You can proceed any way you wish. I don't care and I'm not stopping you. I'm simply pointing out that there are major inconsistencies in your statemen...
You are quite right about private property and for very good reasons which we can address later. Suffice it to say for now that the vast majority of p...
That's precisely why I pointed out that in the Greek philosophical tradition, teachings were transmitted orally. Even if there is no "treatise" by Pla...
That makes the whole discussion kind of pointless, doesn't it? What happens if following the closure of the discussion you decide to find "new and dif...
Plato and his disciples didn’t call themselves “Platonists” or their system “Platonism” so the designation is irrelevant. What matters is that this wa...
Not necessarily. What kind of things might that be? Wouldn't an anti-Platonic approach also lead to misattributions or misinterpretations and perhaps ...
I didn't mean that there must be an exclusive elite group. But we're talking about quality, not quantity. Obviously, candidates would have to be selec...
That has been exactly my experience, though obviously not for that length of time. Very few have actually read Marx and even fewer have objectively an...
How is that "very different"? As I said before, Plato is best interpreted in the Platonic tradition of Plotinus and others. If you choose a different ...
Egyptian influence on early Minoan art is generally accepted. But there are also some interesting parallels between the Egyptian cult of the Mother Go...
Well, one of my initial impressions was that this was more like a social club for liberals and other progressives who tend to be overprotective of lef...
Correct. Scholars like Kolakowski have long pointed out that Marx was using ambiguous and suggestive language. Obviously, this was done on purpose as ...
“nous” is the contracted form of “noos” which is also used in the sense of “heart” or “soul”, i.e. that part of the self that uses a more direct or in...
Well, I have no doubt that he was a gifted polemicist. He learned all the tricks of the trade as a journalist and his father was a lawyer. However, he...
Good question. I think the answer is that it means different things to different people. That's why some believe that Spinoza was a mystic and others ...
And if a fiction writer wrote thousands and thousands of pages over the course of 40 or more years, that would be evidence that he actually believed e...
Well, conceivably, he did believe some of it. However, there is no evidence that he believed everything. Certainly, most people didn't seem to be conv...
Correct. And that's why I'm beginning to think that we haven't progressed much since Plato. As I said, spending more and more billions on elections an...
Well, I think "strategic machination" is employed by the Left as much as by the Right. Marx did borrow a lot from his rivals while at the same time cr...
Only if we've established that humans must be gradated by the same criteria or standards as animals. But it doesn't look like we've arrived there quit...
I think "life as a preparation for death" is indeed the key to understanding Socrates and Plato. However, we find parallels in Egyptian culture. The a...
Might be true but not necessarily so. Not if the philosopher-kings are specially raised and trained for that particular purpose. All that needs to be ...
I think most people are. Unfortunately, politicians seem strangely unable to deliver. So, why waste billions on elections and politicians instead of e...
Well, I'm not disputing that. And perhaps Platonic, Christian and other mystics (or Hindu yogis for that matter) aren't totally different. However, it...
Yes, but isn't that itself a conspiracy theory? How do we know that the world is run by "extreme American neofascist corporate oligarchs"? Do they run...
Yes, but that's how the human mind works, by classifying and organizing experience and trying to make sense of it all. But one can equally get enmeshe...
Well, that's what seems to be less and less clear. Personally, I tend to think we're being taken for a ride. I don't mean to be cynical but political ...
Well, when it comes to ethnic pride, the economy often takes second place. Obviously, in an ideal world all four nations should be "independent", thou...
I don't think it would be bad if you did. I was just making a general point about Labour and about the fact that it hasn't really recovered after Tony...
That was what I was saying. Buddhist theories are more difficult to process and assimilate if they require "immersing oneself in that field of experti...
Well, you need to know a bit about how the British Empire worked. The Tories were the party of "old money", i.e., upper-class, landed aristocracy. The...
I think the confusion is yours, not mine. I don't care about Corbyn in the least. I was simply saying how he was portrayed in the press and why he acq...
I joined the forum because I was working on a project about parallels between Greek and Indian philosophy and their historical roots. But I don't mind...
What I meant was that the Buddhist explanation may be OK to Buddhists, but it seems less satisfactory to Platonists and Hindus, for example. And it lo...
It is important to understand that the Fabians were middle class. There were exceptions, but it would be factually wrong to see the Fabians as poor an...
lol I doubt very much France can take over anything right now. Maybe Germany though? After all, that's where the Anglo-Saxons came from. BTW, I rememb...
Well, it can't be ruled out. Eugenics did form a big element in Fabian ideology. In those days a lot of people were into Darwinism and Eugenics and th...
Quite possible. However, I'd say that from a philosophical standpoint, psychology would represent a tool of philosophical inquiry. But this is just my...
Wells, yes. But he was not a founder of the Fabian Society, he joined much later. Beatrice Webb was the daughter of railroad magnate Richard Potter, c...
Correct. I've slightly edited the OP (2nd post, actually) to clarify how Fabianism has come to be associated with "conspiracy". The Fabians were attac...
Depends on what is meant by "philosophy". One interpretation of Greek philosophy is that it started as a system aiming to make man as wise ("sophos") ...
That's why I found the article interesting, because it's written by a practicing Buddhist. Obviously, a beginner or non-Buddhist would find the matter...
I agree. However, the republican movement had a political wing represented by Sinn Féin and a paramilitary group represented by the IRA and its variou...
Oh, you're most welcome. Do take your time. It's all very interesting stuff I think and I doubt you will regret it in the end. Reading does tend to op...
Correct. It is true that historically England has dominated Scotland as it has Wales and Ireland. However, Scotland having a much smaller population a...
Well, I was talking about Labour's image with voters. Corbyn didn't do his party a service by apparently endorsing extremist Islamic organizations as ...
Comments