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A brilliant portrait of the Greek philosopher who personified philosophy.
Socrates was undeniably one of the greatest thinkers of all time, yet he wrote nothing. Throughout his life, and indeed until his very last moment alive, Socrates fully embodied his philosophy in thought and deed. It is through the story of his life that we can fully grasp his powerful actions and ideas.
In his highly acclaimed style, historian Paul Johnson masterfully disentangles centuries of scarce sources to offer a riveting account of a homely but charismatic middle-class man living in Athens in the fifth century b.c., and how what this man thought still shapes the way we decide how to act, and how we fathom the notion of body and soul. Johnson provides a compelling picture of the city and people Socrates reciprocally delighted in, as well as many enlightening and intimate analyses of specific aspects of his personality. Enchantingly portraying "the sheer power of Socrates's mind, and its unique combination of steel, subtlety, and frivolity," Paul Johnson captures the vast and intriguing life of a man who did nothing less than supply the basic apparatus of the human mind.
In this wonderfully readable brief, renowned historian Paul Johnson (Churchill; A History of the American People), makes a persuasive case that ancient Greek philosopher Socrates (c.469 BC-399) is a man of our times. A fascinating reconstruction of the life of a thinker who wrote nothing, yet influences us still.
— Tim Flannigan
Anonymous
Posted December 29, 2011
I am not a socratic scholar but i really got to appreciate how much we can use man like socrates today in world puffed up with pride and lacking in inaquisitive humility one thinng matters and rhat is it- one thing matters truth is one and not relative and it is in humn activity where it can be disclosed though te book was a hstory lesson socrates breaks through inn such urgent simplicityn that like in hiis time the message can be missed especially in contradictig tiwmes like ours- oe thing matters
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Overview
A brilliant portrait of the Greek philosopher who personified philosophy.
Socrates was undeniably one of the greatest thinkers of all time, yet he wrote nothing. Throughout his life, and indeed until his very last moment alive, Socrates fully embodied his philosophy in thought and deed. It is through the story of his life that we can fully grasp his powerful actions and ideas.
In his highly acclaimed style, historian Paul Johnson masterfully disentangles centuries of scarce sources to offer a riveting account of a homely but charismatic middle-class man living in Athens in the fifth century b.c., and how what this man ...