Divination in the Ancient World, from Plato to the Neo-Platonists by Way of Aristotle and the Stoics. A Review of Peter T. Struck’s Divination and Human Nature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.34134Keywords:
cognition, divination, epistemology, Greco-Roman philosophyAbstract
Divination is nowadays considered a pseudoscience or a parlor trick. Consequently, we are inclined to dismiss the ancient Greco-Romans’ interest in it as misguided and an intellectual dead end. But a new book by Peter Struck traces an intellectual history of divination from Plato to Aristotle and from the Stoics to the Neoplatonists, re-interpreting the concept as an early attempt to make sense of what we today call intuition.
References
Algra, K. 2003. “Stoic Theology”. In The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 153–78. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.007
Barbera, J. 2008. “Sleep and Dreaming in Greek and Roman Philosophy”. Sleep Medicine 9: 906–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2007.10.010
Beerden, K. 2013. Worlds Full of Signs: Ancient Greek Divination in Context. Leiden and Boston: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004256309
Brunschwig, J. 2003. “Stoic Metaphysics”. In The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 206–32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.009
Feyerabend, P. 2016. Philosophy of Nature. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity.
Frede, D. 2003. “Stoic Determinism”. In: The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 179–205. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.008
Gigerenzer, G. 2007. Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious. New York: Viking.
Harris, W. V. 2003. “Roman Opinions about the Truthfulness of Dreams”. The Journal of Roman Studies 93: 18–34. https://doi.org/10.2307/3184637
Johnston, S. I. 2009. Ancient Greek Divination. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell-Wiley.
Pigliucci, M. 2017. “Stoicism”. Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/stoicism/. Last accessed: 15 March 2017.
Pigliucci, M., and M. Boudry, eds. 2013. Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226051826.001.0001
Struck, P. T. 2016. Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity. Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400881116
Velickovic, V. 2015. “What Everyone Should Know about Statistical Correlation”. American Scientist 103(1): 26–29. https://doi.org/10.1511/2015.112.26
White, M. J. 2003. “Stoic Natural Philosophy”. In The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 124–52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.006
Barbera, J. 2008. “Sleep and Dreaming in Greek and Roman Philosophy”. Sleep Medicine 9: 906–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2007.10.010
Beerden, K. 2013. Worlds Full of Signs: Ancient Greek Divination in Context. Leiden and Boston: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004256309
Brunschwig, J. 2003. “Stoic Metaphysics”. In The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 206–32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.009
Feyerabend, P. 2016. Philosophy of Nature. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity.
Frede, D. 2003. “Stoic Determinism”. In: The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 179–205. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.008
Gigerenzer, G. 2007. Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious. New York: Viking.
Harris, W. V. 2003. “Roman Opinions about the Truthfulness of Dreams”. The Journal of Roman Studies 93: 18–34. https://doi.org/10.2307/3184637
Johnston, S. I. 2009. Ancient Greek Divination. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell-Wiley.
Pigliucci, M. 2017. “Stoicism”. Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/stoicism/. Last accessed: 15 March 2017.
Pigliucci, M., and M. Boudry, eds. 2013. Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226051826.001.0001
Struck, P. T. 2016. Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity. Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400881116
Velickovic, V. 2015. “What Everyone Should Know about Statistical Correlation”. American Scientist 103(1): 26–29. https://doi.org/10.1511/2015.112.26
White, M. J. 2003. “Stoic Natural Philosophy”. In The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, ed. B. Inwood, 124–52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL052177005X.006
Published
2018-03-29
Issue
Section
Review Article
How to Cite
Pigliucci, M. (2018). Divination in the Ancient World, from Plato to the Neo-Platonists by Way of Aristotle and the Stoics. A Review of Peter T. Struck’s Divination and Human Nature. Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 3(1-2), 190-197. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.34134
