Recommended reading for ACTION PHILOSOPHERS #7
The Pre-Socratics, Aristotle and Epictetus the Stoic

Aristotle. Metaphysics. Translated from the Greek by W.D. Ross.
Much of what we know about the Pre-Socratics, since they wrote very little down that has survived, comes from the stories told about them by those philosophers who followed them, such as Plato, Diogenes the Cynic, and AP#7 featured thinker Aristotle. In Metaphysics, the greatest polymath of the ancient world describes the systems of "first principles" that preceded him, including those developed by Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles, the "Anax"-ie gang and more, and pretty much demolishes them single-handedly, along with his own teacher's Theory of Forms ... thereby earning him the enmity of Platonists for generations to come. Aristotle then proceeds to outline his own logic-based system, inexorably linking the two disciplines Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ in fact, I'd strongly recommend tackling Aristotle's primary treatise on Logic, Analytical Posteriora, before attempting Metaphysics. Mad props to the Aussie academics at Adelaide U. for uploading Aristotle's oeuvre in downloadable eBook format.

William Messner-Loebs and Sam Keith. Epicurus the Sage. La Jolla, CA: DC/Wildstorm, 2003.
Hey, you didn't think we wouldn't give love to our legendary antecedent? This wonderful odd duck from DC's first stab at high-falutin' funnybooks for grown-ups, Piranha Press, has been, along with the Kyle Baker classic Why I Hate Saturn, its most memorable effort. Though billed as a satire of Greek philosophy, it's more of an anarchic (and anachronistic) farce in the vein of a Mel Brooks film, with Epicurus rubbing elbows with all of ancient Greece's heavy thinkers as well as tangling with major figures of Greek mythology, especially that can't-keep-it-in-his-pants horndog, Zeus. (Epicurus fans no doubt noted that the relationship between Aristotle and young Alexander the Great in this issue was heavily influenced by Loebs and Keith's seminal graphic work.)

The historical Epicurus espoused the Pleasure Principle: that the good can be known through the feeling of pleasure it elicits in those who give and receive it, and by that standard, the Wildstorm edition, which collects the two Piranha Press GN's into one volume, is unequivocally good.

Epictetus the Stoic. Virtue and Happiness: The Manual of Epictetus. Translated from the Greek by Francois Thurot. Boston: Shambhala, 2003.
Calligraphist Claude Mediavilla illustrates this beautiful abridgement (though not by much) of Epictetus's classic work on ethics and self-discipline. If you ever need to buy a "self-help" book for a neurotic friend, this would be the one: as we went to lengths to demonstrate in the AP story, Epictetus' simple teachings are as true today as they were two thousand years ago.