6/2/2023 0 Comments Machiavelli and thrasymachus![]() ![]() Not his elders’ definitions but the very fact that they are spending their time talking about justice and morality at all is what rouses his ire. He is as young as he is wild, and his contribution to the discussion is, roughly: bullshit. Their attempts are shallow, conventional, in need of demolition: telling the truth and giving back what you’ve borrowed? Helping your friends and hurting your enemies? Socrates needs no more than a counter-example to dispense with each one.Įnter Thrasymachus. ![]() In his sly old way, Socrates has asked his companions to define it, and proceeds to demolish all their definitions. He has gone down in history as the anti-hero of the first great book of Western philosophy, who bursts into the house where Socrates and his friends are passing the time before dinner by talking about justice. ![]() His name means ‘fierce fighter’, and Plato describes him entering a room like a wild beast about to spring. Only a few fragments of his own writings survive. “Not much is known about the ancient Greek sophist Thrasymachus.
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