The ancient Greek philosophers...remained more faithful to the Idea of the philosopher than their modern counterparts have done. “When will you finally begin to live virtuously?” said Plato to an old man who told him he was attending classes on virtue. The point is not always to speculate, but ultimately to think about applying our knowledge. Today, however, he who lives in conformity with what he teaches is taken for a dreamer. Kant
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
A Topic for Debate
After reading Foucault's "Parrhesia and Public Life: the Cynics" where Dio Chrysostom described certain dialogues between Diogenes and Alexander in a fashion similar, but a tad bit different than the Socratic method, I posed the question to Brian Samuel whether he preferred Diogenes to Socrates. Regardless of who you are in discussion with, I sense that most would wind up feeling like a jackass in some degree, but I want to ask the class who they would prefer to be in discussion with, Socrates or Diogenes? My opinion switches whenever I think about each man and their ways, but I think I might have to go with Socrates because he seems to be less of an asshole.
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