Doxography (Greek:δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" +γράφειν – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works ofclassicalhistorians, describing the points of view of pastphilosophers andscientists. The term was coined by the German classical scholarHermann Alexander Diels.
A great many philosophical works have been lost; our limited knowledge of suchlost works comes chiefly through the doxographical works of later philosophers, commentators, and biographers. TheStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy lists the following works as being representative doxographies:[1]
Philosophers such asPlato andAristotle also act as doxographers, as their comments on the ideas of their predecessors indirectly tell us what their predecessors' beliefs were. Plato'sDefense of Socrates, for example, tells us much of what we know about the natural philosophy ofAnaxagoras.
Successions of Philosophers were works whose purpose was to depict the philosophers of different schools in terms of a line of succession of which they were a part. From the 3rd to the 1st centuries BC there wereSuccessions (Greek:Διαδοχαί) written byAntigonus of Carystus,Sotion,Heraclides Lembos (an epitome of Sotion),Sosicrates,Alexander Polyhistor,Jason of Nysa,Antisthenes of Rhodes, andNicias of Nicaea.[2] The survivingLives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers byDiogenes Laërtius (3rd century AD) draws upon this tradition.
In addition to these, there were often histories of single schools. Such works were created byPhaenias of Eresus (On the Socratics),Idomeneus of Lampsacus (On the Socratics),Sphaerus (On the Eretrian Philosophers), andStraticles (On Stoics). Among thepapyri found at theVilla of the Papyri atHerculaneum, there are works devoted to the successions of theStoics,[3]Academics,[4] andEpicureans.[5] In a later period,Plutarch producedOn the First Philosophers and their Successors andOn theCyrenaics, andGalen wroteOnPlato's Sect andOn the Hedonistic Sect (Epicureans). There were often biographies of individual philosophers with a brief description of his successors. Of such nature wereAristoxenus'sLife of Pythagoras,Andronicus'sLife of Aristotle,Ptolemy'sLife of Aristotle, andIamblichus'sLife of Pythagoras.
The PersianDabestan-e Mazaheb discusses numerous philosophies including several in Persia and India. Its author appears to belong to a Persian Sipásíán tradition which differs somewhat from orthodox Zoroastrianism. Its authorship is disputed. Some scholars have suggested that Kay-Khosrow Esfandiyar, the son ofAzar Kayvan may have written it.
Haribhadra (8th century CE) was one of the leading proponents ofanekāntavāda. He was the first classical author to write a doxography, a compendium of a variety of intellectual views. This attempted to contextualise Jain thoughts within the broad framework. It interacted with the many possible intellectual orientations available to Indian thinkers around the 8th century.[6]
Islamic doxography is an aggregate of theosophical works (likeKitab al-Maqalat byAbu Mansur Al Maturidi) concerning the aberrations in Islamic sects and streams.
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