DOCSLIB.ORG

Aristotle and the Classical Paradigm of Wisdom

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Aristotle and the Classical Paradigm of Wisdom Philosophy International Journal ISSN: 2641-9130 MEDWIN PUBLISHERS Committed to Create Value for Researchers Aristotle and the Classical Paradigm of Wisdom Costanzo J* Research Article Conception Seminary College, United States Volume 4 Issue 3 Received Date: June 07, 2021 *Corresponding author: Jason Costanzo, Conception Seminary College, 3514 Bel nor Drive Published Date: July 09, 2021 Saint Joseph, MO 64506, United States, Tel: 16313716565; Email: [email protected] DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000191 Abstract considered. The sage is one who is deemed wise in his or her performances. But what is ‘wise’ about such performances? The The essay examines the ancient Greek origin of philosophy relative to the concept of wisdom. The nature of the sage is first Socratic denial of sage status is considered in reference to this. Socrates concludes that he is not wise as the gods are wise, but that he is wise insofar as he knows that he is not wise. The apparent contradiction is resolved through the distinction between human (finite) and divine (infinite) wisdom. The latter notion is further examined in the works of Aristotle who articulates the “classical paradigm” of philosophy in pursuit of infinite wisdom. The attributes of infinite wisdom are identified, and the example. essay concludes with a discussion of the sagely performance of infinite wisdom, Aristotle himself serving as the representative Keywords: Wisdom; Classical Paradigm; Aristotle The Sage as Wise Performer Many other memorable stories are recorded in this work of which I could speak, but it is not the point of this Lives of the essay to examine such stories here. Instead, I should like to Eminent Philosophers will no doubt recall the many timeless focus on one particular story, found at the very beginning of storiesAnyone that hefamiliar tells ofwith the Diogenes Greek philosophers Laertius’ of ancient to the most remarkable claim of all. In response to purported in a wine jar (pithos Diogenes’ account. There, the reader will find what amounts times. We hear of Diogenes (the1 There Cynic) is alsowho Zeno lived ofand Citium, slept who following a shipwreck), his natural in which way he of is life said inspiring to have the lost awe his theories Theseregarding authors the originforget ofthat philosophy the achievements (likely floating which personalof even Alexander fortune, thereafterthe Great. entered a bookstore and read around duringthey attribute his time), toDiogenes the barbarians states the following:belong to the a copy of Xenophon’s Memorabilia. Inspired by the account Greeks, with whom not merely philosophy but the of the life of Socrates, he inquired of the bookseller whether human race itself began.3 that Crates was passing by, and the bookseller pointed to Taken from a contemporary perspective, where him.anyone2 With in Athensthat, Stoicism was like was this born. philosopher. It so happened examples of philosophy can be seen blossoming among the the larger Eurasian continent, such a view must no doubt be ancient cultures spanning the Americas, Northern Africa, and 1 DL, 6.2.31. Diogenes Laertius. Lives of Eminent Philosophers, transl. R.D. Hicks (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972). 2 DL, 7.1.2. 3 DL, 1.prol.3. Aristotle and the Classical Paradigm of Wisdom Philos Int J 2 Philosophy International Journal taken as an instance of cultural bias. Certainly human beings “Speech is the mirror of action”.18 Of Chilon, Diogenes notes from all cultures and times will have raised philosophical that he offered marital advice, wrote songs, and interestingly, questions about the purpose of life and meaning of existence. that “He was a man of few words (brachylogos 19 Of course, at a very early stage, such practitioners would )”. were instead called ‘wise ones’ or ‘sages’ (sophoi of the sages given by Diogenes is of mere dilettantes