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The Presocratic Philosophers by Jonathan Barnes

Review by: Edward HusseyGreece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Oct., 1979), pp. 191-192Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association

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REVIEWS

The Presocratic Philosophers. Vol. 1: Thales to Zeno; Vol. 2. Empedocles to

Democritus. The Arguments of the Philosophers. By Jonathan Barnes.

Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, Boston, and Henley, 1979. pp. xiv +

378 and x + 353. ?10-00 net each (two-volume set ?18-00 net).

'The Presocratic Philosophers had one common characteristic of supreme importance' writes

Jonathan Barnes; 'they were rational. And it is their rationality which this book aspires toexhibit and celebrate' (vol. 1, p.4). To this end, Barnes presents a great deal of the ancient

evidence in English translation, offers interpretations, and comments as a philosopher on the

theses and the arguments which emerge. It will be generally agreedthat rationality is indeedof the essence of Presocratic activity, though the very concept of rationality needs philosophi-cal clarification, perhaps more than Barnes gives it. What is less clear in advance is whether a

particular emphasis on rationality, as opposed to other characteristics of the Presocratics, will

bring progress in understanding beyond what has already been achieved. Barnes's book is avaluable attempt, but it does not answer the question decisively.

There is another question, related but distinct: whether a philosopher is as such better able,ceteris paribus, to understand the Presocratics than the mere scholar who has not enjoyed a

philosophical training. The claim implicit in the blurb, and in many places throughout the

book, is that this is indeed so. Barnes even seems inclined at times to write of scholars collec-

tively in much the same contemptuous tones that Parmenides reserves for 'mortals' ('besottedscholars'; 'the long scholarly discussion ... is empty'; and the like). But of course Barnes is

himself an excellent scholar in the field, and as a philosopher who is also a scholar he is well

equipped to make the characteristic contributions of a philosopher: the disentangling and

clarification of issues and the sharp formulation of positions. That seems to me to be one ofthe merits of the book.

There are also somegeneral problems

about the Presocratics that call forphilosophicaltreatment. One such is the 'demarcation problem': how if at all are the Presocratics different

from previous cosmological writers, and from contemporaries like Pherecydes? Are thePresocratics more rational, more scientific? What in any case are the characteristic marks of

rationality and of science? Barnes's discussion of the Milesians as scientists is clear and usefulwithin its limits, but it is a pity that it skates past the really live issues about the nature ofscience. (Implausibly, he holds that Presocratics did not usually subject their predecessors' andeach others' theories to critical discussion, on the grounds that there is little direct evidence.But the lack of evidence on this point is probably due to 'selection effects'; and that there wasan Ionian tradition of critical discussion is not only intrinsically likely, but shown by such textsas Herodotus on the flooding of the Nile, and the essay On Ancient Medicine.)

Other general questions of a philosophical nature are raised by Barnes when he writes

(vol. 2, pp. 173 f.), apropos of his claim that certain theories of %pvxiwere materialistic: 'If

our modern categories of materialism and dualism are well-defined, then any intelligible theoryof the soul is either materialistic or dualistic ... Presocratic theories may be too crude, or too

vague, or too confused, to be categorised; but in that case they are too crude, too vague, ortoo confused to be understood and interpreted.' In general the claim seems dubious, and it is

surprisingthat Barnes does not stop to argue for it. Can we not understand perfectly well manystatements which arevague on some particular point, either in just being non-specific about itor in using ill-defined terms? The question is important; so too, for the study of the Presocra-

tics, is the partly subordinate question about the applicability of such terms as 'materialist' to

early Presocratic theories. Here too Barnes's brief remarksseem to me not adequate to the

problem, and his own interpretations I believe to suffer from an incautious application of theterm.

I have left little space to mention details, so it must be stressed that it is in the manifolddetails of its

interpretationsof

manydiverse thinkers that the

principalvalue of the book lies.

Not that Barnes's interpretations are everywhere convincing; his choices of solution sometimesseem brusque and arbitrary, and where he offers substantial novelties he invites disagreement.

