Description:
Hermann Diels had already dealt with the topic of ancient doxographies in his dissertation and later published the series of ancient Aristotle commentaries. This laid the foundation for publishing the teachings of the philosophers before (and sometimes even after) Socrates in a clear form. This was preceded by a collection of fragments by authors in 1901, who presented their teachings in condensed language. [1]There had, of course, been fragmentary editions before, but in a form that scarcely allowed any real distinction between the teaching of the original philosophers and the ingredients of the narrators; moreover, this whole complex was once again overlaid by the editors' comments. In general, understanding was made more difficult by the attempt, which was justified in itself, to bring the fragments into a systematic context.
It is true that Diels stuck to the organizational principle of his predecessors, namely to first reproduce the biographical and doxographical testimonies on a philosopher, and…
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