The Presocratics in the Herculaneum Papyri
History of Philosophy
Final Report Abstract
The project "Die Vorsokratiker in den Herkulanensischen Papyri" has provided for the first time in scholarship a complete catalogue and a comprehensive edition, with an English translation and commentary, of all the Herculanean testimonia to the Presocratic philosophers. With this work, it will be possible to easily find important testimonia concerning the Presocratic philosophers (from the Milesians to the Sophists) who are only partially considered in the classical Diels/Kranz collection or are cited in now outdated editions. In particular, this work advances scholarship on the Presocratics in regards to epistemology and theology. Both of these fields are analyzed according to the philosophical view of Epicurus and the Epicureans (above all Philodemus), a view contrary both to so-called ‘skepticism’ and ‘atheism’. Several testimonia better clarify the legacy of Peripatetic (viz. Theophrastean) doxography (and philosophy) in the main works by Epicurus (especially in his "On Nature") and by Philodemus (especially in his "On Piety"). Among the most significant scientific outcomes, the following are to be mentioned: the attribution of an earlier date to the so-called ‘skepticism’ of Xenophanes; the complete reconstruction of the Epicurean reception of Democritus (in addition to that preserved in Epicurus’ "Epistles"), with particular reference to the problem of the movement of atoms and of human freedom; new testimonia on Nausiphanes’ concept of "physiologia", Anaxagoras’ theology, and Empedocles’ epistemology; new texts for better comparing the doxographical sections of Philodemus’ "On Piety" with those of Cicero’s "On the Nature of the Gods", which update Hermann Diels’ treatment of this subject in his renowned "Doxographi Graeci". Furthermore, the project was not limited only to the Herculaneum Papyri, but it also successfully attempted to place the research within a wider analysis of the papyrological “Traditio Praesocratica”, concentrating on the Graeco-Egyptian Papyri and the Derveni Papyrus as well. In order to situate this work within a wider context of research on the Presocratics, an International Workshop was organized at the University of Trier on September 22nd-24th, 2016. The greatest experts of Presocratic philosophy and of philosophical papyrology around the world participated in this workshop.
