The lessons of Socrates They’ve never really gone out of style, but if there’s a perfect time to revisit the ancient philosopher, it’s now.
In How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World, Donald J. Robertson describes Socrates’ Athens in terms that seem all too familiar: a society recovering from a pandemic where people’s trust in government is weakened, and an extremely polarized division between political factions.
Despite its title, Robertson’s book is not solely a self-help guide based on ancient philosophy. Robertson’s book is certainly easier than dealing with Plato and multiple volumes of ancient Greek history.
But the book is difficult to follow at times, as it jumps from an easy distillation of Socrates’ philosophy to an overly detailed history of ancient Greece. Some of the story is understandably necessary to give context to Socrates, but it often feels like Robertson is writing two separate books for two different audiences.
The explanation of Socratesparticularly a section that guides readers through the Socratic method—the question-based method Socrates used to teach students—is the strongest part of Robertson’s book. The book offers a solid biography of Socrates and his times, but could do better in integrating the modern application of his lessons.
Robertson He easily demonstrates throughout the book how Socratic philosophy can be used to address fearincluding the anxiety for death. His lessons on how defend ourselves against rhetoric They are particularly timely in an era of rampant misinformation.
Robertson also successfully explains to readers why they should be skeptical of the broad generalizations offered by self-help books. “Wisdom requires being able to identify when a rule stops being valid and good advice becomes bad advice,” he writes.
Although Robertson manages to emphasize how timeless Socrates’ advice is, his book might be more accessible to readers hoping to find that advice.
Source: AP
