The Stoics on Ambiguity

Stoic work on ambiguity represents one of the most innovative, sophisticated and rigorous contributions to philosophy and the study of language in western antiquity. This book is both a comprehensive survey of the often difficult and scattered sources, and an attempt to locate Stoic material in the rich array of contexts, ancient and modern, which alone can guarantee full appreciation of its subtlety, scope and complexity. The comparisons and contrasts which this book constructs will intrigue not just classical scholars, and philosophers, but also logicians, theoretical linguists, communication theorists and historians of grammar and of literary theory. The Stoics on Ambiguity is designed to be intelligible to readers with no Greek or Latin.

• A comprehensive treatment of the topic • Of interest to wide range of specialists • Derives from a prize-winning dissertation

Preface and acknowledgements; Typographical conventions; List of abbreviations; 1. The scope of this book; 2. Sources and materials; 3. Morality talks: the origins and limits of Stoic interest in ambiguity; 4. The Stoic definition of ambiguity; 5. The Stoic classifications 1: the sources; 6. The Stoic classifications 2: Stoic types of ambiguity; 7. Ambiguity and the fallacy; 8. The influence of Stoic teaching; 9. A survey of conclusions; Appendix: the classification of linguistic fallacies in Aristotle’s Sophistical Refutations; Bibliography; Index locorum; General index.