Francis MacDonald Cornford's Books

In this exploration of the "very first utterance of philosophers," F. M. Cornford showed that the remarkable burst of abstract speculation among pre-Socratic thinkers of the sixth century B.C. emerged directly from the religious thought of the preceding era in Greece. Combining profound classical scholarship with striking anthropological and sociological insight, Cornford rejected the post-Darwinian rationalist assumption that religion and philosophy are fundamentally different from each other. His book supplies a needed reminder of the intricate connections between critical scientific thought and social and emotional experience. As he probes the mythic antecedents of such persistent metaphysical concepts as Destiny, God, Soul, Substance, Nature, and Immortality, Cornford warns us that "unless we have some grasp of that history [of myth], we are not likely to understand the speculation, which, however scientific its spirit may be, constantly operates with these religious ideas, and is to a large extent confined in its movement within the limits already traced by them." Classicists, historians of religion, students of ancient history, and everyone concerned with the subject of myth will find this lucid and highly original work to be a source of rich insights about the organic nature and continuity of Western thought.

Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy Francis Macdonald Cornford (1874-1943)investigates the origin of Attic Comedy.

This is Volume III of ten in a series on Ancient Philosophy. First published in 1939, it looks at Parmenides' 'Way of Truth' and Plato's 'Parmendies' translated with an Introduction and a running commentary.

This is Volume IV of ten on a series of Ancient Philosophy. Originally published in 1937, this text offers Plato's 'Timaeus' translated with a running commentary discussing each problem of interpretation.

This is Volume V of ten on a series on Ancient Philosophy that includes the works of Aristotle, Plato and the history of Greek philosophy. Originally published in 1935, this study looks ‘the ‘Theaetetus’ and the ‘Sophist’ of Plato translated with a running commentary.

In Platonic Engagements, Helen, a college senior majoring in business and philosophy, raises central questions about ideal individual morality, social justice, education, political philosophies and management based on Plato's principles in the Republic. Plato's moral relevance to current issues in democratic capitalism is put to the test in this contemporary philosophical dialogue.

A reprint of the Routledge edition of 1935.

This volume contains the text of Francis Cornford's 1931 inaugural lecture upon becoming Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy in the University of Cambridge.

In this book, F.M. Cornford explains why the life and work of Socrates stand out as marking a turning-point in the history of thought. He shows how Socrates revolutionized the concept of philosophy, converting it from the study of Nature to the study of the human soul, the meaning of right and wrong, and the ends for which we ought to live. This is, in fact, the story of the whole creative period of Greek philosophy - the Ionian nature of science before Socrates, Socrates himself, and his chief followers, Plato and his pupil Aristotle. It tells of the different contributions each made, and shows how within three centuries the Greek tradition grew to maturity and the fullness of intellectual power.

Book's by Francis MacDonald Cornford

From Religion to Philosophy

From Religion to Philosophy

The Origin of Attic Comedy

The Origin of Attic Comedy

The Origin of Attic Comedy

The Origin of Attic Comedy

Plato and Parmenides

Plato and Parmenides

Plato's Cosmology

Plato's Cosmology

Plato's Theory of Knowledge

Plato's Theory of Knowledge

Platonic Engagements

Platonic Engagements

Plato's Cosmology

Plato's Cosmology

The Laws of Motion in Ancient Thought

The Laws of Motion in Ancient Thought

Plato's Cosmology

Plato's Cosmology

The Laws of Motion in Ancient Thought

The Laws of Motion in Ancient Thought

Plato and Parmenides

Plato and Parmenides

Before and after Socrates

Before and after Socrates

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