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Intro to Thucydides and 1.1
Manage episode 390197937 series 3539032
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This is the full recording of a discussion for the series "Technology and Nihilism" in philosophy on my website AthensCorner.com. At issue here is what Thucydides understands himself as providing us in his text. Accordingly, the question at hand in the opening of the text is this:
Is Thucydides's text simply or merely "history," or does he understand himself as providing something much more encompassing of human life than our contemporary understanding of history?
I explore that question by carefully reading and meticulously examining the opening paragraph of the text. In doing so, what unfolds from just that opening paragraph is a rich alternative to what is found in, for instance, Plato and Aristotle concerning the nature of man in political community. That is to say that what comes tumbling out of the first paragraph of Thucydides is an introduction to the question of the possibility of wise statesmanship, given his understanding of human nature.
I also briefly discuss the various translations of Thucydides in English and which one is best for those who do not know Greek, in order that they not be misled by poor translations which have done great damage by adding the word "history" in the opening sentence from which the text is named. Thucydides does *not* use that word at all in the opening paragraph, thereby raising the all-important question of how we are to properly understand the text as he himself intends for it to be understood.
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