I think of him as the anti-Homer poet. While Homer’s subjects are gods and heroes, Archilochus writes of drunkenness, running away to live and perhaps fight another day, the common man with his feet planted firmly on the ground — and, occasionally of sweet love. Not much is known about him other than that he […]
Plato on Censorship and “the Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry” Excerpt from Book 10 of The Republic. Written 360 B.C.E. [Socrates and Glaucon in conversation] [Speakers: Socrates and Glaucon in conversation] [Socrates:] Of the many excellences which I perceive in the order of our State, there is none which upon reflection pleases me better
A proposição-padrão é que a filosofia começa com Tales. Quando ensino isso aos meus alunos, é uma venda difícil, já que entre os textos fundadores da filosofia — atribuídos a Tales por Aristóteles — está a seguinte afirmação: “O primeiro princípio e a natureza básica de todas as coisas é a água.” e “Todas as
Por que a filosofia começa com Tales de Mileto? Read More »
[At the beginning of the new academic year, a re-visiting of the beginnings of philosophy.] The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. When I teach this to my students, it’s a hard sell, for here are the founding texts in philosophy — ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature
The Birth of Philosophy — Thales and Homer Read More »
The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. When I teach this to my students, it’s a hard sell, for here are the founding texts in philosophy — ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature of all things is water.” and “All things are full of gods.” You can imagine
Why Philosophy Begins with Thales Read More »
In my Philosophy of Art course, we are discussing Plato’s philosophy of art, by means of selections from Statesman and Books 3 and 10 of The Republic, along with snippets from Ion, Phaedrus, and Symposium. In The Republic, Plato makes a systematic case for censoring all arts. The task of the Platonic philosopher is to
Plato on censoring artists — a summary Read More »
A collection of posts relevant to my courses this semester: Before Philosophy: Homer’s world Why does philosophy begin with Thales? Philosophy begins: Thales’ revolution Socrates’ two bad arguments for not escaping Quotations from Apology and Crito on reason and character Who is the real father of modern philosophy? [Descartes versus Bacon] Education: Locke versus Kant
Past posts for the new semester Read More »
In raising the question of why philosophy begins with Thales, we first looked at Homer, the great shaper of the Greek mind before the philosophical and scientific revolution: Before philosophy: Homer’s world. In that post, I abstracted five statements from The Iliad: H1. Supernatural causation is part of the explanation for natural events. H2. Supernatural
Philosophy begins: Thales’ revolution Read More »