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Position:Home>Philosophy> Do you read ancient Greek philosophers or from any other country?Question: Do you read ancient Greek philosophers or from any other country!? i read once , rent from the library books, and i like very much ancient Greek philosophy,
if you have in mind anything that any philosopher said to write please do, i would love to read it!. my favorite one is Heraclitus from the ancient Greeks and Krishnamurti Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You shoould read "The allegory of the cave" by Plato!. Inside the cave Socrates begins his presentation by describing a scenario in which what people take to be real would in fact be an illusion!. He asks Glaucon to imagine a cave inhabited by prisoners who have been chained and held immobile since childhood: not only are their arms and legs held in place, but their heads are also fixed, compelled to gaze at a wall in front of them!. Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which puppets of various animals, plants, and other things are moved!. The puppets cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows!. There are also echoes off the wall from the noise produced from the walkway!. Socrates asks if it isn't reasonable that the prisoners would take the shadows to be real things and the echoes to be real sounds, not just reflections of reality, since they are all they had ever seen!? Wouldn't they praise as clever whoever could best guess which shadow would come next, as someone who understood the nature of the world!? And wouldn't the whole of their society depend on the shadows on the wall!? [edit] Release from the cave Socrates next introduces something new to this scenario!. Suppose that a prisoner is freed and permitted to stand up (Socrates does not specify how)!. If someone were to show him the things that had cast the shadows, he would not recognize them for what they were and could not name them; he would believe the shadows on the wall to be more real than what he sees!. Suppose further, Socrates says, that the man were compelled to look at the fire: wouldn't he be struck blind and try to turn his gaze back toward the shadows, as toward what he can see clearly and hold to be real!? What if someone forcibly dragged such a man upward, out of the cave: wouldn't the man be angry at the one doing this to him!? And if dragged all the way out into the sunlight, wouldn't he be distressed and unable to see "even one of the things now said to be true," viz!. the shadows on the wall (516a)!? After some time on the surface, however, Socrates suggests that the freed prisoner would acclimate!. He would see more and more things around him, until he could look upon the sun!. He would understand that the sun is the "source of the seasons and the years, and is the steward of all things in the visible place, and is in a certain way the cause of all those things he and his companions had been seeing" (516b–c)!. (See also Plato's metaphor of the sun, which occurs near the end of The Republic, Book VI)[1] [edit] Return to the cave Socrates next asks Glaucon to consider the condition of this man!. Wouldn't he remember his first home, what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow prisoners, and consider himself happy and they, pitiable!? And wouldn't he disdain whatever honors, praises, and prizes were awarded there to the ones who guessed best which shadows followed which!? Moreover, were he to return there, wouldn't he be rather bad at their game, no longer being accustomed to the darkness!? "Wouldn't it be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it's not even worth trying to go up!? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead up, wouldn't they kill him!?" Www@QuestionHome@Com No human being will ever know the Truth, for even if they happen to say it by chance, they would not even known they had done so!. Xenophanes But if cattle and horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with their hands and do the work that men can do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves!. Xenophanes I also loved the symposium!. I read it at least 3 times!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Plotinus can be interesting!. Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov is a Bulgarian-French philosopher and teacher: "A Philosophy of Universality!." Mark Prophet is an American philosopher who writes somewhat like Krishnamurti: "The Path of the Higher Self!." Dr!. Olga Kharitidi is a Russian-American psychiatrist who writes philosophically in her "The Master of Lucid Dreams!." Dr!. Martha Beck is a Harvard-trained sociologist who writes warmly of her experiences with ethics in "Expecting Adam!." Jonathan Murro is an American teacher who writes about wisdom teachings in his "The Path of Virtue!." Lois Lowry is an American novelist who wrote "The Giver," which is based on Plato's "Republic!." Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi" is worthwhile, as are Helen Greaves' "Testimony of Light," C!. S!. Lewis' "The Great Divorce," and Free and WIlcock's "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce!?" http://www!.amazon!.com has reviews of all of these!. You might appreciate http://www!.coasttocoastam!.com radio!. Click on "affiliates" button for local stations!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I really like Plato, specifically The Symposium because it's a nice quick read and has lots of views about love!. The Republic is also very good, quite a bit longer but not necessary that you read cover to cover, certain excerpts are great by themselves!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Descartes (French) and Doestoevsky (I think, Russian) have really good writings!. Descartes mostly focuses on God but he makes great points so whether you believe or not, his writings are well written!. Plato and Aristotle are also good!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Are you serious!? You want to hear about any philosopher and anything they wrote!? Why don't you just ask people to write anything at all!? What's the point!?Www@QuestionHome@Com |