Re-reading Plato's Republic. There's an excellent foreword that succinctly and elegantly explains that Plato's conception of philosophy and statesmanship are only at odds while society has improper virtues -- greed, fear, and pride. The Gorgias takes a dismal tone and suggests that good leadership is impossible because those who best exemplify the bad virtues will prevail in rhetoric and statemanship while the vice-filled society cheers them on and those people the philosophers, who try to figure out and to attain good virtues -- whatever they may be -- will always be put aside. Plato desperately wanted to not be black-pilled, and so he spent a long time in his life trying to solve this apparent paradox of society rewarding bad people.
The Republic supposes the need for philsophers, and not, mind you, only academic wierdos, but anyone who enjoys thinking about how to go about living a good life. It encourages, even calls for them, to try and take positions in society so as to reform it into a virtuous place. Seeing politics reward the most corrupt scumbags, though, is very disheartening. I think Plato may have been right in the Gorgias and that it's practically impossible for society to ever format itself into a better place because of how easily bad people can comandeer it and how much hoi polloi are swayed to support it.
If you want to read a kind of sci-fi/mythology fictional take on plato's republic, i enjoyed the Thessely/Just City series by Jo Walton. It's like, what if the god Apollo & the goddess Athene did time travel and set up an experimental city based on plato's republic but like, also they use robots instead of slaves. It's kind of a niche book, it's more about the philosophy than the plot, but i still found the plot engaging (though it was really just there to move the philosophy head).
It's also very anti-slavery the entire series through, so that's nice.
I'll give it a look, it sounds rather fun. Read the synopisis and I think I'll grab it when I get home.
Plato at the Googleplex is another fun, casual philosophy read! I found it a bit boring because I spent most of undergrad as a history of philosophy person, so I've already spent more time than any person reasonably should thinking about Plato/Socratic stuff and how it relates to the modern world. People who have already sone deep dives on the primary sources may find it a bit of a re-hash. But it's a great introduction to Plato and applies his thoughts to modern problems in an extremely fun style of prose! I was nearly brought to tears by one of Plato's expressions of how much he loved his teacher and mentor.
If anyone here wants to give themselves a bit of bougie cultured lingo to impress your PMC friends, give it a read. Otherwise, it's a decent overview of Plato that makes the primary sources more accessible to someone who isn't willing to dump a hundred grand on college.
Re-reading Plato's Republic. There's an excellent foreword that succinctly and elegantly explains that Plato's conception of philosophy and statesmanship are only at odds while society has improper virtues -- greed, fear, and pride. The Gorgias takes a dismal tone and suggests that good leadership is impossible because those who best exemplify the bad virtues will prevail in rhetoric and statemanship while the vice-filled society cheers them on and those people the philosophers, who try to figure out and to attain good virtues -- whatever they may be -- will always be put aside. Plato desperately wanted to not be black-pilled, and so he spent a long time in his life trying to solve this apparent paradox of society rewarding bad people.
The Republic supposes the need for philsophers, and not, mind you, only academic wierdos, but anyone who enjoys thinking about how to go about living a good life. It encourages, even calls for them, to try and take positions in society so as to reform it into a virtuous place. Seeing politics reward the most corrupt scumbags, though, is very disheartening. I think Plato may have been right in the Gorgias and that it's practically impossible for society to ever format itself into a better place because of how easily bad people can comandeer it and how much hoi polloi are swayed to support it.
If you want to read a kind of sci-fi/mythology fictional take on plato's republic, i enjoyed the Thessely/Just City series by Jo Walton. It's like, what if the god Apollo & the goddess Athene did time travel and set up an experimental city based on plato's republic but like, also they use robots instead of slaves. It's kind of a niche book, it's more about the philosophy than the plot, but i still found the plot engaging (though it was really just there to move the philosophy head).
It's also very anti-slavery the entire series through, so that's nice.
I'll give it a look, it sounds rather fun. Read the synopisis and I think I'll grab it when I get home.
Plato at the Googleplex is another fun, casual philosophy read! I found it a bit boring because I spent most of undergrad as a history of philosophy person, so I've already spent more time than any person reasonably should thinking about Plato/Socratic stuff and how it relates to the modern world. People who have already sone deep dives on the primary sources may find it a bit of a re-hash. But it's a great introduction to Plato and applies his thoughts to modern problems in an extremely fun style of prose! I was nearly brought to tears by one of Plato's expressions of how much he loved his teacher and mentor.
If anyone here wants to give themselves a bit of bougie cultured lingo to impress your PMC friends, give it a read. Otherwise, it's a decent overview of Plato that makes the primary sources more accessible to someone who isn't willing to dump a hundred grand on college.