I teach the Great Books of our tradition ||Excellence in education: Intro through PhD level || SubStack @AthensCorner
Joined December 2020
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Athenian Stranger retweeted
Knowledge of what Thucydides teaches is so important that if you are not studying him (or have not) then you cannot say you are seriously engaged in learning “the great books” or offering “a classical curriculum”
Nor can you even say you know what “Modernity” is
Athenian Stranger retweeted
What is “Modernity”? — its various interpretations and philosophical premises? And what’s the relation between “Modernity” and that other neologism “Postmodernity”?
I discuss all of that and much more
Athenian Stranger retweeted
I go through Socrates’s description of the cave in the opening of book 7 to Plato’s Republic
Almost two hours on two pages, and emphasizing some Greek words used by Socrates so definitive of the cave
You will learn more here than from entire series by others
Athenian Stranger retweeted
Did you know Achilles sings songs? — and Homer allows Odysseus to sing his own song for 4 books, inviting us to compare them to what Homer says through the Muse?
What does all that mean coming immediately after the songs of Demodocus? I discuss all that in great detail
Athenian Stranger retweeted
This is the first in a series on Plato’s Phaedo. I discuss the enormous tension between Odysseus and the gods as *the* lens through which to understand the true theme of the dialogue which Plato’s Socrates appropriates in it from Homer’s Odyssey
Athenian Stranger retweeted
I discuss the enormous depths of philosophical thought that tumble out of Hobbes’s introductory remarks on history to the readers of his translation of Thucydides
The “ancients” and “moderns” in philosophy are far more interesting than you’ve been told
Link below
Athenian Stranger retweeted
Xenophon’s Socrates tells Xenophon that praying to the divine about things which the divine has already placed within our capacities to properly judge and justly correct on our own is insulting and flatly impious towards the divine.
Such wisdom has been *wasted* on us.
Athenian Stranger retweeted
I’ve made this free because the sequel to it is so relevant
The sequel is almost complete and includes numerous edits to this version along with almost 3 more hours of this comprehensive introduction to the entirety of Nietzsche’s thought
Athenian Stranger retweeted
On my 2nd listen to @Athens_Stranger's episodes on Paganism, Christianity and Atheism. Picking up lots more on the second listen. I can't recommend this series and the rest of his back catalogue highly enough frens.
Athenian Stranger retweeted
One of my favorite recordings to date from @Athens_Stranger I highly recommend subscribing on Substack and supporting his work!
Athenian Stranger retweeted
Knowledge of classical philosophy requires knowledge of Thucydides, the great alternative to Plato and Aristotle
Further, and just as importantly if not more so, knowledge of Modernity and Modern philosophy requires knowledge of Thucydides
Athenian Stranger retweeted
The Barbarian Bench Press Program is now available on @Gumroad!
If you want a serious boost to your bench press, grab your copy now.
kratosstrength.gumroad.com/l…
Athenian Stranger retweeted
You’re going to enjoy this. An hour and a half discussion with @alexpriou on the most defining characteristics of “Modernity”
In other words, an hour and a half on exactly why and how —the uniqueness”— of Machiavelli as THE founder of “Modernity
Athenian Stranger retweeted
Honorable mentions:
— Xenophon: Memorabilia
— Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics
— Cicero: Tusculan Disputations
— Plutarch: Lives
— Dante: Comedia (no “Divine”!)
— Machiavelli: Discourses on Livy
— Shakespeare: Troilus & Cressida, and Tempest
— Bacon: New Atlantis
— Milton: Paradise Lost
Athenian Stranger retweeted
By carefully and patiently studying the following three authors with one or two close friends, you can easily know more about philosophy than 99% of all philosophy PhD grads:
— Thucydides
— Xenophon
— Machiavelli
That’s how deep they are, truly
Athenian Stranger retweeted
If you are a math nerd, Munkres will never disappoint you
The ways the MIT math profs present this stuff is unlike anything you’ve probably ever seen and it’s nothing short of revealing an entirely new and beautiful world to you of how to think about the material
Athenian Stranger retweeted
John Adams on Thucydides in a letter to his 20 year old son, John Quincy:
“Thucydides [is] an Author, of whom I hope you will make yourself perfect Master… You will find [his text] full of Instruction on the Orator, Statesman, General, Historian and Philosopher”
Athenian Stranger retweeted
Great conversation. Outside of political theory circles, Machiavelli is not considered as the progenitor of Modernity. Natural to assume it was Bacon or Descartes. This chat explains why this is incorrect.
Athenian Stranger retweeted
… the clowns saying they’re going to fix the crisis in education or build new institutions while neither having nor teaching knowledge of Thucydides are mere mall security guards saying “Stop, or I’ll say stop again”
Athenian Stranger retweeted
Plutarch on education:
οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἀγγεῖον ὁ νοῦς ἀποπληρώσεως ἀλλ᾿ ὑπεκκαύματος μόνον ὥσπερ ὕλη δεῖται, ὁρμὴν ἐμποιοῦντος εὑρετικὴν καὶ ὄρεξιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
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For the mind does not require filling like a vessel, but only kindling, as wood does, to produce in it a desire for discovery and the truth.
On Listening to Lectures 48c