Since its publication in 1994, Richard McKirahan's Philosophy
Before Socrates has become the standard sourcebook in Presocratic
philosophy. It provides a wide survey of Greek science,
metaphysics, and moral and political philosophy, from their roots
in myth to the philosophers and Sophists of the fifth century. A
comprehensive selection of fragments and testimonia, translated by
the author, is presented in the context of a thorough and
accessible discussion. An introductory chapter deals with the
sources of Presocratic and Sophistic texts and the special problems
of interpretation they present. In its second edition, this work
has been updated and expanded to reflect important new discoveries
and the most recent scholarship. Changes and additions have been
made throughout, the most significant of which are found in the
chapters on the Pythagoreans, Parmenides, Zeno, Anaxagoras, and
Empedocles, and the new chapter on Philolaus. The translations of
some passages have been revised, as have some interpretations and
discussions. A new Appendix provides translations of three
Hippocratic writings and the Derveni papyrus.