Tag: politics

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Part 13 of 14

(Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here, Part 8 here, Part 9 here, Part 10 here, Part 11 here, Part 12 here, Part 14 here)

Power vs. Wisdom

We have seen that Callicles is more philosophical than Gorgias or Polus. So it comes as some surprise that the second part of Callicles’ speech is a critique of philosophy. (more…)

Kristian Zahrtmann, Socrates and Alcibiades, 1911 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

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Part 7 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here)

Having established that the true self is the soul and defended philosophical dialogue as the best path to self-knowledge, Socrates wraps up his argument.

Statesmanship & Moderation (more…)

John William Waterhouse, Psyche Opening The Golden Box, 1903

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Part 6 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 7 here)

The final part of the Alcibiades I deals with the self and self-knowledge. Most ancient commentators held that this discussion is the core of the dialogue.

From Self-Cultivation to Self-Knowledge

Socrates has finally gotten Alcibiades to admit that he needs to pursue self-cultivation. But what is self-cultivation? We must answer that question lest we mistakenly cultivate something other than ourselves. (more…)

Condordia on the Jubilee Column in Stuttgart (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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Part 5 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 6 here)

In our previous installment, we examined the speech Socrates made to break Alcibiades out of his complacency and spur him to educate and cultivate himself if he wishes to attain world renown.

Back to Dialogue

To borrow a term from classical music, the Alcibiades I has a “sonata” form: ABA. The first part (A1) consists of Socrates’ initial dialogue with Alcibiades. Part B is the speech about the Persian and Spartan queens. The third part (A2) is a return to the dialogue form. Socrates and Alcibiades first return to the idea of justice. Then they discuss self-knowledge. (more…)

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Part 3 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here)

In the second part of this series, Socrates shows Alcibiades that he doesn’t know what justice is, so he should not be too eager to get involved in politics before he gets an education. But Alcibiades thinks he’s found a way around Socrates’ argument. Granted, he doesn’t know what justice is. But politics doesn’t really deal with justice (δικαιοσύνη). It deals with the expedient or advantageous (συμφέροντα). (more…)

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White people face enormous challenges today.

Our living standards are declining due to globalization, immigration, and anti-white discrimination.

Our societies are being destroyed by multiculturalism, anti-whiteness, and the debasement of all standards: of behavior, of education, of taste. (more…)

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Stregoneria Politica is the title of Guido Taietti’s “manual of non-conventional political communication.” It translates as “political witchcraft,” and one can see why such a title was chosen. There may be nothing new under the Sun, and doing politics has always been a messy business no matter which system of government was employed, but the advent of the Internet and social media has rendered the political realm today even more bewildering, heaving with a multitude of parties and actors who are all noisily vying for attention. (more…)

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David Zsutty of the Homeland Institute (website, Telegram) was Gaddius Maximus‘ guest on last weekend’s broadcast of Building a Third Force on Gaddius’ Telegram channel, and it is now available for download and online listening. (more…)

The holistic society of the Middle Ages, as embodied in the “Three Orders of Mankind,” began to be broken down by the coming to prominence of the marketplace with the rise of nation-states.

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Part 3 of 3 (Introduction Part 1 here, Chapter I Part 2 here)

Translated by F. Roger Devlin

This strictly economic representation of society has considerable consequences. Finishing off the process of secularization and “disenchantment” of the world that is characteristic of modernity, it results in the dissolution of peoples and the systematic erosion of their particularities. At the sociological level, the adoption of economic exchange leads the society to be divided into producers, owners, and sterile classes (such as the former aristocracy) at the end of an altogether revolutionary process. (more…)

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Greg Johnson is teaching a five-week course on Plato’s Gorgias on Counter-Currents Radio, which will continue on three Saturdays later this month (July 15, 22, and 29). The second lecture, which dealt with Socrates’ discussion with Polus from 461b to 481b, can be heard below. A visual aid that accompanies the lecture is here.

The theme of the course is “Might vs. Right.” Dr. Johnson is using Donald J. Zeyl’s translation of the Gorgias published by Hackett as both a separate book and as part of their Plato Complete Works volume. (more…)

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All the world’s a stage. — William Shakespeare, As You Like It

This is not journalism, it’s performance art. — FOX News contributor Kat Timpf on pre-approved questions at a Biden press conference

In the old days of print journalism, the importance of a story was not measured in retweets, trending, uploads, shares, likes, or views, but rather in “column inches.” This is self-explanatory, but is also indicative of the fact that journalistic coverage in the print era was a zero-sum game. That is, the more column inches are devoted to story A, the fewer there are available for story B. (more…)

Grégor Puppinck

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Interview with Grégor Puppinck, Director of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ)

In November of this year, Poles will vote to elect a new Sejm (parliament), and therefore a new government. Under pressure at the national level from the Euro-enthusiastic liberals on its left and the patriots and nationalists of Konfederacja on its right, the center-Right coalition led by the Law and Justice Party (PiS) is not certain to win the upcoming elections after two consecutive terms.

Grégor Puppinck is the Director of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ). (more…)

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Right-wingers are fascinated with IQ to the point that it’s a focal point of the ideological brand. It’s an unspoken credo that says, “We’re the smart ones.” And that’s fine. All movements have mantras. There’s certainly nothing unappealing about being “the smart ones.” But when was the last time you heard the Left discuss IQ? (more…)