In this essay, I conclude our analysis of Book II of The Republic by examining Plato’s theological critique of religion and contrasting it with contemporary accounts of so-called religious trauma. After establishing the need for a guardian class, Socrates now enquires into their education (376c). As we noted last time, guardians must be both upright …
In this essay, I continue our discussion of Book 2 of the Republic by examining Plato’s account of the formation the city and the emergence of its guardian class. In the process we will also investigate why the fierce negation and boundary setting of the guardians is necessary for both public and private life. The …
In Book II of the Republic, Glaucon and Adeimantus strengthen and defend Thrasymachus’s earlier claim that justice is merely an instrumental, and not an intrinsic, good. Though Thrasymachus has conceded to Socrates, Glaucon observes that he has perhaps done so too hastily, being charmed by Socrates “as if he were a snake.” (358b). Socrates case …
Human life, finite and incarnate, burns with desire, craving not only physical necessities such as food and drink, but yearning also for an ever elusive wholeness. As the poet Novalis observed, “we seek the unconditioned, but all we ever find are things.” Man’s life is thus one of love and longing. We learn much about …
In this essay, continue my analysis of Book I of the Republic by examining Plato’s use of the classical concept of excellence to defend the claim that justice is an intrinsic rather than merely instrumental good. After arguing that justice is not, as Thrasymachus contends, merely as the advantage of the stronger, Socrates attempts to …
Plato is one of the most influential philosophers in the history of western philosophy and the Republic is one of his most memorable works. New readers of Plato’s Republic are often surprised to learn that while it does contain important reflections about what constitutes an ideal city, they are not the primary subject matter of …
Friedrich Hölderlin was a German poet and philosopher (1770-1843) devoted to classical Greek culture. Much of his work concerns the memorialization of classical antiquity, blending its mythology with the exhausted Christian mythos of his day, and attempting to clear a space for the departed gods to walk once more with men. As a result, he …
Empedocles (c.494-c.434 BC), like Pythagoras, is a presocratic philosopher whom contemporary expositors either deride or ignore. Because he is a philosopher who sings, invoking the muse and articulating his doctrines as hexameter poems (D7)[1], if it is presented at all, he is presented as an object of either pity (for his alleged ignorance) or scorn …
1. Deconstruction in the Evangelical Church The term “deconstruction” has taken on a life of its own in Evangelical Christian circles. I can remember being both surprised and annoyed when sitting in these churches and hearing pastors rail against postmodern philosophers as if they were prophets of the antichrist. Their animosity surprised me, because I …
Pythagoras on the Purpose of Philosophy In this essay, I’d like to turn from investigating Pythagorean doctrine to examining Pythagorean practice. For Pythagoras identified philosophy not with a set of abstract doctrines to be grasped by the understanding alone, but with a way of life that purified and strengthened the soul. Porphyry, for instance, describes …