who, notionsnot have are been found called among philosophers. other ancient Among cultures, the Greeks, such they as akinAlthough to Hippias interesting, of Elis, wove it may their be objectedown garments. that the20 accountFurther the Chinese shengren,4 the Hindu rishi,5 the Egyptian). Similar rekh,6 inspection, however, reveals an underlying unity. Classicist apkallu,7 and so on. The reputed number of descriptions of the sages seen in Diogenes and other the Akkadian seven. Plato, for example, lists Richard P. Martin, for example, argues that the various seventhe (most sages renowned) in the Protagoras sages has, alsoincluding been of Thales, some historicalPittacus, distinct headings, viz., that of poet, political servant, and Bias,significance, Solon, Cleobulus, as it tends Mison, to be Chilo.8 Diogenes cites a slightly performer.historical accounts21 can in fact be classified under three different list.9 Seven sages are also cited among other ancient The sages are performers who enact wise accomplishments traditions. The third notion is in fact the most significant. 22 Their role But who are the sages? Still more, what is a sage? For an asboth renowned in word performers (wise utterances, is likewise proverbs) intertwined and within deed the answer to these questions, we might turn again to the account (miraculouskinds of social feats, actors clever that demonstrations,they engage with. etc.). For this reason, the sages are often seen in the literature interacting with described as an astronomer,10 kings, emperors, and other persons of high social-standing.23 thegiven immortality by Diogenes of theLaertius. soul”, 11Take as providing Thales for “excellent example. advice He is on political matters”,12 as holding as beingthat “water the “first is the to universalmaintain tyrant Peisistratos, following an omen, to avoid rearing a son primary substance”,13 and so on.14 For another example, ofIn hisHerodotus, own.24 for example, Chilon advises the Athenian Solon is noted both for his wise utterances and, in particular, Croesus became the very words that would later save the 15 aided Alternatively, the wise counsel of Solon to King the city in its war against Megara,16 and in an act emblematic the Persian Emperor Cyrus.25 ofpolitical Plato’s sagacity. philosopher-king, He provided refused the Athenians an offer with to rule laws, as tyrant King from the funeral pyre following defeat at the hands of of that city.17 Wise sayings are also attributed to him, such as Although Martin’s classification is no doubt justified by theample same textual time, evidence,however, ita cannotdifficulty be saidyet remains.that such Theattributes sages differentiateare poets, political the sage servants, as performers and principally, from otherperformers. types Atof 4 Rina Maria Camus (2013) The Wiseman and the Sage: Metaphysics as Wisdom in Aristotle and the Neo-Confucian Scholl of Principle. Frontiers of performers, such as lyrical poets, orators, despots, not to Philosophy in China 8(1): 121. mention sophists. What then distinguishes the performance 5 Mahatma Gandhi, The Essence of Hinduism (Ahmedabad: Nevajivan of the sage qua sage? Publishing House, 1987), p. xiii. 6 Théophile Obenga, Egypt: Ancient History of African Philosophy. in A Companion to African Philosophy, ed. by Kwasi Wiredu (Blackwell Publishing, 2004), p. 33. To answer this, we might consider first the nature 7 Erica Reiner, The Etiological Myth of the Seven Sages. Orientalia, 30:1 (1961): 1. John M. Cooper and D.S. Hutchinson, Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis: 18 D.L., 1.3.58. Cf., Plato, Hippias Major, 282d6-e8. 8 Plato, Protagoras, 343ab. All translations for Plato’s texts are based upon 19 D.L., 1.4.72. Hackett Publishing Company, 1997). 