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Material Success
Material success can tend to make people worse people. It diminishes their empathy. They tend to look down more and say to themselves that everyone gets what they deserve. In amongst those who are ambitious and successful, I say this to myself: It is not my business. It is not my nature. It is not my choice. What is my business? To know what is right and be what is good.
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Shadow Chasing
Over the past few years – having made an attempt to pursue philosophy as a way of life, to take it seriously and digest its lessons and not only treat it as an academic discipline – I’ve come to see new depths in old ideas. One example of this is the cynical little detail in Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’. There, Plato suggests that these poor souls – imprisoned in a dark cave of ignorance and only able to look at the shadows on the wall in front of them – would esteem those who are best at discerning the…
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The Call of Callicles
‘Is he serious or is he joking?’, asks Callicles, having heard Socrates philosophise. Socrates says he is serious. But for Callicles it’s all too absurd to take seriously. To prefer to live miserably under a tyrant than happily as a tyrant? To prefer to suffer wrong than to do it? To prioritise wisdom and ethical excellence over pleasure, money, reputation, popularity, and power? No one in their right mind would choose this, says Callicles, and he’s heard enough. It’s time someone told Socrates some home truths. What follows (in the Gorgias) is a damning tirade against the philosophical life. Callicles…
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
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