In 430 BC, during the funeral of Athenian soldiers after the first battles of the Peloponnesian War, Athens’ leader Pericles made a speech on the glory of Athens and its democracy. Pericles argued the Athenians were a brilliant people who valued liberty, leisure, knowledge, and generosity. Pericles lauded Athens’ democratic system as fair and an... Continue Reading →
Aristotle (c. 384-322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, perhaps the greatest in history. He invented the idea of separate academic disciplines, dipping his toes into philosophy, politics, ethics, biology, natural sciences, aesthetics, poetry, and metaphysics. In contrast to his master Plato, who focused on the ideal otherworld, Aristotle focused on the real, particular world.... Continue Reading →
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates discusses the philosopher king, ruler of his ideal city state of Kallipolis. He is the best suited to protect the state’s laws and institutions, hence his other name of the guardian. The philosopher king is wise, austere, and just. He learns the true Forms and how to implement them in his... Continue Reading →
In Plato’s book the Republic, Socrates uses the allegory of the cave to explain to Glaucon how most people are stuck in a world of ignorance, only looking at the material examples of Forms that they can see rather than understanding the higher immaterial Forms which exist in an infinite world beyond our own. People... Continue Reading →
The pre-Socratics were the first philosophers in the West and possibly the world, living in the 500s - early 400s BC. They asked questions about the world and tried to answer them by applying human reason, knowledge, and science rather than mere myth. While some of their answers were wrong, the nature of their discourse... Continue Reading →
The classical Greeks are considered the founders of Western civilization, but what made them significant and set them apart from others? They were the first to think about thinking. They tried to understand the structure of the universe, and to master it using reason. They also posited absolute moral values for all people to follow.... Continue Reading →
Plato’s Republic is a Socratic dialogue on justice, how the perfect city-state should be ordered, and how the virtuous man should behave. In “Book X”, Glaucon and Socrates explore the nature of poetry. They argue that Poetry must be excluded from a well-ordered state, as it is an imitative art form, thrice removed from the... Continue Reading →
diegodelaparra 