"Excellent, creative, new structure for teaching Ancient Philosophy! Finally, someone is brave enough to break away from the old tired paradigm of chronological surveys. Chapters are well-organized into interesting, pivotal topics with easy format for creating debates. Also, Irwin is to be praised for incorporating Stoic, Epicurian, and Skeptic responses to Plato and Aristotle. Well done!"—Daryl L.Hale, Western Carolina University
"The best way to understand past philosophers and their preoccupations is to read them. In this fine collection, Professor Irwin makes that possible across a broad range of issues in ancient philosophy. His clear, well-informed, and penetrating commentary will be of immense help to those new to the texts."—Roger Crisp, St. Anne's College, Oxford
"An exceptionally useful source, this volume will meet a variety of pedagogical needs....Irwin's philosophical explorations are crisp, lucid, and economical; and his ample translations of primary sources achieve an admirable balance between the sometimes competing demands of accuracy and accessibility. Students will be hard pressed to find anything to rival this work for its comprehensiveness, clarity, or sheer philosophical acumen."—Christopher Shields, University of Colorado at Boulder
"This is a unique approach to the study of classical thought, one that gives beginning students far more help than they ordinarily receive from existing collections of historical texts."—Richard Kraut, Northwestern University
"[Irwin's] analysis of the topics and his presentation of primary and secondary readings is lucid and fairminded, drawing on his expertise in a way that is genuinely helpful to beginners in the subject....I find it difficult to imagine how this ambitious project could have been better executed."—Christopher Gill, University of Exeter
