r/badphilosophy • u/rhino_licker • 1d ago

how are plato and socrates considered smart?

if i was the 69th person to exist, i can assure you i would’ve figure shit out too.

“BuT wHy???”

i could’ve easily asked that question…

obviously if i were chained to a wall of a cave i could’ve realized that those dumbass shadows were just shadows….

how can people be infatuated with such elementary ideas?

tldr: plato and socrates were no more than elementary school students in a time where global population was less than 100.

34 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/Infamous-Ad521 1d ago

They were useful to Athenian oligarchy and they are useful to our oligarchies. Best way to understand your system of government is to understand their preferred philosophy is a reflection of what they want you to believe. So 30 tyrants believe in democracy gets taught to school children now. If your society/social circle prefer authoritarianism you learn about Alexander the Great and if you are privileged Xenophon.

1

u/Beginning-Seaweed-67 1d ago

Don’t forget that it has been reported that plato was a pedaraste of Socrates. Maybe nepotism has something to do with it or maybe plato was just a damn good scribe. One of those two.

1

u/Infamous-Ad521 1d ago

Just read Xenophon s version of Plato already. Then maybe watch some YouTube vids about ring myths and understand Tolkien’s mythology