20 9 DL, 1.1.13. For a discussion of the issues surrounding the ancient 21 Richard Martin, “The Seven Sages as Performers of Wisdom,” in Cultural identification of the sages, see Alden Mosshammer, The Epoch of the Seven Poetics in Archaic Greece: Cult, Performance, Politics, ed. by Carol Dougherty Sages. California Studies in Classical Antiquity 9 (1976), 165-180. & Leslie Kurke (Oxford University Press, 1998): 112. See also, Richard Martin, “Seven Sages,” in The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, ed. by Roger 10 DL, 1.2.23. wbeah30425S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, & Sabine R. Huebner (John Wiley & Sons, 2017). DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386. 11 DL, 1.2.24. Martin, The Seven Sages as Performers of Wisdom. p. 117. 12 DL, 1.2.25. Martin, The Seven Sages as Performers of Wisdom. p. 116. 22 13 DL, 1.2.27. 23 14 For a more complete account, see D. R. Dicks, “Thales,” The Classical Quarterly 9:2 (1959), 294-309. 24 Herodotus, Histories, 1.59. See also Richmond Lattimore, “The Wise thought,Adviser in viz., Herodotus,” the tragic warnerClassical and Philology the practical 34:1(1939), adviser 24-35. or counselor. In particular, 15 D.L., 1.3.45 & 1.3.61. Lattimore identifies (pp. 24-25) two kinds of advisors within ancient 16 D.L., 1.3.46. 17 D.L., 1.3.49. 25 Herodotus, Histories, 1.29-32 & 1.86. Costanzo J. Aristotle and the Classical Paradigm of Wisdom. Philos Int J 2021, 4(3): 000191. Copyright© Costanzo J. 3 Philosophy International Journal diverse according to its kind. viewsof a performance the performance. itself. InA mattersperformance of social is aevaluation, type of social it is There is, however, a further and perhaps overlooked generallyinteraction those between who (a)view one the who performance, performs and in the(b) onesense who of attribute of the sage. This is seen in the consistent emphasis the spectator and audience, who provide an evaluation (i.e., upon their use of wise sayings, aphorisms, and similar forms If we furthermore take the predicate ‘wise’ as constituting aright value or predicate wrong) of that the arisesquality within of what a social has been context performed. (akin to inof thebrief Protagoras utterances.. There We see Socrates this both complains in Diogenes that the Laertius great sophist’s(as above speechesnoted) as are well simply as in Plato’stoo lengthy account to remember.of the sages28 that it is precisely the spectators and audience who judge This complaint is followed up by a short encomium on that‘good’, the ‘right’, performance ‘pleasing’, is ‘attractive’,wise, so that and the so performer on), then itis followsin turn evaluated as wise.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Roles of Solon in Plato's Dialogues
    The Roles of Solon in Plato’s Dialogues Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Samuel Ortencio Flores, M.A. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Bruce Heiden, Advisor Anthony Kaldellis Richard Fletcher Greg Anderson Copyrighy by Samuel Ortencio Flores 2013 Abstract This dissertation is a study of Plato’s use and adaptation of an earlier model and tradition of wisdom based on the thought and legacy of the sixth-century archon, legislator, and poet Solon. Solon is cited and/or quoted thirty-four times in Plato’s dialogues, and alluded to many more times. My study shows that these references and allusions have deeper meaning when contextualized within the reception of Solon in the classical period. For Plato, Solon is a rhetorically powerful figure in advancing the relatively new practice of philosophy in Athens. While Solon himself did not adequately establish justice in the city, his legacy provided a model upon which Platonic philosophy could improve. Chapter One surveys the passing references to Solon in the dialogues as an introduction to my chapters on the dialogues in which Solon is a very prominent figure, Timaeus- Critias, Republic, and Laws. Chapter Two examines Critias’ use of his ancestor Solon to establish his own philosophic credentials. Chapter Three suggests that Socrates re- appropriates the aims and themes of Solon’s political poetry for Socratic philosophy. Chapter Four suggests that Solon provides a legislative model which Plato reconstructs in the Laws for the philosopher to supplant the role of legislator in Greek thought.
