There were Philosophers before Socrates, they're now known as the Pre-Socratics they had between them some achievements which persist but undoubtedly Western academia has privileged thinkers from Socrates onwards.
Socrates, died 470 BC aged 71 he didn't write stuff down was a sort of street Philosopher engaging people in what became known (when written down after his death) as the Socratic Dialogues.
Plato died at the age of 80 in 348 BC he was a student of Socrates and started what we might consider the first university The Academy in Athens. Plato did write and wrote (by all accounts) very well, much of his writing honours Socrates but it is not alawyas clear what is Plato's and what is an accurate reporting of Socrates.
Aristotle died in 322 BC at the age of 62 similarly to Plato's career path he learnt from the best as was a student of the master of his time- Plato and like Plato he later had a school of his own this one was called The Lyceum. Aristotle wrote extensively but much of what he wrote is lost and what we have is often 'notes'.
 |
| The Greeks Lyceum University |
IOT -Battle of Tours
The BBC Radio 4 In our Time this week really got me thinking, I was unaware of how far the Saracens had pushed into Europe in the 8th Century they actually lost a crucial battle in Tours in what is now France, the programme also highlighted how the Saracen army in Spain had been recruited and kept loyal to the empire.
If we think of the logistics and communication that were necessary with the Muslim empire at this time it brings into focus the horrors of WWI where we had hundreds of thousand of fighting men being serviced by supply chains across Europe. Does this more recent history give us clues as to how earlier battles were fought and won, were the numbers significantly fewer and the results less relevant to the vanquished foes?
 |
| Fighting for Tours |
No comments:
Post a Comment