Abstract
Known for his compendium Lives of Eminent Philosophers (Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων), which contains short biographies of 82 classical philosophers. The compendium is extremely unreliable, but provides many otherwise-unknown biographical details, titles of lost works, and more than a thousand excerpts and references to more than 250 authors, including three long letters of Epicurus, which are the only works by Epicurus surviving from antiquity.
References
Primary Sources
Diogenes, Laertius. 1570. Diogenous Laertiou Peri bion, dogmaton kai apophthegmaton ton en philosophia eudokimesanton. Geneva: Stephanus.
Diogenes, Laertius. 1583. Isaaci Hortiboni notae, ad Diogenis Laertii libros de vitis, dictis & decretis principum philosophorum. Morges, Switzerland: Ioannis le Preux.
Diogenes, Laertius. 1593. Diogenous Laertiou peri bion, dogmaton kai apophthegmaton ton philosophia eudokimesanton, bibliai. ed. Isaac and Meric Casaubon. Geneva: Stephanus.
Diogenes, Laertius. 1664. Laertiou Diogenous Peri bion dogmaton kai apophthegmaton ton en philosophia eudokimesanton biblia 10. ed. Gilles Ménage. London: Impensis Octaviani Pulleyn ..., Typis Tho. Ratcliffe.
Secondary Literature
Hankins, J., and A. Palmer. 2008. The recovery of ancient philosophy in the renaissance: A brief guide. Florence: Olschki.
Hicks, R.D. 1972. “Introduction” in Diogenes Laertius. Lives of eminent philosophers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Le Page, J.L. 2012. The revival of antique philosophy in the renaissance. New York: Palgrave.
Santinello, G. 2013. Models of the history of philosophy: From its origins in the renaissance to the ‘Historia Philosophica.’ Dordrecht: Springer.
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Palmer, A. (2018). Diogenes Laertius. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_578-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_578-1
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