed and difficult issues of early Greek philosophy. In his first chapter (‘Rationality and Irrationality, Philosophy and Religion’), Tor surveys the scholarly division between ‘rationalizing’ and ‘mysticizing’ readings of early Greek philosophers. His treatment is thorough and nuanced and helps to render with great clarity the assumptions underlying much modern analysis. Starting from the observation that reason and inspiration are generally treated as dichotomous, he begins with a consideration of some traditional ‘rationalizers’ (the Milesians, Hecataeus, the Hippocratics, etc.) and notes that none provide the sort of straightforward separation and rejection of the divine that standard accounts might lead one to assume. He provides a particularly useful critique of the distinction between the rational and irrational and the philosophical and the religious, arguing that the epistemological developments of early Greek philosophy are ‘an essentially theological enterprise’ (48).
1 Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology. By Tor, Shaul. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp xiv + 406. Hardback £90, ISBN: 978-1-107-02816-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 Interconnectedness. The Living World of the Early Greek Philosophers. By Zatta, Claudia. Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, 2017. Pp 305. Paperback €39, ISBN: 978-3-89665-723-7Google Scholar.
3 Cosmology and Politics in Plato's Later Works. By O'Meara, Dominic J.. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp xii + 157. 8 illustrations. Hardback £75, ISBN: 978-1-107-18327-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 Apuleius’ Platonism. The Impersonation of Philosophy. By Fletcher, Richard. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. xii + 319. Hardback £70, ISBN: 978-1-107-02547-9; paperback £20.99, ISBN: 978-1-107-65911-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
5 A New Work by Apuleius. The Lost Third Book of the De Platone. Edited and translated by Stover, Justin A.. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp xix + 216. 5 b/w illustrations. Hardback £86, ISBN: 978-0-19-873574-8Google Scholar.
6 Rereading Ancient Philosophy. Old Chestnuts and Sacred Cows. Edited by Harte, V. and Woolf, R.. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. xiv + 307. Hardback £75, ISBN: 978-1-107-19497-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
7 How To Be Free. An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life. Epictetus. Encheiridion and Selections from Discourses. Translated and with an introduction by Long, A. A.. Princeton, NJ, and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2018. Pp liii + 173. Hardback £13.99, ISBN: 978-0-691-17771-7Google Scholar.