“The great triad of Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, all belong to Athens, but to an Athens in decline. They drew their enormous ability and power to influence thought from the revolutionary greatness of the first free city; the service they put it to was that of counter-revolution. Socrates, at least as Plato represents him, Plato himself, and Aristotle all showed a scorn of democracy that only partially hid their deep fear of it. Marx was too kind to the philosophers, or perhaps he was thinking of his old favorite Epicurus, when he said: ‘The philosophers have hitherto only tried to understand the world, the task, however, is to change it.’ The task that Plato quite consciously set himself was that of preventing the world from changing – at least in the direction of democracy.” JD Bernal
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 20:17:43 +0000
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