Plato praising Darius and Cyrus, though going on to lament that their sons were not raised properly and therefore could not follow in their footsteps, from Laws, “he made laws upon the principle of introducing universal
equality in the order of the state, and he embodied in his laws the
settlement of the tribute which Cyrus promised,—thus creating a
feeling of friendship and community among all the Persians, and attaching
the people to him with money and gifts.”
and from Gorgias,
SOCRATES: Yes, indeed, Polus, that is my doctrine; the men and women who are
gentle and good are also happy, as I maintain, and the unjust and evil are
miserable.
Let’s not be too hasty to paint all Greeks with the same brush and to also remember that Maimonides was heavily influenced by Plato and Aristotle.
I agree that not all Greeks should be painted with the same brush. But the Greeks you mention are not the liberals.
The liberals were included in what Bertrand Russell calls "The Great Generation." Their intellectual leader was Herodotus. These Greeks were a collection of thinkers who opposed slavery. But Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are not in that number. They were theorists of Greek fascism. Plato's "Republic" explains how to build a fascist state where the governed are lied to and treated and bred like cattle. And Aristotle's "Politics" contains his theory to justify the most brutal slavery because, according to him, slaves are not really human, but more like animals with speech. This was the dominant stream in Greek culture (Russell's "Great Generation" had no lasting effect).
If you are interested in this subject, I have an in-depth documentation of Greek ideology, and that of their "Great Generation" rivals, among other things, here:
Great article, Francisco. It seems psychopathies are havinf a field day in this era not just in the highest spheres but also in societies at large Professor Gaad calls it the "mind virus". Maybe pathologies of the mind develop more quickly and more effectively when there is no moral compass, no shared values, no rules to guide us. And maybe so many decades of peace and prosperity have stultified the western brain. Humans should always walk on a rope above an abyss, only with a constant threat they would keep alert and possibly sane. When they walk a safe path for too long, they go beserk.
I don't think humans go berserk merely from walking a safe path for a long time. Babylonians kept to their ethical path for 2000 years. The problem we have in the modern West is that the power elites, the bosses, have always been psychopathic antisemites interested in enslaving everybody, and continue to be, so they have worked hard to destroy our modern peace. We can't let them succeed.
Plato praising Darius and Cyrus, though going on to lament that their sons were not raised properly and therefore could not follow in their footsteps, from Laws, “he made laws upon the principle of introducing universal
equality in the order of the state, and he embodied in his laws the
settlement of the tribute which Cyrus promised,—thus creating a
feeling of friendship and community among all the Persians, and attaching
the people to him with money and gifts.”
and from Gorgias,
SOCRATES: Yes, indeed, Polus, that is my doctrine; the men and women who are
gentle and good are also happy, as I maintain, and the unjust and evil are
miserable.
Let’s not be too hasty to paint all Greeks with the same brush and to also remember that Maimonides was heavily influenced by Plato and Aristotle.
I agree that not all Greeks should be painted with the same brush. But the Greeks you mention are not the liberals.
The liberals were included in what Bertrand Russell calls "The Great Generation." Their intellectual leader was Herodotus. These Greeks were a collection of thinkers who opposed slavery. But Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are not in that number. They were theorists of Greek fascism. Plato's "Republic" explains how to build a fascist state where the governed are lied to and treated and bred like cattle. And Aristotle's "Politics" contains his theory to justify the most brutal slavery because, according to him, slaves are not really human, but more like animals with speech. This was the dominant stream in Greek culture (Russell's "Great Generation" had no lasting effect).
If you are interested in this subject, I have an in-depth documentation of Greek ideology, and that of their "Great Generation" rivals, among other things, here:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3583957
This piece will also help you interpret properly what Greeks such as Socrates and Plato mean when they speak of such things as "equality" etc.
Thanks for your comment!
Great article, Francisco. It seems psychopathies are havinf a field day in this era not just in the highest spheres but also in societies at large Professor Gaad calls it the "mind virus". Maybe pathologies of the mind develop more quickly and more effectively when there is no moral compass, no shared values, no rules to guide us. And maybe so many decades of peace and prosperity have stultified the western brain. Humans should always walk on a rope above an abyss, only with a constant threat they would keep alert and possibly sane. When they walk a safe path for too long, they go beserk.
Thanks for your comment!
I don't think humans go berserk merely from walking a safe path for a long time. Babylonians kept to their ethical path for 2000 years. The problem we have in the modern West is that the power elites, the bosses, have always been psychopathic antisemites interested in enslaving everybody, and continue to be, so they have worked hard to destroy our modern peace. We can't let them succeed.