Tag Archives: socrates

Socrates And Martin Luther King: Lessons in Civil Disobedience

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom At the opening of the Crito, a dialogue by the philosopher Plato, Socrates has been imprisoned. He is awaiting his execution for the supposed crimes of corrupting the youth and believing in strange gods. However, it is only by chance that Socrates is still alive, trapped in his

Written on June 26, 2020 at 6:00 am, by Van Bryan

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Categories: Politics

Tags: Aeschylus, Civil disobedience, Crito, Injustice, Justice, MLK, Nonviolence, Plato, socrates

Ethical Egoism: Getting What You Want

Written by Van Bryan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom There are a few advantages we have going for us when we study moral philosophy. The first is that moral philosophy (also known as ethical philosophy) is immediately applicable to our lives. The second is that many of the suppositions seem to be rather easy to confirm.

Written on June 18, 2020 at 8:18 am, by Van Bryan

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Categories: Philosophy

Tags: Ancient Greek Moral philosophy, Aristotle, Asclepius, Callicles, ethical egoism, Ethics, hedonism, Moral philosophy, Plato, socrates, Sophism, Sophists

Lessons on Racism from the Ancient World

In lieu of our normal monday mailbag, I’d like to discuss Racism…and what the ancient world can teach us about this extremely important issue. Now, I wasn’t certain if I should say anything about it or not. I’m currently trapped in the world’s longest lockdown, the new epicenter where pandemics haven’t yet become passé. Down

Written on June 8, 2020 at 9:39 pm, by plato

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Categories: Dialectics

Tags: debate, gadfly, marcus aurlieus, multiculturalism, Racism in the ancient world, Septimius Severus, skeptics, socrates, xenia

Do We Need Controversy?

The anger! The fury! The wrath! I shouldn’t have let it get to me. After all, the rule in the newsletter biz is that if you don’t get a little bit of hate mail from time to time, you aren’t doing it right. No ruffled feathers means you are playing it too safe. Ostensibly this

Written on May 18, 2020 at 4:34 pm, by plato

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Categories: Dialectics

Tags: controversy, Pythagoras, socrates, Xenophanes

Xenophanes: The Most Scandalous Philosopher of Ancient Greece

Written by Mariami Shanshashvili, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Plato’s Euthyphro is centered around Socrates’ attempts to examine and define the concept of piety. In the course of conversation, he develops a central and somewhat scandalous argument: what is holy is not the same as what the gods do or approve. In fact, the gods ‘sin’

Written on May 13, 2020 at 7:27 am, by Alex Barrientos

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Categories: Philosophers

Tags: Aristotle, Epistemology, Greek Gods, monotheism, Pre-socratic Philosopher, pre-socratics, socrates, Xenophanes

The Fragility of Democracy: Athens and the Thirty Tyrants

Written by Edward Whelan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Athens is traditionally seen as the birthplace of democracy. However, as we know, democracies are vulnerable to anti-democratic forces, such as populism and authoritarian movements. This was also the case with Athens. For some eight months (404-403 BC) the city was controlled by a pro-Spartan oligarchy known

Written on May 8, 2020 at 6:34 am, by Whelan

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Categories: History

Tags: Athens, Critias, death of socrates, democracy, oligarchy, Peloponessian War, Pnyx, Sicily, socrates, Sparta, Theramenes, Thirty Tyrants, Thrasybulus, tyranny