    [Show full text]
  • Teachers' Pay in Ancient Greece
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Papers from the University Studies series (The University of Nebraska) University Studies of the University of Nebraska 5-1942 Teachers' Pay In Ancient Greece Clarence A. Forbes Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/univstudiespapers Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Studies of the University of Nebraska at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Papers from the University Studies series (The University of Nebraska) by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Teachers' Pay In Ancient Greece * * * * * CLARENCE A. FORBES UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA STUDIES Ma y 1942 STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES NO.2 Note to Cataloger UNDER a new plan the volume number as well as the copy number of the University of Nebraska Studies was discontinued and only the numbering of the subseries carried on, distinguished by the month and the year of pu blica tion. Thus the present paper continues the subseries "Studies in the Humanities" begun with "University of Nebraska Studies, Volume 41, Number 2, August 1941." The other subseries of the University of Nebraska Studies, "Studies in Science and Technology," and "Studies in Social Science," are continued according to the above plan. Publications in all three subseries will be supplied to recipients of the "University Studies" series. Corre­ spondence and orders should be addressed to the Uni­ versity Editor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. University of Nebraska Studies May 1942 TEACHERS' PAY IN ANCIENT GREECE * * * CLARENCE A.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Date of the Trial of Anaxagoras
    The Classical Quarterly http://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ Additional services for The Classical Quarterly: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here On the Date of the Trial of Anaxagoras A. E. Taylor The Classical Quarterly / Volume 11 / Issue 02 / April 1917, pp 81 - 87 DOI: 10.1017/S0009838800013094, Published online: 11 February 2009 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009838800013094 How to cite this article: A. E. Taylor (1917). On the Date of the Trial of Anaxagoras. The Classical Quarterly, 11, pp 81-87 doi:10.1017/S0009838800013094 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ, IP address: 128.122.253.212 on 28 Apr 2015 ON THE DATE OF THE TRIAL OF ANAXAGORAS. IT is a point of some interest to the historian of the social and intellectual development of Athens to determine, if possible, the exact dates between which the philosopher Anaxagoras made that city his home. As everyone knows, the tradition of the third and later centuries was not uniform. The dates from which the Alexandrian chronologists had to arrive at their results may be conveniently summed up under three headings, (a) date of Anaxagoras' arrival at Athens, (6) date of his prosecution and escape to Lampsacus, (c) length of his residence at Athens, (a) The received account (Diogenes Laertius ii. 7),1 was that Anaxagoras was twenty years old at the date of the invasion of Xerxes and lived to be seventy-two. This was apparently why Apollodorus (ib.) placed his birth in Olympiad 70 and his death in Ol.
    [Show full text]
  • THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK George Santayana (1863-1952)
    Georg Hegel (1770-1831) ................................ 30 Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) ................. 32 Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804-1872) ...... 32 John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) .......................... 33 Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) ..................... 33 Karl Marx (1818-1883).................................... 34 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ................ 35 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914).............. 35 William James (1842-1910) ............................ 36 The Modern World 1900-1950 ............................. 36 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) .................... 37 Ahad Ha'am (1856-1927) ............................... 38 Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) ............. 38 Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) ....................... 39 Henri Bergson (1859-1941) ............................ 39 Contents John Dewey (1859–1952) ............................... 39 Introduction....................................................... 1 THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK George Santayana (1863-1952) ..................... 40 The Ancient World 700 BCE-250 CE..................... 3 Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) ................... 40 Introduction Thales of Miletus (c.624-546 BCE)................... 3 William Du Bois (1868-1963) .......................... 41 Laozi (c.6th century BCE) ................................. 4 Philosophy is not just the preserve of brilliant Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) ........................ 41 Pythagoras (c.570-495 BCE) ............................ 4 but eccentric thinkers that it is popularly Max Scheler
