Editorial notes: In September 2010, Shai begins the first phase of his intellectual journey with an essay dedicated to the Greek mathematician, astronomer and pre-Socratic philosopher, Thales of Miletus. This the first of 80 essays, written between September 2010 and July 2015, dedicated to analysing the thoughts and writings of the great ancient Greek and classical Western philosophers. A close...
History has recorded Anaximander as one of the first of the Ancient Greek philosophers, preceded only by his teacher Thales. Anaximander lived around 2600 years ago, in the large Ionian city of Miletus, which can be found on the West coast of modern day Turkey. Anaximander is famous, together with his teacher Thales and his own student Anaximenes for being the first Greeks to begin a tradition of...
I recommend reading the first footnote before starting It started with Plato, but it didn’t end there[1]. This fact isn’t often discussed. Plato lived in Athens in Ancient Greece about 2400 years ago. He himself studied informally under Socrates, and Plato, in turn, had his own students and disciples at a school (of sorts) called The Academy.[2] The very first person to succeed as...
What is this? It’s an index of sorts, linking to nodes that relate to philosophy in Ancient Greece. See also the first footnote below[1]. It was written for two main reasons: (1) As an index that can be referred to when looking for something to read about Ancient Greek philosophy; (2) as an index that can be referred to when trying to decide what has and hasn’t been written and what...
Plato was an Ancient Greek philosopher who lived around 2400 years ago in Athens. Almost all of Plato’s surviving writings are dialogues (philosophical plays). Ion is a dialogue between Socrates (Plato’s teacher) and Ion, a celebrated performer of poetry. Although Plato is always interesting, it is often hard to find a positive lesson that can be drawn from his philosophy. Often his...
Taking a Fresh Look at Antiochus’ Criterion of Certainty Introduction to Antiochus With Antiochus of Ascalon (c.125-88 BCE), Platonism took a dive back to its roots – or at least, it claimed to do so. Antiochus’ teacher was Philo of Larissa, who was the last of the Academics who were associated with the actual Academy of Plato. Antiochus is considered to be the first major philosopher of...
Plutarch was a priest, magistrate, ambassador, and essayist born in Chaeronea in Greece around 46CE (d. 120CE). The Greek states had already been part of the Roman Empire for two centuries by the time of his birth, and it is no surprise that at some point Plutarch became a citizen of Rome, changing his name to Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus. Plutarch (or Lucy, as I’m sure his friends called...
Editorial notes: In February 2013, Shai adds Evernote to his suite of repositories. This is an application designed specifically for note-taking, organising, task lists and archiving. This proves to be the ideal tool for him to better control his ever-growing research notes, stored primarily up to this point, in handwritten notebooks and documents stored in his Google drive. Between February 2013...
Summary: The rediscovery of Lucretius’ text by Italian scribe (Poggio Bracciolini) and its impact on contemporary / renaissance thinking. Quote: “[With Lucretius] it became possible – never easy, but possible – in the poet Auden’s phrase to find the mortal world enough.” {Preface} “Acediosus, sometimes translated as “apathetic,” refers to an illness...
Some essential part of stories lies in their telling. Here is a story: Kant has the idea of the sublime, whereby the aesthetic is significantly determined by its ability to transcend (and hence terrify) our senses. For instance the magnitude of a mountain or a storm – both threaten our sense of self and perception by impressing upon us fact that there is always more, forcing us to teeter...
