Some helpful references

 Hi All,  I did a quick search for  Greek views on insects and came across this article.  It notes references to bugs  prior to Aristotle.  Bees were apparently viewed of as a positive model of communal living.


http://promethee.philo.ulg.ac.be/Zoologica/lbodson/bibl/Insects_1983.pdf


Matt was asking about  the concept of  being.  The landmark article on this  is   C. Kahn

The Greek Verb 'To Be' and the Concept of Being

Charles H. Kahn

Foundations of Language , Vol. 2, No. 3 (Aug., 1966), pp. 245-265

You can get it through jstor

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.baylor.edu/stable/25000229 


I also recommend    Seth Benardete's  Second  Sailing, and Stanley Rosen's  Plato's Republic.