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The next point is that Plato’s definition of “justice” presupposes a State organized either on traditional lines, or, like his own, so as to realize, in its totality, some ethical ideal. Justice, we are told, consists in every man doing his own job. But what is a man’s job? In a State which, like ancient Egypt or the kingdom of the Incas, remains u
... See moreBertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy
The writings of Plato and Aristotle are haunted by a figure who seeks wisdom of the highest things and who thereby gains practical wisdom, knowledge of how to govern. The first philosopher, Thales, fell into a well while looking at the stars, possessed by knowledge Aristotle called “wondrous, difficult and divine—but useless.” Yet Socrates fought c... See more
Zena Hitz • The Lamp Magazine | The Practical Wisdom of Eva Brann
Philosophy for the previous several centuries had been primarily a classroom exercise. It had been about the pursuit of the good life—about truth and meaning—but for the student first and foremost. Almost all the philosophical schools—Cynic, Platonist, Aristotelian, Epicurean, even Stoicism—had tuned out the real world of social and political life.
Stephen Hanselman • Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius
From the Enlightenment on, modern political philosophy has been character- ized by the abandonment of a set of questions that an earlier age had deemed central: What is a well-lived life? What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of the city and humanity? How does culture and religion fit into all of this? For the modern world, the death of... See more