Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind (Hellenistic Culture & Society)

This is a survey of Stoic and Epicurian ideas about the soul - an introduction to two ancient schools whose belief in the soul's physicality offer parallels to modern approaches in the philosophy of mind. Annas incorporates recent thinking on Hellenistic philosophy of mind. In part, the Hellenistic epoch was a "scientific" period that broke with tradition in ways that have an affinity with the modern shift from the 17th and 18th centuries to the present day. Hellenistic philosophy of the soul, Annas argues, is in fact a philosophy of mind, especially in the treatment of such topics as perception, thought and action.