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 istorians of ancient philosophy are living in an inspiring period. Interpretations and approaches are shifting and in flux. The sometimes apodictical and at times even dogmatic interpretations of the past are gradually giving way to higher standards for reaching a more accurate philological study of the texts. Scholars are also beginning to recognize that they had been studying and understanding their subjects without being aware of the differences between their own and the ancient implicit world views. Nobody was aware of any severe miscommunication taking place. | Especially during the last two decades the stage has been set for new and more faithful interpretations to be made and for more accurate portrayals of the philosophers in question to be given by offering various fresh presentations of the available sources. The urgent invitation for new interpretations has been dispatched, but its acceptation seems to depend on a sound new methodology, too. Dr G.L.J. Schönbeck, author of this original and important book, shows himself aware of this need and tries to meet it. He does so in a fascinating and paradigmatic demonstration in which he cautiously studies a small cluster of interrelated fragments of HERACLITUS concerning the metrics of ’the sun’. |
 irst, Dr Schönbeck meticulously displays the possible backgrounds and frames of references which might have prompted HERACLITUS to assess in earnest that ’the sun’ is one human foot wide and that ’it’ will not transgress ’its’ boundaries. Dr. Schönbeck draws upon his profound knowledge of religious studies, astronomy, perception psychology, classical philology, the philosophy of science and cultural anthropology. | Next, Schönbeck convincingly shows that virtually all interpreters have, until now, neglected many of these possible aspects and have, instead, relied on mistaken self-evidences, which shielded them from many problems and from many possible interpretations of the text. He also investigates the letter of the text afresh--he had the rare occasion to study the Derveni papyrus on the spot and deciphered some of its lines in a remarkable and novel way. |
 n spite of his emphatic call for a manifold of perspectives, Dr Schönbeck makes a ferocious attack on (post)modern relativism. In his view, the many different perspectives and approaches compel scholars and scientists to choose between scientific perspectives, to reconcile and harmonize these if possible and to finally integrate them in a theory. In some circumstances this will necessarily be only the achievement of a team of scholars from different disciplines. This conclusion, which aims at ruling out the implicit predominance of biases and requires an open but clear outlook, represents an insight which all scholars must take to heart.
| This book, which has been produced superbly, consists of three parts. The ’material’ related to HERACLITUS’ sun fragments which ought to be taken into consideration, is presented as well as the ’problems’ which ought to be faced in order to arrive at a methodologically sound interpretation, and the requirements which a ’solution’ must fulfill. It is rounded off with an accurate representation of the texts in question, including the author’s findings in the Derveni papyrus, a full bibliography and four indices. The author received a PhD degree for his book, Sunbowl or Symbol, and the Max Reneman award for the typography he designed for it. |
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