Proof, Knowledge, and Scepticism ─ Essays in Ancient Philosophy

Proof, Knowledge, and Scepticism is the third volume of Jonathan Barnes' papers on ancient philosophy. It contains twenty-two pieces which turn about epistemological matters. The papers have all been brushed down, and some of them have been revised. One or two of them appear for the first time in English.

The first three pieces form a prologue (and link this volume to its predecessor): they deal with certain ancient views about the relation between logic on the one hand and knowledge and science on the other. After that, the book divides into two unequal parts. The first part is concerned with proof, five of its ten chapters discussing Aristotle and three. The second is chiefly occupied with scepticism--more particularly, with the Pyrrhonian version of ancient scepticism. A final piece says something about the Book of Ecclesiastes.

The essays in this volume, some of which are less familiar than others, are written with brio: anyone with an interest in ancient philosophy will find them amusing.

Jonathan Barnes taught at Oxford for 25 years, being a Fellow first of Oriel and then of Balliol. He then spent eight years at the University of Geneva, before becoming Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the Sorbonne. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many publications include The Ontological Argument (Macmillan, 1972); Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (Clarendon Press, 2nd edition 1993); Aristotle (OUP, 1982); The Complete Works of Aristotle (Princeton UP, 1984); Truth, etc. (Clarendon Press, 2007); Method and Metaphysics: Essays in Ancient Philosophy I (OUP, 2011); and Logical Matters: Essays in Ancient Philosophy II (OUP, 2012); The Modes of Scepticism (with J. Annas; CUP, 1985); Early Greek Philosophy (Penguin, 1987); The Toils of Scepticism (CUP, 1990); The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (CUP, 1995); Porphyry: Introduction (Clarendon Press, 2003).