This text was the principal prose work of the English poet and philosopher Thomas Stanley (1625-78). First published in four volumes (1655, 1656, 1660 and 1662), Stanley's "History" is a major work in the development of the history of philosophy as a genre and has long remained the standard text on the Greek and Roman philosophers. As the first history of philosophy to be written in English it was the authoritative reference work well into the 18th century and saw four English editions as well as a Latin translation which secured its European reputation. The work takes Diogenes Laertius's great biographical works, "Lives and Opinions of the Famous Philosophers" (circa 3rd century) as its model, and extensively examines the ancient schools (sects) of philosophy. At the same time Stanley draws from other sources, including Pierre Gassendi's "De Vita, Moribus et Doctrina Epicuri" (1647) for Epicureanism, and provides some independent work on Aristotle and the Stoics.
The work also contains a series of critical biographies from Thales to Carneades and is a fine example from the early modern period of a doxographical (method of organization by topics or subjects) and biographical approach to writing the history of philosophy.
- ISBN10 185506829X
- ISBN13 9781855068292
- Publish Date 15 October 2000 (first published December 1975)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 25 January 2010
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint Thoemmes Continuum
- Edition Facsimile of 1795-6 ed
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 864
- Language English