Know Thyself the Value and Limits of Self-Knowledge
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Resemblance and Camouflage in Graeco-Roman Antiquity 169
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institutional Research Information System University of Turin Sign Systems Studies 38(1/4), 2010 1 2 3 4 5 6 Resemblance and camouflage 7 in Graeco-Roman antiquity 8 Massimo Leone 9 Department of Philosophy, University of Turin 10 Via S. Ottavio 20, 10124, Torino, Italy 11 e-mail: [email protected] 12 13 Abstract. In the twenty-eighth book of the Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elder 14 claims that, if a chameleon’s left leg is roasted together with a herb bearing the 15 same name, and everything is mixed with ointment, cut in lozenges, and stored in 16 a wooden little box, this will bestow on those who own it a perfect camouflage. 17 The ring of Gyges (Plato, etc.), that of Midas (Pliny), the heliotropium (Pliny), the 18 dracontitis (Philostratus): ancient cultures abound with references to objects, 19 recipes, and techniques able to bestow different kinds of invisibility, meant as a 20 perfect resemblance with the environment. At the same time, these same cultures 21 also teem with references to how to avert the perfect camouflage: for instance, by 22 being endowed with a pupula duplex, a double pupil (Ovid). 23 The paper explores such vast corpus of texts from the point of view of a 24 semiotics of cultures, in order to track the roots of a conception of camouflage 25 that, from these ancient cultures on, develops through intricate paths into the 26 contemporary imaginaires (and practices) of invisibility. -
PLATO's SYMPOSIUM J
50 ccn~ PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM j - - -- ________j e Library of Liberal Arts PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM Tran lated by BENJAMIN JOWETT With an Introduction by FULTON H. ANDERSON Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS NEW YORK CONTENTS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .. .... ................................... ......... ... ........... 6 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION ................... ............................................. 7 SYMPOSIUM APOLLODORUS 13 THE SPEECH OF PHAEDRUS ...... .......................... .......................... .. 19 THE SPEECH OF PAU ANIAS ................. ... ................................. ... .. 21 THE SPEECH OF ERYXIMACHUS 27 THE SPEECH OF ARISTOPHAN E .. ............................... .................. 30 THE SPEECH OF AGATHON ............ .............................................. .. 35 THE SPEECH OF SocRATES ................................ .. ................... ..... .. 39 THE SPEECH OF ALCIBIADES ................. ............... ... ........... ...... .... .. 55 8 PLATO INTROD CTION 9 crescendo, and culminates in the report by Socrates on wi dom and epistemology, upon all of which the Symposium ha bearing, learned from the "wi e" woman Diotima. are intertwined, we m ay set down briefly a few of the more general The dialogue i a "reported" one. Plato himself could not have principles which are to be found in it author's many-sided thought. been present at the original party. (What went on there was told The human soul, a cording to Plato, is es entially in motion. time and time again about Athens.) He was a mere boy when it It is li fe and the integration of living functions. A dead soul is a con took place. Nor could the narrator Apollodorus have been a guest; _lladiction in terms. Man throughout his whole nature is erotically he was too young at the time. The latter got his report from motivated. His "love" or desire i manifest in three mutually in Aristodemus, a guest at the banquet. -
Glaucon's Dilemma. the Origins of Social Order
[Working draft. Please do not circulate or cite without author’s permission] Glaucon’s Dilemma. The origins of social order. Josiah Ober Chapter 2 of The Greeks and the Rational (book-in-progress, provisional title) Draft of 2019.09.20 Word count: 17,200. Abstract: The long Greek tradition of political thought understood that cooperation among multiple individuals was an imperative for human survival. The tradition (here represented by passages from Plato’s Republic, Gorgias, and Protagoras, and from Diodorus of Sicily’s universal history) also recognized social cooperation as a problem in need of a solution in light of instrumental rationality and self-interest, strategic behavior, and the option of free riding on the cooperation of others. Ancient “anthropological” theories of the origins of human cooperation proposed