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192 REVIEWS

His Parmenides is a muddled proponent of a plurality of (brightly coloured) spherical atoms-Barnes concedes that much of fr. 8 is exceedingly difficult yet holds that it neverthelessenforces an interpretation hopelessly at variance with all other ancient testimony. On

Empedocles' KaOappol,Barnes has an attractive reinterpretation of the

6ai•poveo,

which mayremove at least one of the blocks to a reconciliation of the poem with the physical doctrines.As to Democritean ethics, Barnessupports two implausible claims: (a) that there is no evidenceof a moral system ('his reflexions on euest6 offer no moral speculations at all ... [but] a

systematic theory of prudence'), (b) that this 'practical philosophy has no metaphysical or

physical basis'. To be sure, evidence is scarce here; but the claims are intrinsically improbableand the supporting arguments few and weak.

All this will no doubt be much debated. Specialists, even when they disagree,will be grate-ful for Barnes's sharp, well-articulated formulations-a pity, though, that he is given to over-

indulgence in pointless metaphor -and for a host of illuminating and informative remarkson

many topics. There is also an excellent bibliography. The volumes are accurately and

attractively produced.EDWARD HUSSEY

Reading Greek. Joint Association of Classical Teachers' Greek Course. 2 volumes.

Text: pp. xvi + 182, with illustrations: ?2-95 net. Grammar, Vocabulary, and

Exercises: pp. x + 366: ?4-00 net. Cambridge U.P., 1978.1

The publication of these two volumes, which form the first part of the JACT Greek Course,

may be hailed as the most important event for the teaching of Classics at universities for manyyears. All British universities now make provision for beginners' courses in Greek, and thosewho teach such courses know how difficult it can be to provide their students with materialswhich meet their needs in their first year. Those needs are, above all, the acquisition of speed,accuracy, and efficiency in the readingof texts written by Greek authors, and the gaining ofas sensitive an

understandingof Greek culture as is

possiblein the time available. Some

teachers have valiantly produced their own teaching materials; others have relied in the mainon one or more of a number of published courses. Valuable though these published coursesare in their own ways, each has serious limitations, and anyone who has seen something ofthe JACT course during the time of its development will have come to realize that here 'nescio

quid maius nascitur'.The course's aim is - to quote from the preface - 'to enable students to read fifth- and

fourth-century Attic Greek, Homer and Herodotus, with some fluency and intelligence in oneto two years'. The two volumes which make up this first part are to be used in conjunction,but it may be helpful for the purpose of this review to describe them separately. The Textcontains substantial passages of continuous Greek, carefully graded. In the earliersections thisis made-up Greek, though the subject-matter is always derived from classical sources. Gradually,however, the made-up elements are reduced until, by Part Five, Demosthenes and Plato come

before us with very little change, and Parts Six and Seven present Herodotus' story ofAdrastus and much of the Greek of Odyssey 6 without any adaptation at all. One cannot fail

to be struck by the intelligent way in which all the texts are handled and presented, and thatwithout ever forgetting the social and historical context which gives them a meaning beyondthe solely grammatical and syntactical. The Grammar,Vocabulary, and Exercises is again the

product of sensitive and imaginative thinking. It is to be used in step with the Text, and itsmain part (pp. 1-258) contains 'running vocabularies' and 'learningvocabularies' for eachsubsection of the text, together with a 'running grammar'and exercises (including English-Greek exercises) which are introduced at various points. This is followed by a very usefulReference Grammar,a series of excellent Language Surveys (which are worthwhile readingfor any student of the Greek language, beginner or otherwise), a Total Vocabulary of thewords that should have been learnt, and a Vocabulary for the English-Greek exercises.

A feature of the course whichpleases

mevery

much is that it does notattempt

to cuttoo many linguistic corners, or suggest (as is the case with some shorter courses) that students

1. Separate reviews, one by a university teacher and the other by a school teacher, follow.

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