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Why do you cite Russel's philosophy book written for a lay audience and that has received criticism (see wikipedia), rather than, say, a classical scholar?
by jhanschoo 3y ago
Why do you cite Russel's philosophy book written for a lay audience and that has received criticism (see wikipedia), rather than, say, a classical scholar?
- fmajid 3y agoBecause classical scholars tend to brush this under the carpet out of misplaced deference or reverence for Plato (or perhaps because they quite enjoy the conceit of the philosopher-king). You have to go to Russell or Popper for an explanation of how evil Plato's ideology is, even though it is there black on white in The Republic: - "noble lies" and propaganda as the basis of the state - strict separation of the population into castes - taking children away from their parents and brainwashing them - killing of political dissidents Even in Orwell's 1984 parents kept their children, even if they were indoctrinated into squealing on their parents. If anything, it looks more like John Boorman's Zardoz.
- jhanschoo 3y agoLet me repeat your argument back to you. You are saying that classical scholars, purely out of deference for Plato, cannot be trusted to investigate properly just how depraved Spartan society was; and hence Russell is a better authority?
- fmajid 3y agoClassics is not the same as history and no serious historians dispute what Sparta was, it’s philosophy or Ancient Greek ones. I suppose since you have Holocaust denier “historians” like you have British Empire revisionists, there must be some Sparta fans lurking under a rock somewhere.
- morelisp 3y agoHere's a good article by a classical military scholar which covers many of the same topics: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/22/sparta-popular-culture-united-states-military-bad-history/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/22/sparta-popular-culture-...
- fmajid 3y agoIt's the same author, historian Bret Devereaux, better known for his geeky blog "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry" (acoup.blog)