![]() Occasionally, White will mention when Diogenes misconstrues certain doctrines, such as in his summary of Aristotle's view of actuality and potentiality in book 5, but for the most part White is not seeking to write a commentary on the philosophers mentioned by Diogenes, instead using footnotes mostly to give historical context or track references to other works. The translation itself is clear and readable. Through his discussions of Diogenes' motivations and the views of philosophers in the imperial period, White shows that what Diogenes set himself to write was not a complete history of philosophy from its origins to the present day but, rather, a story of how philosophy reached its supposed peak in the Hellenistic era. Although Diogenes begins with a discussion about the supposed origins of philosophy and biographies of the seven sages, his work does not continue into Diogenes' present day (despite a few mentions of his contemporaries or near contemporaries, like Sextus Empiricus), instead stopping for the most part at the Hellenistic era, ending with Epicurus. He then moves to the Lives itself, addressing the motivations and thematic scope of the work, something that might be confusing to initial readers. ![]() To this end, White begins his edition with an excellent introduction that attempts to piece together the puzzle of Diogenes' life, working from the scanty biographical details we have of him, clues in the Lives, and the history of his era. White sets himself against this pessimistic interpretation of Diogenes, and endeavors to show both the genuine merits of his work and his worth as a historian. Yet, as a work, it is often criticized for a lack of originality and critical judgment, notable only because it happened to survive while all other philosophical histories of the era did not, or useful only because Diogenes had access to sources which are now lost to us. In addition to its valuable summaries of the doctrines of philosophers and their schools, it is often the best or, indeed, the only source available for biographical details of many figures. ![]() Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers occupies a unique place in the history of Western philosophy.
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