The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.

Everything we half-remember about the ancient philosophers — the barrel Diogenes lived in, the deaths, the retorts, the schools that quarrelled for centuries — flows in large part from this one gossipy, indispensable book.

What it's about

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius is a survey of the Greek philosophers from the earliest thinkers through the major schools of the classical and Hellenistic ages. For each figure it offers biography, anecdote, sayings and a summary of doctrines, moving from the Presocratics through Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to the Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics and others. It is part biography, part doxography, part collection of memorable tales.

Themes

The work is animated by curiosity about how philosophers actually lived, and by the ancient conviction that a thinker's life and teaching illuminate each other. It preserves debates, rivalries and the human character behind abstract ideas, transmitting the wisdom and the personalities of a vanished intellectual world.

Why it still matters

For many ancient philosophers, Diogenes Laertius is our chief or only source; without him whole doctrines and lives would be lost. Endlessly quoted and mined by scholars, it remains the essential starting point for the history of Greek philosophy — and, quite apart from its scholarly value, a thoroughly entertaining read.

Who it's for

For students of philosophy and the ancient world, for readers who enjoy biography and anecdote, and for anyone who wants to meet the great Greek thinkers as living, arguing, eccentric human beings rather than names in a footnote.