Prolepsis and Ennoia in the Early StoaWalter de Gruyter, 15 dec 2009 - 288 pagina's This book reconstructs the Stoic doctrine of prolepsis. Prolepses are conceptions that develop naturally from ordinary experience. They are often identified with preconceptions (i.e. the first conceptions one unconsciously forms of something). However, this is inconsistent with the Stoics’ claim that prolepseis are criteria of truth. Rather, prolepseis are analytically true claims embedded within one’s ordinary conceptual scheme (e.g. the good is beneficial). When they have been articulated and systematized, prolepseis can be used to judge conceptual claims that go beyond the scope of sense-perceptual knowledge (e.g. pleasure is the good). The Stoics often refer to prolepseis as “common conceptions” to emphasize that they are shared by everyone, although in most people they remain unarticulated. This reconstruction suggests that Chrysippus was influenced by Platonic recollection to a greater extent than previously recognized. It supports the orthodoxy of Epictetus’ statements about prolepsis and suggests that later authors who assimilate the Epicurean and Stoic doctrines were misled by the polemical attacks of Carneades. The argument of the book is supported by a comprehensive collection of fragments relating to prolepsis in Epicurus, the early Stoa, Cicero, Epictetus, Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and Alexander of Aphrodisias. |
Inhoudsopgave
Are Porlepses and Common Conceptions Identical? | 1 |
Prolepsis and Common Conceptions as Criteria of Truth | 23 |
Stages in the Development of Reason | 48 |
Menos Paradox and the Early Stoa | 72 |
The Formation of Prolepses | 80 |
Prolepsis in Ordinary and Philosophical Cognition | 110 |
Are the Stoics Empiricists or Rationalists? | 145 |
The Usage of Πρόληψις ́Εννοια and Related Terms | 152 |
The Early Stoa | 172 |
Cicero and Seneca | 181 |
Epictetus | 193 |
Plutarch | 208 |
Sextus Empiricus | 227 |
Alexander of Aphrodisias | 244 |
Alcinous | 250 |
253 | |