Truth and Relativism in Ancient Philosophy

The first detailed and sustained examination of how ancient Greek philosophers conceived of truth and the ways in which truth may vary with perspective, context, or standards of assessment. Demonstrates that thinkers from the Sophists and Presocratics to the Hellenistic schools grappled with questions that remain central today.

This volume offers a sustained examination of ancient Greek philosophical accounts of truth. Thinkers from the Sophists and Presocratics to the Hellenistic schools gave substantial attention to the nature of truth, to what kinds of things are capable of being true, and to how truth may vary with perspective, context, or standards of assessment. A distinguished cast of world-leading scholars examine these diverse positions, showing how ancient philosophers grappled with questions that remain central today: whether truth is absolute or relative, how faultless disagreement is possible, and what it is for a statement to be correct relative to different parameters of assessment. The result is a rich historical and philosophical account showing the complexity of ideas about truth in Greek antiquity.