    [Show full text]
  • Who Was Protagoras? • Born in Abdêra, an Ionian Pólis in Thrace
    Recovering the wisdom of Protagoras from a reinterpretation of the Prometheia trilogy Prometheus (c.1933) by Paul Manship (1885-1966) By: Marty Sulek, Ph.D. Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy For: Workshop In Multidisciplinary Philanthropic Studies February 10, 2015 Composed for inclusion in a Festschrift in honour of Dr. Laurence Lampert, a Canadian philosopher and leading scholar in the field of Nietzsche studies, and a professor emeritus of Philosophy at IUPUI. Adult Content Warning • Nudity • Sex • Violence • And other inappropriate Prometheus Chained by Vulcan (1623) themes… by Dirck van Baburen (1595-1624) Nietzsche on Protagoras & the Sophists “The Greek culture of the Sophists had developed out of all the Greek instincts; it belongs to the culture of the Periclean age as necessarily as Plato does not: it has its predecessors in Heraclitus, in Democritus, in the scientific types of the old philosophy; it finds expression in, e.g., the high culture of Thucydides. And – it has ultimately shown itself to be right: every advance in epistemological and moral knowledge has reinstated the Sophists – Our contemporary way of thinking is to a great extent Heraclitean, Democritean, and Protagorean: it suffices to say it is Protagorean, because Protagoras represented a synthesis of Heraclitus and Democritus.” Nietzsche, The Will to Power, 2.428 Reappraisals of the authorship & dating of the Prometheia trilogy • Traditionally thought to have been composed by Aeschylus (c.525-c.456 BCE). • More recent scholarship has demonstrated the play to have been written by a later, lesser author sometime in the 430s. • This new dating raises many questions as to what contemporary events the trilogy may be referring.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Fiction, Brachylogy, and Plutarch's Banquet of Th E Seven
    Historical fiction, brachylogy, and Plutarch’s Banquet of th e Seven Sages Autor(es): Kim, Lawrence Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra; Centro de Estudos Clássicos e Publicado por: Humanísticos URL persistente: URI:http://hdl.handle.net/10316.2/32038 DOI: DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/978-989-8281-17-3_44 Accessed : 29-Sep-2021 07:33:07 A navegação consulta e descarregamento dos títulos inseridos nas Bibliotecas Digitais UC Digitalis, UC Pombalina e UC Impactum, pressupõem a aceitação plena e sem reservas dos Termos e Condições de Uso destas Bibliotecas Digitais, disponíveis em https://digitalis.uc.pt/pt-pt/termos. Conforme exposto nos referidos Termos e Condições de Uso, o descarregamento de títulos de acesso restrito requer uma licença válida de autorização devendo o utilizador aceder ao(s) documento(s) a partir de um endereço de IP da instituição detentora da supramencionada licença. Ao utilizador é apenas permitido o descarregamento para uso pessoal, pelo que o emprego do(s) título(s) descarregado(s) para outro fim, designadamente comercial, carece de autorização do respetivo autor ou editor da obra. Na medida em que todas as obras da UC Digitalis se encontram protegidas pelo Código do Direito de Autor e Direitos Conexos e demais legislação aplicável, toda a cópia, parcial ou total, deste documento, nos casos em que é legalmente admitida, deverá conter ou fazer-se acompanhar por este aviso. pombalina.uc.pt digitalis.uc.pt Symposion and Philanthropia in Plutarch Manuel Troster e Paula Barata Dias (eds.) IMPRENSA DA UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA COIMBRA UNIVERSITY PRESS ANNABLUME Historical Fiction, Brachylogy, and Plutarch’s Banquet of the Seven Sages HIS T ORICAL FIC T ION , BRACHYLOGY , AND PLU T ARCH ’S BAN Q UE T OF th E SEVEN SAGE S Lawrence Kim University of Texas, Austin Abstract In this paper I examine the ways in which the weaknesses and strengths of Plutarch’s Banquet of the Seven Sages are tied to Plutarch’s attempt to recreate the world of the sixth century BCE in fictional form.
