Very interesting. What remains unthought in Socrates is nonviolence. As such.
Tom B.
On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Chris Morrissey wrote:
>
> > "So, while the Heideggerians think they are leaping into the nothing,
> they
> > end up having to think something and usually this is just low-grade 20th
> > century gnosticism (a muddle of arcane terminology) with the usual
> > Antichrist pose to justify their own petty immorality. The measure of the
> > true philosopher will always be Socrates, who spoke plainly and sought
> > above all to live a moral life."
> >
> > Aha. This is apparently shaping up as a contest between vapid,
> obscurantist
> > immoralists and staunch, upright moralists who of course speak the
> language of
> > common sense and adhere rigorously to the tenets of reason.
>
> Not at all. Socrates was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth.
> Hardly an upright moralist. The irony was he was trying to be even more
> moral than the upright moralists. Not beyond good and evil, but good above
> and beyond the call of duty. A hero in many ways.
>
> Socrates spoke not the language of common sense for its own sake but
> engaged in creating aporias using nothing but the language of common sense
> itself. In this way, in the aporia, the dimension beyond the common was
> indicated. The way into this dimension was open to anyone willing to speak
> plainly, open to anyone saying and affirming exactly what he believed to be
> true at every turn of the dialogue.
>
> The tenets of reason were not known in advance. They were sought. The
> arche, the aitia, the ousia, the logos. They were open to question.
>
> > Maybe Socrates was, among other things, also a moralistic
> pain-in-the-neck?
> > Reading Xenophon does in fact give me such an inkling.
>
> Another reason perhaps for calling him Saint Socrates.
>
> A moral gadfly? Maybe the piety of thinking is incomplete without the moral
> life.
>
> Chris Morrissey
> More C Communications Inc.
> a Microsoft Solution Provider
> http://www.moreC.com voice or fax 604.877.7731
>
>
>
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