Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Leben und Meinungen berühmter Philosophen
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About 11 h 30 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who enjoy anecdotes, witty sayings and strange deaths will love this book, as will anyone curious about the beginnings of Western thought and its vivid human portraits.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Who taught the Greeks to call themselves lovers of wisdom? According to this book, it was Pythagoras, who told a tyrant at Sicyon that only a god can be wise and that a person can only be a friend of wisdom.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers was written in Greek by Diogenes Laertius, probably in the third century of our era. It runs in ten books, from Thales of Miletus to Epicurus. The author is a collector, not a theorist, and he sets down what earlier writers said, even when they disagree. For many of these thinkers, this is nearly the only source that survives. You meet Thales in a ditch, Diogenes asking a king for sunlight, and Epicurus writing cheerfully on his last day.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1Philosophy began with the Greeks, argues DiogenesFree
- 2Thales wins the first title of wise man
- 3Solon gives Athens laws and warns of tyranny
- 4The other sages teach in short, sharp sayings
- 5Socrates leaves pupils who disagree about everything
- 6Plato joins noble ancestry, travel and the Forms
- 7Aristotle founds the Lyceum and his heirs write wills
- 8The Cynics teach virtue by living with almost nothing
- 9Zeno and the Stoics seek a life that follows nature
- 10Pythagoras, doubters and Epicurus close the story
Punkt 1 von 10
Philosophy began with the Greeks, argues Diogenes
The book opens with an argument over origins. Some writers claimed that wisdom began among foreign peoples, such as the Persian Magi, the Babylonian Chaldeans, the Indian Gymnosophists and the Celtic Druids. The author lays out their customs, then rejects the whole idea. Philosophy belongs to the Greeks, he says, and the very name shows it.
The word has a story. Pythagoras was the first to call himself a philosopher. He said that only God is wise, and that a person can only be a friend of wisdom. Before him, the learned were called wise men.
Next comes a family tree. The author divides the early thinkers into an Ionian line, from Thales to Socrates, and an Italian line, from Pythagoras to Epicurus. He reports rival counts of the schools without choosing between them. Every life is a link in a chain of teachers and pupils, and every link comes with rival accounts. Diogenes organizes philosophy as a chain that begins in Greece.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Questions about Leben und Meinungen berühmter Philosophen
What is The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers about?
It gives short biographies of Greek thinkers from Thales to Epicurus, with their sayings, teachings, wills, writings and deaths. It is built as a chain of teachers and pupils and mixes anecdote with summaries of each school's views.
Who was Diogenes Laertius?
He was an ancient writer who composed this work in Greek, probably in the third century of our era. Very little is known about his own life, so the book itself is the main evidence of his interests and sources.
Who is the Diogenes in the book, and was he the same as the author?
The Cynic Diogenes of Sinope is one of the thinkers described, with many stories about his barrel, his lamp and his talk with Alexander. He is a different person from the author, Diogenes Laertius.
Is The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers worth reading?
It offers lively portraits, witty sayings and clear outlines of Platonic, Stoic, Cynic, sceptic and Epicurean ideas. Because the lives are short and self-contained, you can enjoy them one at a time and still follow the larger story.
Cite this edition
Diogenes Laertius. The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lives-and-opinions-of-eminent-philosophers.
Diogenes Laertius. (2026). The lives and opinions of eminent philosophers. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lives-and-opinions-of-eminent-philosophers (Original work published ca. 250)
Diogenes Laertius. The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lives-and-opinions-of-eminent-philosophers.
@book{diogeneslaertius2026lives,
author = {Diogenes Laertius},
title = {The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lives-and-opinions-of-eminent-philosophers},
note = {First published ca. 250}
}
