Category Archives: philosophy

Leo Strauss, “Memorial Remarks for Jason Aronson”

Thanks to Tim Haglund (thag) for bringing this to my attention. Memorial Remarks for Jason Aronson (from Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity, ed. Kenneth Hart Green) Leo Strauss We are struck by the awesome, unfathomable experience of death, of the death of one near and dear to us. We are grieved particularly because …

April 29, 2011 – 11:13 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy | Comments (3)

Briefly Noted: W.R. Newell, “Tyranny and the Science of Ruling in Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus”

Lots worth thinking about in this article. Newell starts with an obvious but important premise. Plato and Aristotle used as a starting point for their contemplation of politics “virtuous citizenship within a small, self-governing community;” Xenophon’s “Education of Cyrus takes as its explicit theme how one supremely talented and aggressive ruler can satisfy his craving …

February 12, 2011 – 2:04 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics, xenophon | Comments (1)

On Patriotism

For Pamela Jaska: happy birthday A relative from another country accused me years ago of only being patriotic because of 9/11. My Mother, who was in the room, gave the relative a death-stare while calmly stating that I’ve always been “like that.” Patriotism is a curious sort of love. It seems to be  grouped with …

February 11, 2011 – 5:16 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy | Comments (4)

Briefly Noted: Thomas L. Pangle, “Socratic Political Philosophy in Xenophon’s Symposium”

The commentary I recommend on Xenophon’s Symposium is Dustin Gish’s dissertation, “Xenophon’s Socratic Rhetoric: A Study of the Symposium.” Gish has his own translation of the work with notes in the appendices. Still, I realize access to that is problematic for many of you. It’s in the University of Dallas library and something I can …

February 3, 2011 – 2:16 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics, xenophon | Comments (3)

Briefly Noted: Christopher Nadon, “Leo Strauss’s Restatement on Why Xenophon”

The article discussed below can be found in Perspectives on Political Science, vol. 39 issue 2, Apr-Jun 2010. 77-81 Nadon’s Xenophon’s Prince, a study of The Education of Cyrus, is solid, useful scholarship and highly recommended. The article at hand is rather problematic. Nadon builds a case that Strauss took the time in an article …

January 28, 2011 – 6:38 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics, xenophon | Comments (0)

On Plato’s “Greater Hippias,” part 3

part I | II | III From the answers of a maiden, gold and a most honorable death the dialogue ventures into the topics of the fitting, the useful, and the pleasant. “The fitting,” though, was strictly speaking Hippias’ answer. He rooted it in a convention so strict, however, it could not help but be …

January 5, 2011 – 8:31 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (0)

On Plato’s “Greater Hippias,” part 2

Part I | II | III Contrasting the lives Socrates and Hippias lead goes far in framing more difficult issues: Socrates: Hippias, the beautiful and wise, how long a time it’s been for us since you alighted at Athens! Hippias: Yes, for I’ve had no leisure, Socrates. For whenever Elis has to conduct some business …

January 5, 2011 – 7:49 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (0)

On Plato’s “Greater Hippias,” part 1

The dialogue discussed below is found in The Roots of Political Philosophy, ed. Pangle (Ithaca: Cornell, 1987).  A discussion of the dialogue’s authenticity is in the introduction of that work. Part I | II | III Introduction The Greater Hippias can be placed with the Protagoras and Gorgias as dialogues concerned with the value of …

January 5, 2011 – 6:40 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (1)

Note on Plato’s Parmenides, 137c-142a

Benardete says Plato’s intellectual biography of Socrates is in three parts. In the Phaedo, Socrates describes his break with Anaxagoras; the inability to put body and soul together crippled his own thought (see Plutarch, “Life of Pericles” for a sketch of this). In the Symposium, Socrates details his encounter with Diotima and what he learned …

December 16, 2010 – 8:16 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (0)

Xenophon, “Spartan Constitution”

Or Constitution of the Lacedaemonians. Lacedaemon and Sparta are the same. I’m working on Plato’s Timaeus at the moment, but I revisited this text to keep Xenophon fresh in my mind. This is not an authoritative account, by far. A few basic points: the golden age of Greece is roughly 500-400 B.C. In that time, …

November 28, 2010 – 1:35 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics, xenophon | Comments (4)