Doxography ( – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical

historians A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, describing the points of view of past

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

s and

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

s. The term was coined by the German classical scholar

Hermann Alexander Diels Hermann Alexander Diels (; 18 May 1848 – 4 June 1922) was a German classical scholar, who was influential in the area of early Greek philosophy and is known for his standard work ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker''. Diels helped to import the ...

In Ancient Greek philosophy

A great many philosophical works have been lost; our limited knowledge of such lost works comes chiefly through the doxographical works of later philosophers, commentators, and biographers. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy lists the following works as being representative doxographies: *

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

- '' Academica'', '' De Finibus'', ''

De Natura Deorum ''De Natura Deorum'' (''On the Nature of the Gods'') is a philosophical dialogue by Roman Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three books that discuss the theological views of the Hellenistic philosophies of ...

'', '' De Fato'', ''

De Officiis ''De Officiis'' (''On Duties'', ''On Obligations'', or ''On Moral Responsibilities'') is a 44 BC treatise by Marcus Tullius Cicero divided into three books, in which Cicero expounds his conception of the best way to live, behave, and observe mor ...

'' * Aetius - '' Vetusta Placita'' *

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

- ''

Stromata The ''Stromata'' (), a mistake for ''Stromateis'' (Στρωματεῖς, "Patchwork," i.e., ''Miscellanies''), attributed to Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215), is the third of a trilogy of works regarding the Christian life. The oldest ...

'' *

Diogenes Laertius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek phi ...

- '' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' *

Hippolytus of Rome Hippolytus of Rome ( , ; Romanized: , – ) was a Bishop of Rome and one of the most important second–third centuries Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communitie ...

- '' Refutation of All Heresies'' Philosophers such as

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

also act as doxographers, as their comments on the ideas of their predecessors indirectly tell us what their predecessors' beliefs were. Plato's '' Defense of Socrates'', for example, tells us much of what we know about the natural philosophy of

Anaxagoras Anaxagoras (; , ''Anaxagóras'', 'lord of the assembly'; ) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. In later life he was charged ...

Successions of Philosophers

''Successions of Philosophers'' were works whose purpose was to depict the philosophers of different schools in terms of a line of succession of which they were a part. From the 3rd to the 1st centuries BC there were ''Successions'' () written by

Antigonus of Carystus Antigonus of Carystus (; ; ), a Greek writer on various subjects, flourished in the 3rd century BCE. After some time spent at Athens and travelling, he was summoned to the court of Attalus I (241 BCE–197 BCE) of Pergamum. His chief wo ...

, Sotion, Heraclides Lembos (an epitome of Sotion), Sosicrates,

Alexander Polyhistor Lucius Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor (; flourished in the first half of the 1st century BC; also called Alexander of Miletus) was a Greek scholar who was enslaved by the Romans during the Mithridatic War and taken to Rome as a tutor. After his r ...

, Jason of Nysa,

Antisthenes of Rhodes Antisthenes of Rhodes (; ) was an ancient Greek historian. He took an active part in the political affairs of his country, and wrote a history of his own time, which, notwithstanding his bias towards his native island of Rhodes, is spoken of in ter ...

, and Nicias of Nicaea. The surviving '' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' by

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

(3rd century AD) draws upon this tradition. In addition to these, there were often histories of single schools. Such works were created by Phaenias of Eresus (''On the Socratics''), Idomeneus of Lampsacus (''On the Socratics''), Sphaerus (''On the Eretrian Philosophers''), and Straticles (''On Stoics''). Among the

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

found at the

Villa of the Papyri The Villa of the Papyri (, also known as ''Villa dei Pisoni'' and in early excavation records as the ''Villa Suburbana'') was an ancient Roman Empire, Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named after its un ...

Herculaneum Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of ...

, there are works devoted to the successions of the

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...

, Academics, and

Epicurean Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious s ...

s. In a later period,

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

produced ''On the First Philosophers and their Successors'' and ''On the

Cyrenaic The Cyrenaics or Kyrenaics (), were a sensual hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century Common Era, BCE, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are believed to have been formalized b ...

s'', and

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...

wrote ''On

's Sect'' and ''On the Hedonistic Sect'' (Epicureans). There were often biographies of individual philosophers with a brief description of his successors. Of such nature were

Aristoxenus Aristoxenus of Tarentum (; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Peripatetic school, Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musi ...

's ''Life of Pythagoras'', Andronicus's ''Life of Aristotle'',

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''Life of Aristotle'', and

Iamblichus Iamblichus ( ; ; ; ) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who determined a direction later taken by Neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras. In addition to his philosophical co ...

's ''Life of Pythagoras''.

In other traditions

Persian doxography

The Persian Dabestan-e Mazaheb discusses numerous philosophies including several in Persia and India. Its author appears to belong to a Persian Sipásíán tradition which differs somewhat from orthodox Zoroastrianism. Its authorship is disputed. Some scholars have suggested that Kay-Khosrow Esfandiyar, the son of Azar Kayvan may have written it.

Jain doxography

Haribhadra (8th century CE) was one of the leading proponents of ''anekāntavāda''. He was the first classical author to write a doxography, a compendium of a variety of intellectual views. This attempted to contextualise Jain thoughts within the broad framework. It interacted with the many possible intellectual orientations available to Indian thinkers around the 8th century.Dundas, Paul (2002) p. 228

Islamic doxography

Islamic doxography is an aggregate of theosophical works (like '' Kitab al-Maqalat'' by Abu Mansur Al Maturidi) concerning the aberrations in Islamic sects and streams.

References

External links

{{Authority control Works about the history of philosophy Documents Philosophical literature