Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: Aristotle

No one asked Xanthippe
ER — (archived)

You have to admit, much of the undenieable triumphs of the Pythagorean school were obscured by ridiculous mysticism, and a secretive cult that attempted to obscure the truths they observed, rather than share them with the rest of us.

I've always had deep suspicions of Platonism, too. Although no one can deny the integrity, courage and level-headedness of Socrates on his good days, neither can it be denied that he (or at least, Plato's conception of him) was anti-democratic, elitist, mystical and non-materialistic (in the sense that he reintroduced the concepts of shadows and essences and spiritual foundations which allegedly lay behind observable realities). Chronology is not the only reason they term his predecessors the "Pre-Socratics". He not only followed them in time, he attacked the very foundations of what later became Western scientific method.

For a more balanced view of Socrates, one not published by one of his reactionary, aristocratic students, read Aristophanes' "Clouds", and Aristotle's opinions of the man. Another instructive viewpoint is I.F. Stone's "The Trial of Socrates". Stone's opinion: Socrates got just what he deserved.

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