Owen's Guide to Philosophy: The Greeks

[TheSheriff]

There were three main schools of Greek philosophy. These were:

SOPHISTRY: One of the main leaders of the group was Alcibiades, Socrates’ great rival. The Sophists believed that all was fair, even outside of love and war; they believed whoever came out on top deserved to come out on top. The main philosophers influenced by the work of the Sophists are Nietzche and Machiavelli. Darwin also quoted from Alcibiades’ work. Perhaps it is fair to say pure capitalism came from this school; David Hume and John Stuart Mill being the less extreme, and more famous, followers of that belief.

STOICISM: There weren’t really what we would call leaders of this group during Greek times, though it came into being then. Perhaps the most famous proponent of this school was the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. This school advocated the bearing of burdens, and can be summed up in “Always look on the bright side of life”. Though this school has spawned few descendents, its beliefs still resonate. It isn’t a political belief; it is a lifestyle belief.

And the school variously known as:

SOCRATIC/PLATONIC/ARISTOTELIAN: Plato was the first of this school to write down his beliefs. The “founder”, if you like, of these collective ideas was Socrates, the perfect “Philosopher King”. This school believed in one driving belief-that of the Forms…That each person is destined for one job, for one role, etcetera. Though this could be interpreted many ways, and later has been, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all believed that all personal goods should be removed, and that a communal society was the best way for humanity to continue. Their descendents include St Augustine, Thomas More and Karl Marx. Socialism can be said to have sprung from this school.

[TheSheriff]

I wrote that.

[Quakaveli]

I thought Scorates was down with the Sophists....  Aristophanes hated Socrates and Sophists, read the book The Clouds by him...according to that book Socrates was leading the Sophists into the whole "all is fair"...cunning philosophy to use arguments to trick ppl into getting what U want-Aristophanes hated that and mocked em the whole story.

[Agua]

Machiavelli.

I doubt that Niccolo Machiavelli was influenced by the Sophists. The only reason why he wrote The Prince is most likely the fact that he was incarcerated and tortured by the Borgia family. Before he went through this ordeal, Machiavelli was actually a quite moderate diplomat and politician.

p/s good post

[TheSheriff]

I thought Scorates was down with the Sophists....  Aristophanes hated Socrates and Sophists, read the book The Clouds by him...according to that book Socrates was leading the Sophists into the whole "all is fair"...cunning philosophy to use arguments to trick ppl into getting what U want-Aristophanes hated that and mocked em the whole story.

I have read the play "The Clouds" , yes. Aristophanes was a satirist who hated everyone. His best play is Lysistrata. And Socrates was diametrically opposed to Alcibiades. Read Plato or Aristotle.

[TheSheriff]

I doubt that Niccolo Machiavelli was influenced by the Sophists. The only reason why he wrote The Prince is most likely the fact that he was incarcerated and tortured by the Borgia family. Before he went through this ordeal, Machiavelli was actually a quite moderate diplomat and politician.

p/s good post

Good point, but are all hardline capitalists unpleasant people? I think Machiavelli was always influenced by the "capitalist" theories of Alcib., but I agree he only went as far as he did in the Prince because the Borgias forced him to.

[infinite59]

good read

[Jay ay Beee]

Is J.S Mill definitely down with the Sophists?

How does his harm principle fit into that?

[TheSheriff]

His general idea was of human liberty, to choose what one wants to do-that there is no objective wrong.