Table of Contents

Translator's Note  vii
Map  viii
Author's Preface to the Japanese Edition  ix
Introduction
Universal Religion  1
Ethical Prophets   5
Exemplary Prophets  7
1. Ionian Society and Thought
Athens and Ionia  11
Isonomia and Democracy  14
Athenian Democracy  17
State and Democracy  20
Colonization and Isonomia  22
Iceland and North America  26
Isonomia and Council  31
2, The Background of Ionian Natural Philosophy
Natural Philosophy and Ethics  35
Hippocrates  39
Herodotus  42
Homer  46
Hesiod  51
3. The Essential Points of Ionian Natural Philosophy
The Critique of Religion  56
Self-Moving Matter  58
Poiesis and Becoming  62
4. Post-Ionian Thought
Pythagoras  68
Heraclitus  80
Parmenides  87
Post-Eliatics  96
5. Socrates and Empire
The Athenian Empire and Democracy  103
Sophists and Rule by Rhetoric  107
The Trial of Socrates  110
The Riddle of Socrates  114
Daimon  118
The Socratic Method  121
Plato and Pythagoras  125
The Philosopher-King  127
Isonomia and the Philosopher-King  130
Appendix. From Structure of World History to Isonomia and the Origins of Philosophy  135
Timeline of the Ancient World  141
Notes  143
Bibliography  155
Index  159

About the Author

Kōjin Karatani is an internationally renowned theorist and philosopher. Previously, he was a professor at Hosei University in Tokyo, Kinki University in Osaka, and Columbia University. He is the author of numerous books, including The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange and Origins of Modern Japanese Literature, both also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

"A work of historical importance, this book should be read by all who are interested in the innumerable conflicts that beset the contemporary world. Essential."
*Choice*

"Karatani’s Isonomia and the Origins of Philosophy is a deceptively complex work that offers numerous transdisciplinary insights for the philosophically initiated and uninitiated alike. And while its true value may be its intellectual historical angle – namely, its fascinating re-presentation of the history of Greek philosophy – Isonomia is a very worthwhile part of Karatani’s broader effort to offer readers an illuminating systematic perspective from which to view our contemporary political and philosophical situation."
*Marx & Philosophy Review of Books*

"Provocative, wide-ranging, and very clearly written, Isonomia and the Origins of Philosophy is highly worthwhile to read for philosophers, political theorists, and anyone interested in questions of universal history."
*Philosophy in Review*