Brill Protagoras of Abdera: The Man, His Measure: 134 (Philosophia Antiqua, 134)

Protagoras of Abdera, Socrates’ older contemporary, is regarded as one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called sophistic movement. Instead of simply accepting the biased reports given by Plato and Aristotle about this sophist, the contributors to this volume review the complicated doxographical situation and make a case for Protagoras as a philosopher in his own right. Two major themes of this volume are Protagoras’ relativism and his case for a moral and political ideal, both of which are contrasted with the metaphysical idealism of his future opponents in the Academy and the mundane conventionalism typically associated with the sophists. It turns out that rather than a parasitic force of intellectual subversion, Protagoras may have been a prolific and original thinker aiming at a coherent and comprehensive view of man’s place in the world. About the Author Johannes M. van Ophuijsen teaches Philosophy and History of Philosophy at Utrecht University (Department of Philosophy and University College). His interests are in ontology and the philosophy of logic. He has published on the traditions of Platonism, Aristotelianism and Stoicism; most recently, together with Keimpe Algra, a translation of Philoponus, On Aristotle, Physics 4.1–5 (London, 2012). Dr Marlein van Raalte is lecturer in the Classics Deparment of Leiden University. She has published on Greek metre, Plato and Theophrastus (including a commentary on his Metaphysics). Dr Peter Stork formerly was associate professor in the Classics Department of Leiden University. He has published on Ancient Greek Linguistics and published source editions of several scholarchs of the Peripatetic School. Contributors: Noburu Notomi, Tazuko A. van Berkel, Michele Corradi, Adriaan Rademaker, Paul Demont, Adam Beresford, Bernd Manuwald, Paul Woodruff, Arnaud Macé, Job van Eck, Ugo Zilioli.