TY - BOOK AU - Osborne,Catherine TI - Presocratic philosophy: a very short introduction T2 - Very short introductions SN - 9780192840943 (pbk.) AV - B187.5 .O82 2004 U1 - 182 22 PY - 2004/// CY - Oxford, New York PB - Oxford University Press KW - Pre-Socratic philosophers N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; Lost words, forgotten worlds -- Puzzles about first principles -- Zeno's tortoise -- Reality and appearance : more adventures in metaphysics -- Heraclitus -- Pythagoras and other mysteries -- Spin doctors of the 5th century N2 - "Generations of philosophers, both ancient and modern, have traced their inspiration back to the Presocratics. Part of the fascination stems from the fact that little of what they wrote survives. Here Osborne invites her readers to dip their toes into the fragmentary remains of thinkers from Thales to Pythagoras, Heraclitus to Protagoras, and to try to reconstruct the moves that they were making, to support stories that Western philosophers and historians of philosophy like to tell about their past. This book covers the invention of western philosophy: introducing to us the first thinkers to explore ideas about the nature of reality, time, and the origin of the universe." ER -