/lit/ - Literature

Was Socrates a reactionary?

Would Socrates claim as to having a daemon that told him what to do have been disturbing or frightening to the Athenians? Obviously he meant to say it was the spirit of Reason or a servant of Apollo or whatever, but he was on trial for inciting treason and heresy and it ended in his conviction. Wikipedia says in the later Hellenistic period daemons were distinguished into two categories; agathodaimōn, like guardian angels, and kakódaimōn, like tempters and Christian demons. So Socrates would clearly consider his to be an agathodaimōn, but would the Greeks?

Basically, would Socrates's claim to demon possession have been just another trolling, like "I'm guilty, give me free meals at the Acropolis for life as punishment" that would have offended the jury and counted against him, or was it something more significant?

was it trolling?

>social contract is formed when individuals agree to limit their rights in exchange for safety
>violating the contract results in punishment prescribed by the law
>threat of punishment isn't absolute
>one could violate the contract to one's own benefit, if no one ever knew there would be no repercussions
>Glaucon's "Ring of Gyges" parable
>religion is established, promising absolute punishment by an inescapable judge
>sins either receive karmic punishment in this life or punishment in the hereafter
>Socrates's "Noble Lie"
>maybe increases adherence to the social contract somewhat, but still not absolute
>people question whether what is right is right and so the Gods enforce it, or if what is right is only right because the Gods enforce it
>when one party violates the contract, the other usually does so as well, out of self-defense, retribution, "justice", etc.
>man preaches absolute adherence to the social contract, no self-defense, no retribution, non-resistance
>based not on the threat of punishment from God, but in response to love of God
>claims love will eventually transform enemies or they'll destroy themselves by their own violence
>social contract no longer maintained through fear but through love
could it work?

>>3516189
Music of course. It's good for the soul.

What are the best translations of Plato?

>tfw forms

Does /lit/ have any peeves for literature? Something that you simply can't tolerate in a novel?

I don't about anyone else, but I deplore children as characters in a story. Not just in books, but also in films and other medias. It's mainly just people under the age of sixteen that bother me; I can barely abide upper teenagers. For this reason, I could never enjoy Huckleberry Finn. It makes me cringe ever time.

>>2689734