    [Show full text]
  • Thales of Miletus Sources and Interpretations Miletli Thales Kaynaklar Ve Yorumlar
    Thales of Miletus Sources and Interpretations Miletli Thales Kaynaklar ve Yorumlar David Pierce October , Matematics Department Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul http://mat.msgsu.edu.tr/~dpierce/ Preface Here are notes of what I have been able to find or figure out about Thales of Miletus. They may be useful for anybody interested in Thales. They are not an essay, though they may lead to one. I focus mainly on the ancient sources that we have, and on the mathematics of Thales. I began this work in preparation to give one of several - minute talks at the Thales Meeting (Thales Buluşması) at the ruins of Miletus, now Milet, September , . The talks were in Turkish; the audience were from the general popu- lation. I chose for my title “Thales as the originator of the concept of proof” (Kanıt kavramının öncüsü olarak Thales). An English draft is in an appendix. The Thales Meeting was arranged by the Tourism Research Society (Turizm Araştırmaları Derneği, TURAD) and the office of the mayor of Didim. Part of Aydın province, the district of Didim encompasses the ancient cities of Priene and Miletus, along with the temple of Didyma. The temple was linked to Miletus, and Herodotus refers to it under the name of the family of priests, the Branchidae. I first visited Priene, Didyma, and Miletus in , when teaching at the Nesin Mathematics Village in Şirince, Selçuk, İzmir. The district of Selçuk contains also the ruins of Eph- esus, home town of Heraclitus. In , I drafted my Miletus talk in the Math Village. Since then, I have edited and added to these notes.
    [Show full text]
  • Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece
    Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Phaedo As a Pedagogical Drama
    Ancient Philosophy 33 (2013) ©Mathesis Publications 333 Plato’s Phaedo as a Pedagogical Drama Sarah Jansen The Phaedo has long been recognized as dramatic in nature (see, e.g., Jowett 1892, 193). Indeed, the dialogue’s dramatic portrayal of a Herculean Socrates attacking the heads of a hydra naturally invites this assessment (89c). At the out- set of the dialogue Socrates and the fourteen named companions are juxtaposed with Theseus and the fourteen Athenian youth, on their way to defeat the Mino- taur (58a-c).1 Also, Socrates’ death scene is particularly dramatic. Fifteen com- panions, the exact number of a tragic chorus, surround the dying Socrates and lament (117c-d).2 Reflection on this scene has prompted scholars to speculate that it is intended to ‘lend moving force’ to the tragic perspective and to ‘rouse’ readers’ emotions (see Halliwell 1984, 57-58 and Crotty 2009, 87, respectively). Despite these scholarly observations and compelling evidence that the dia- logues were treated as dramatic performance literature in antiquity (see Charal- abopoulos 2012), a number of key questions have yet to be satisfactorily and systematically answered: What is drama?; What is the Phaedo a drama about?; What is the function, if any, of the dramatic elements of the Phaedo? I undertake to answer these questions. I conclude with some thoughts about Plato’s purpose in writing dramatic dialogues and Plato’s attitude toward poetry. One of my aims throughout will be to demonstrate how a proper understanding of the literary dimension of the Phaedo sheds light on the philosophical content of the dialogue.
    [Show full text]
  • The Value of Interpretation in Plato's Protagoras
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 1-1-2013 Childish Nonsense? The alueV of Interpretation in Plato's Protagoras Franco Trivigno Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 51, No. 4 (2013): 509-543. Reprinted with permission by The oJ hns Hopkins University Press. DOI. © 2013 Johns Hopkins University Press. Used with permission. Childish Nonsense? The Value of Interpretation in Plato’s Protagoras FRANCO V. TRIVIGNO* in the PROTAGORAS, plato presents us with a puzzle regarding the value of in- terpretation. On the one hand, Socrates claims to find several familiar Socratic theses about morality and the human condition in his interpretation of a poem by Simonides (339e−347a). On the other hand, immediately after the interpreta- tion, Socrates castigates the whole task of interpretation as “childish nonsense” appropriate for second-rate drinking parties (347d5−6).1 The core problem is this: taking Socrates’s interpretation of Simonides seriously requires undermin- ing the significance of the claims about interpretation, but taking the criticism of interpretation seriously requires undermining the significance of Socrates’s interpretation of Simonides.2 Broadly speaking, there have been two approaches to this puzzle in the lit- erature. First (this is the most common approach), commentators have simply ignored Socrates’s interpretation as philosophically insignificant, since Socrates is being playful and ironic throughout. For example, A. E. Taylor claims that tak- ing the interpretation seriously “ought to be impossible for [anyone] with a sense of humor.”3 In partial defense of his position, Taylor claims that the “professed exegesis .