solutions to the problem of cooperation by varying the assumed motivations of agents and postulating repeated interactions with communication and learning. The ways that Greek writers conceived the origins of social order as a problem of rational cooperation can be modeled as strategic games: as variants of the non-cooperative Prisoners Dilemma and cooperative Stag Hunt games and as repeated games with incomplete information and updating. In book 2 of the Republic Plato’s Glaucon offered a carefully crafted philosophical challenge, in the form of a narrative thought experiment, to Socrates’ position that justice is supremely choice-worthy, the top-ranked preference of a truly rational person. Seeking to improve the immoralist argument urged by Thrasymachus in Republic book 1 (in order to give Socrates the opportunity to refute the best form of that argument), Glaucon told a tale of Gyges and his ring of invisibility.1 In chapter 1, I suggested that Glaucon’s story illustrated a pure form of rational and self-interested behavior, through revealed preferences when the ordinary constraints of uncertainty, enforceable social conventions, and others’ strategic choices were absent. -
Mythological Magic Items
MY T H O LO G I C A L MAGIC ITEMS Sample file MYTHOLOGICAL MAGIC ITEMS Introduction: The magical creations herein hail from classical antiquity. Whether they be in the hands of friend or foe, they are certain to infuse your game with a certain mythological flavor straight from the epic poems of old! In addition to 30 magic items, there is also a bonus creature from the gates of hell. Author: Eugene Marshall Layout: Amy Bliss Marshall Cover: Figure Inks by Bien Flores, Figure Colors by Basith Ibrahim, Background Image by Yusef Dundar Interior Art: art made available under the Community Content Agreement for the DMs Guild by Wizards of the Coast and from Edouard Dognin, Mateus Campos, Mike Gorrell, & Milada Vigerova Sample file DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2019 by Eugene Marshall & Arcanist Press and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. Table of Contents Magic Items Aegis of Zeus 4 Hercules’ Club 7 Aeolus’ Bag of Gales 4 Lantern of Diogenes 7 Ambrosia 4 Lyre of Apollo 7 Archimedes’ Mirror 4 Odysseus’ Bow 7 Artemis’ Longbow of the -
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. -
The Historicity of Plato's Apology of Socrates
Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1946 The Historicity of Plato's Apology of Socrates David J. Bowman Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Bowman, David J., "The Historicity of Plato's Apology of Socrates" (1946). Master's Theses. 61. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/61 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1946 David J. Bowman !HE HISTORICITY OP PLATO'S APOLOGY OF SOCRATES BY DA.VID J. BOWJWf~ S.J• .l. !BESIS SUBMITTED Ilf PARTIAL FULFILIJIE.NT OF THB: R}gQUIRE'IIENTS POR THE DEGREE OF IIA.STER OF ARTS Ill LOYOLA UlfiVERSITY JULY 1946 -VI'fA. David J. Bowman; S.J•• was born in Oak Park, Ill1no1a, on Ma7 20, 1919. Atter b!a eleaentar7 education at Ascension School# in Oak Park, he attended LoJola AcademJ ot Chicago, graduat1DS .from. there in June, 1937. On September 1, 1937# he entered the Sacred Heart Novitiate ot the SocietJ ot Jesus at Milford~ Ohio. Por the tour Jear• he spent there, he was aoademicallJ connected with Xavier Univeraitr, Cincinnati, Ohio. In August ot 1941 he tranaterred to West Baden College o.f Lorol& Universit7, Obicago, and received the degree ot Bachelor o.f Arts with a major in Greek in Deo.aber, 1941. -
The Apology of Socrates, by Plato
The Apology of Socrates, by Plato The Project Gutenberg Edition Trans: Benjamin Jowett INTRODUCTION. Socrates has been put on trial by the citizens of Athens for multiple “crimes” all related to his teaching of philosophy. Meletus is his prosecutor, but he is addressing a jury of hundreds of his fellow citizens. In this famous work, Socrates defends his practice of questioning everything and describes the beauty of a philosophical life. He also antagonizes his fellow Athenians… Note, Plato was Socrates’ student and this is report of how the trial went from Socrates’ perspective. Socrates himself wrote nothing – his philosophical career was spent verbally debating his fellow Athenians. APOLOGY How you, O Athenians, have been affected by my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that they almost made me forget who I was--so persuasively did they speak; and yet they have hardly uttered a word of truth. But of the many falsehoods told by them, there was one which quite amazed me;--I mean when they said that you should be upon your guard and not allow yourselves to be deceived by the force of my eloquence. To say this, when they were certain to be detected as soon as I opened my lips and proved myself to be anything but a great speaker, did indeed appear to me most shameless--unless by the force of eloquence they mean the force of truth; for is such is their meaning, I admit that I am eloquent. But in how different a way from theirs! Well, as I was saying, they have scarcely spoken the truth at all; but from me you shall hear the whole truth: not, however, delivered after their manner in a set oration duly ornamented with words and phrases. -
