"Greek Buddha" shows how Buddhism shaped the philosophy of Pyrrho, the famous founder of Pyrrhonian scepticism in ancient Greece. Identifying Pyrrho's basic teachings with those of Early Buddhism, Christopher I. Beckwith traces the origins of a major tradition in Greek philosophy to Gandh?ra, a country in Central Asia and northwestern India.
Pyrrho of Elis accompanied Alexander the Great to Central Asia and India during the Graeco-Macedonian invasion and conquest of the Persian Empire in 334-324 BC, and while there met with teachers of Early Buddhism, a philosophy that Beckwith analyzes in depth. Using a range of primary sources, he systematically looks at the teachings and practices of Pyrrho and of Early Buddhism, including those preserved in testimonies by and about Pyrrho, in the report on Indian philosophy two decades later by the Seleucid ambassador Megasthenes, in the first-person edicts by the Indian king Dev?n priya Priyadar?i referring to a popular variety of the Dharma in the early third century BC, and in Taoist echoes of Gautama's Dharma in Warring States China. Beckwith demonstrates how the teachings of Pyrrho agree closely with those of the Buddha kyamuni, "the Scythian Sage." In the process, he identifies eight distinct attested philosophical schools in ancient northwestern India and Central Asia, including Early Zoroastrianism, Early Brahmanism, and several forms of Early Buddhism. Beckwith then shows the influence that Pyrrho's brand of scepticism had on the evolution of Western thought, first in Antiquity, and later, during the Enlightenment, on the great philosopher and self-proclaimed "Pyrrhonian," David Hume.

"Greek Buddha" demonstrates that through Pyrrho, Early Buddhist thought had a significant impact on Western philosophy.

Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) was the leading Platonic philosopher of the Renaissance and is generally recognized as the greatest authority on ancient Platonism before modern times. Among his greatest accomplishments as a scholar was his 1492 Latin translation of the complete works of Plotinus (204–270 CE), the founder of Neoplatonism. The 1492 edition also contained an immense commentary that remained for centuries the principle introduction to Plotinus’s works for Western scholars. At the same time, it constitutes a major statement of Ficino’s own late metaphysics. The I Tatti edition, planned in six volumes, contains the first modern edition of the Latin text and the first translation into any modern language. The present volume also contains an extensive analytical study of Ficino’s interpretation of Plotinus’s Third Ennead.

本书系皮埃尔•阿多的古代哲学研究自选集，所选的研究文本，既有对“注释”“术语”的精微解读，又关涉“古代思想、历史”的基本面向；清晰地展示了阿多所说的“作为生活方式的哲学”的研究进路和对古代哲学研究的问题意识。
在本书中，阿多将一种对哲学文本的解释能力置于“教学与生活”之中，厘清了“哲学”在西方古代及现代研究的基本线索和问题，重新思考了何为“哲学”这一问题；并将其置于 “希腊化思想与罗马思想史”的研究视野之下，从中我们可以感受到阿多深厚的学养严谨治学风范。