    [Show full text]
  • The Seven Sages.Pdf
    Document belonging to the Greek Mythology Link, a web site created by Carlos Parada, author of Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology Characters • Places • Topics • Images • Bibliography • PDF Editions About • Copyright © 1997 Carlos Parada and Maicar Förlag. The Seven Sages of Greece Search the GML advanced Sections in this Page Introduction: The Labyrinth of Wisdom The Seven Sages of Greece Thales Solon Chilon Pittacus Bias "… wisdom is a form of goodness, and is not scientific knowledge but Cleobulus another kind of cognition." (Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics 1246b, 35). Periander Anacharsis Myson Epimenides Pherecydes Table: Lists of the Seven Sages Notes and Sources of Quotations Introduction: The Labyrinth of Wisdom For a god wisdom is perhaps a divine meal to be swallowed at one gulp without need of mastication, and that would be the end of the story. The deities are known for their simplicity. The matter of human wisdom, however, could fill all archives on earth without ever exhausting itself. Humanity is notorious for its complexity. And men proudly say "Good things are difficult." But is wisdom a labyrinth, or "thinking makes it so"? And when did the saga of human wisdom begin and with whom? The Poet When humans contemplated Dawn for the first time, wisdom was the treasure of the poet alone. Of all men he was the wisest, for the gods had chosen his soul as receptacle of their confidences. Thus filled with inspiration divine, the poet knew better than any other man the secrets of the world. And since Apollo found more pleasure in leading the Muses than in warming his tripod, neither the inspiration of the Pythia nor that of seers could match the poet's wisdom.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Greek Ethics
    Comp. by: SatchitananthaSivam Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0004760437 Date:25/2/20 Time:13:07:47 Filepath:d:/womat-filecopy/0004760437.3D Dictionary : NOAD_USDictionary 3 OUP UNCORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FIRST PROOF, 25/2/2020, SPi Early Greek Ethics Edited by DAVID CONAN WOLFSDORF 1 Comp. by: SatchitananthaSivam Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0004760437 Date:25/2/20 Time:13:07:47 Filepath:d:/womat-filecopy/0004760437.3D Dictionary : NOAD_USDictionary 5 OUP UNCORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FIRST PROOF, 25/2/2020, SPi Table of Contents Abbreviations ix Chapter Abstracts and Contributor Information xiii Introduction xxvii David Conan Wolfsdorf PART I INDIVIDUALS AND TEXTS 1. The Pythagorean Acusmata 3 Johan C. Thom 2. Xenophanes on the Ethics and Epistemology of Arrogance 19 Shaul Tor 3. On the Ethical Dimension of Heraclitus’ Thought 37 Mark A. Johnstone 4. Ethics and Natural Philosophy in Empedocles 54 John Palmer 5. The Ethical Life of a Fragment: Three Readings of Protagoras’ Man Measure Statement 74 Tazuko A. van Berkel 6. The Logos of Ethics in Gorgias’ Palamedes, On What is Not, and Helen 110 Kurt Lampe 7. Responsibility Rationalized: Action and Pollution in Antiphon’s Tetralogies 132 Joel E. Mann 8. Ethical and Political Thought in Antiphon’s Truth and Concord 149 Mauro Bonazzi 9. The Ethical Philosophy of the Historical Socrates 169 David Conan Wolfsdorf 10. Prodicus on the Choice of Heracles, Language, and Religion 195 Richard Bett 11. The Ethical Maxims of Democritus of Abdera 211 Monte Ransome Johnson 12. The Sophrosynē of Critias: Aristocratic Ethics after the Thirty Tyrants 243 Alex Gottesman Comp. by: SatchitananthaSivam Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0004760437 Date:25/2/20 Time:13:07:48 Filepath:d:/womat-filecopy/0004760437.3D Dictionary : NOAD_USDictionary 6 OUP UNCORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FIRST PROOF, 25/2/2020, SPi vi 13.
    [Show full text]