I know the information have have about these wonderful characters is quite limited(socrates esp.) and mostly third-hand, I was wondering what this forums opinion on these men are. I am not that keen on Aristotle who start the concept of pigeon-holling and making sub-genres etc. so anyway discuss: :icon_thumright:
Pythagorus, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
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B3Guy
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http://infomotions.com/alex2/authors/plato/plato-euthyphro-688/plato-euthyphro-688.pdf
Euthyphro blew my mind the first time I read it.
The only thing that irks me about Socrates is that we only know of him through Plato (of whom I am not a big fan . . .) because of his Republic.
I've written an essay in which I set his ideal city right, which I'll post here at some point if you want.
but in short, he pretty much says that art and artists (that would be us), have no use in the ideal city.
Euthyphro blew my mind the first time I read it.
The only thing that irks me about Socrates is that we only know of him through Plato (of whom I am not a big fan . . .) because of his Republic.
I've written an essay in which I set his ideal city right, which I'll post here at some point if you want.
but in short, he pretty much says that art and artists (that would be us), have no use in the ideal city.
Your essay would definatly be interesting, I agree with you on his republic although there are many different interpretations of his works. Euthyphro is compelling but is a very typical socrates dialogue - where he draws them into complacency and then metaphorically punches them.
I have like this mental problem wherein I often find myself thinking of context, rather than content. For xamp, most people see the pyramids of Egypt and think "Oooh! Aaah!" And I think of the generations upon generations of poor dumb slaves who had to drag enormous rocks around the desert to honor some despot who's already dead for a hundred years, but we'll kill you if you don't drag the rocks.... 
The context of ancient Greece is that the city-states in "Cradle of Democracy" were anywhere from 40% to 90% slave-powered, and even "artists" and writers and such weren't actually citizens of the forum - to be a citizen you had to be a rich, land-owning non-working male, only. Pythagorus, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle didn't spit their game after a hard day slopping out the hogs and pressing the olives, they did it because they were bored of boinking the slaveboys and watching the wrestlers. That's why philosophy pretty much by definition concerns itself with questions that have no answer -if you have an answer, it's called science. Pythagorus at least did some practical math homework, but Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were just a bunch of rich useless slugs, kinda like the original fratboys except queer as a three dollar drachma to boot.
Thx fr lttng m shr.... :cool01:
The context of ancient Greece is that the city-states in "Cradle of Democracy" were anywhere from 40% to 90% slave-powered, and even "artists" and writers and such weren't actually citizens of the forum - to be a citizen you had to be a rich, land-owning non-working male, only. Pythagorus, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle didn't spit their game after a hard day slopping out the hogs and pressing the olives, they did it because they were bored of boinking the slaveboys and watching the wrestlers. That's why philosophy pretty much by definition concerns itself with questions that have no answer -if you have an answer, it's called science. Pythagorus at least did some practical math homework, but Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were just a bunch of rich useless slugs, kinda like the original fratboys except queer as a three dollar drachma to boot.
Thx fr lttng m shr.... :cool01:
I've only read a bit of Plato but I did study philosophy at Lund University for one semester. I think he's a boring old fart who's really full of himself, mainly... Aristotle over-thought things way too much (and was seriously overrated in later centuries, but that's not his fault). And since generally most of the old Greek philosophy deferred to religion it kind of fails at a fundamental level for me. I don't quite see the relevance of whether they lusted after young males or young females though...?
rockskate4x
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I've read the republic, meno, phaedrus, and the trial and death of socrates. Did I love it? Heck yes! Could I understand it? Heck no!
jackthehack
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"The only thing that irks me about Socrates is that we only know of him through Plato (of whom I am not a big fan . . .) because of his Republic."
What problems have you with that?
Being a hoser, you haven't had to deal with the net results of almost all the post 1960 elections south of your border. As the great unwashed down here have inbred and devolved en masse to the point that the average attention span is less than 30 seconds/140 characters and can't be relied upon to intelligently elect their own leaders (Nixon/Reagan/Bush all got RE-ELECTED!) the concept of philosopher kings trained from birth to lead doesn't sound all that bad...
What problems have you with that?
Being a hoser, you haven't had to deal with the net results of almost all the post 1960 elections south of your border. As the great unwashed down here have inbred and devolved en masse to the point that the average attention span is less than 30 seconds/140 characters and can't be relied upon to intelligently elect their own leaders (Nixon/Reagan/Bush all got RE-ELECTED!) the concept of philosopher kings trained from birth to lead doesn't sound all that bad...
