This edition of the pre-Socratic philosophers, first published in German translation by J.B. Metzler in 1994, has become the international standard edition, replacing all other editions. Anyone wishing to engage with the natural philosophy and metaphysics of early Greek thought at an international level will turn to this edition. Against the backdrop of the older mythical way of thinking, the editors demonstrate how the new philosophical consciousness gradually developed step by step, first in the eastern Mediterranean (particularly in Miletus), then in the west, and finally again further east, through the works of fifteen prominent pre-Socratics. They rely on numerous source texts, over 600 of which are presented in Greek and in German translation in this edition.