Socrates may have resisted the title of “teacher,” but he nonetheless had students, and the best and brightest of them made such profound contributions to Western philosophy that, arguably, every work written since his day has amounted to a series of critiques and rebuttals of Plato. Unlike Socrates, Plato (a nickname that meant “broad,” given to him by his wrestling instructor because of his strong, […]
The Gadfly
At last, we come to one of the most pivotal thinkers in the history of Western Civilization; a man who, ironically, claimed vast ignorance of just about everything, and who spent his time ostensibly asking questions of other people to try to learn what might actually qualify as truth. We don’t actually know all that much about Socrates, the son of the stonemason Sophroniscus and […]
The Sophist Quagmire
Before I start with the ideas of Socrates, I need to discuss the ideas of his primary opponents. As the power of Athens spread, and Athenian ideas flowed out while the wealth of imperial subjects flowed in (voluntarily or not), the ability engage in persuasion gained in importance. As something of a democracy, the ability to persuade Athenian juries and assemblies of the benefits of […]