Plato's Symposium: the Ethics of Desire
Plato’s Symposium: The Ethics of Desire FRISBEE C. C. SHEFFIELD 1 Contents Introduction 1 1. Ero¯s and the Good Life 8 2. Socrates’ Speech: The Nature of Ero¯s 40 3. Socrates’ Speech: The Aim of Ero¯s 75 4. Socrates’ Speech: The Activity of Ero¯s 112 5. Socrates’ Speech: Concern for Others? 154 6. ‘Nothing to do with Human AVairs?’: Alcibiades’ Response to Socrates 183 7. Shadow Lovers: The Symposiasts and Socrates 207 Conclusion 225 Appendix : Socratic Psychology or Tripartition in the Symposium? 227 References 240 Index 249 Introduction In the Symposium Plato invites us to imagine the following scene: A pair of lovers are locked in an embrace and Hephaestus stands over them with his mending tools asking: ‘What is it that you human beings really want from each other?’ The lovers are puzzled, and he asks them again: ‘Is this your heart’s desire, for the two of you to become parts of the same whole, and never to separate, day or night? If that is your desire, I’d like to weld you together and join you into something whole, so that the two of you are made into one. Look at your love and see if this is what you desire: wouldn’t this be all that you want?’ No one, apparently, would think that mere sex is the reason each lover takes such deep joy in being with the other. The soul of each lover apparently longs for something else, but cannot say what it is. The beloved holds out the promise of something beyond itself, but that something lovers are unable to name.1 Hephaestus’ question is a pressing one. -
Why Nuclear Disarmament Is a Utopia
International Journal of Security Studies Volume 2 Issue 1 Article 6 2020 WHY NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT IS A UTOPIA YOVANI EDGAR CHAVEZ National Air Naval Service (Republic of Panama), [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/ijoss Part of the Defense and Security Studies Commons Recommended Citation CHAVEZ, YOVANI EDGAR (2020) "WHY NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT IS A UTOPIA," International Journal of Security Studies: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/ijoss/vol2/iss1/6 This Focus Articles is brought to you for free and open access by Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Security Studies by an authorized editor of Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository. WHY NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT IS A UTOPIA Introduction Centuries ago, ancient literature told the legend of the ring of Gyges, a ring capable of making its owner invisible to act with no consequences and be able to seduce both just and unjust men to commit injustice.1 It was so powerful that it transformed a mere shepherd into a mighty king. In the same way, governments around the world have been seduced to develop their own nuclear-weapon ring of Gyges to obtain maximum power and guarantee survival. Because the international community has tried to prevent wars to no avail, it is imperative for states to develop mechanisms to protect themselves. In that regard, nuclear weapons are the best guarantee of survival. During World War II, the international community saw how the United States used nuclear weapons to defeat Japan. -
On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues
Ryan C. Fowler 25th Hour On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues I. Thrasyllus a. Diogenes Laertius (D.L.), Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 3.56: “But, just as long ago in tragedy the chorus was the only actor, and afterwards, in order to give the chorus breathing space, Thespis devised a single actor, Aeschylus a second, Sophocles a third, and thus tragedy was completed, so too with philosophy: in early times it discoursed on one subject only, namely physics, then Socrates added the second subject, ethics, and Plato the third, dialectics, and so brought philosophy to perfection. Thrasyllus says that he [Plato] published his dialogues in tetralogies, like those of the tragic poets. Thus they contended with four plays at the Dionysia, the Lenaea, the Panathenaea and the festival of Chytri. Of the four plays the last was a satiric drama; and the four together were called a tetralogy.” b. Characters or types of dialogues (D.L. 3.49): 1. instructive (ὑφηγητικός) A. theoretical (θεωρηµατικόν) a. physical (φυσικόν) b. logical (λογικόν) B. practical (πρακτικόν) a. ethical (ἠθικόν) b. political (πολιτικόν) 2. investigative (ζητητικός) A. training the mind (γυµναστικός) a. obstetrical (µαιευτικός) b. tentative (πειραστικός) B. victory in controversy (ἀγωνιστικός) a. critical (ἐνδεικτικός) b. subversive (ἀνατρεπτικός) c. Thrasyllan categories of the dialogues (D.L. 3.50-1): Physics: Timaeus Logic: Statesman, Cratylus, Parmenides, and Sophist Ethics: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, Menexenus, Clitophon, the Letters, Philebus, Hipparchus, Rivals Politics: Republic, the Laws, Minos, Epinomis, Atlantis Obstetrics: Alcibiades 1 and 2, Theages, Lysis, Laches Tentative: Euthyphro, Meno, Io, Charmides and Theaetetus Critical: Protagoras Subversive: Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Hippias 1 and 2 :1 d. -
Plato the ALLEGORY of the CAVE Republic, VII 514 A, 2 to 517 A, 7
Plato THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE Republic, VII 514 a, 2 to 517 a, 7 Translation by Thomas Sheehan THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SOCRATES: Next, said I [= Socrates], compare our nature in respect of education and its lack to such an experience as this. PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE: THE CAVE AND THE FIRE The cave SOCRATES: Imagine this: People live under the earth in a cavelike dwelling. Stretching a long way up toward the daylight is its entrance, toward which the entire cave is gathered. The people have been in this dwelling since childhood, shackled by the legs and neck..Thus they stay in the same place so that there is only one thing for them to look that: whatever they encounter in front of their faces. But because they are shackled, they are unable to turn their heads around. A fire is behind them, and there is a wall between the fire and the prisoners SOCRATES: Some light, of course, is allowed them, namely from a fire that casts its glow toward them from behind them, being above and at some distance. Between the fire and those who are shackled [i.e., behind their backs] there runs a walkway at a certain height. Imagine that a low wall has been built the length of the walkway, like the low curtain that puppeteers put up, over which they show their puppets. The images carried before the fire SOCRATES: So now imagine that all along this low wall people are carrying all sorts of things that reach up higher than the wall: statues and other carvings made of stone or wood and many other artifacts that people have made. -
ION: Plato's Defense of Poetry Critical Introduction We
ION: Plato's defense of poetry Critical Introduction We occasionally use a word as a position marker. For example, the word 'Plato' is most often used to mark an anti-poetic position in the "old quarrel" between philosophy and poetry. Occasionally that marker is shifted slightly, but even in those cases it does not shift much. So, W.K.C. Guthrie in his magisterial History of Greek Philosophy1 can conclude [Plato] never flinched from the thesis that poets, unlike philosophers, wrote without knowledge and without regard to the moral effect of their poems, and that therefore they must either be banned or censored (Vol IV, 211). Generally, studies of individual dialogues take such markers as their interpretative horizon. So, Kenneth Dorter,2 who sees the importance of the Ion as "the only dialogue which discusses art in its own terms at all" (65) begins his article with the statement There is no question that Plato regarded art as a serious and dangerous rival to philosophy—this is a theme that remains constant from the very early Ion to the very late Laws (65). Even in those very rare instances where the marker is itself brought into question, as Julius Elias' Plato's Defence of Poetry3 attempts to do, the one dialogue in which Plato picks up poetry (rather than rhetoric) on its own account and not in an explicitly political or educational setting—the Ion—is overlooked entirely or given quite short shrift. Elias, after a two paragraph summary of the dialogue says "almost anybody could defend poetry better than Ion; we must look elsewhere for weightier arguments and worthier opponents" (6) and does not refer to the dialogue again in his book.