RE: Thomism: Then & Now
October 28, 2021 at 9:03 pm
(This post was last modified: October 28, 2021 at 9:05 pm by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
We were assigned Crito and The Republic in philosophy 101. Loved Crito and the crisp lucidity of Plato's thinking. At the time, I didn't really like The Republic because of all the mean things he said about democracy.
In the 40 odd years since then, I've thought he might have been right. Today I think a benevolent dictatorship/monarchy might be the perfect form of government. The rub seems to be that benevolent dictators have been pretty thin on the ground within my lifetime...
I've read that some of the ancient pharaohs were pretty good. Akhenaten tried to introduce a form of monotheism to Egypt . However, he was apparently a bit of a cunt about it, as religious fanatics tend to be.
The only benevolent dictator I've read about was Ashoka The Great because . He became a devout Buddhist and did all kinds of peachy things---of course that was after his wars and casual killings of individuals.
"Ashoka (/əˈʃoʊkə/; Brāhmi: 𑀅𑀲𑁄𑀓, Asoka,[5] IAST: Aśoka), also known as Ashoka the Great, Piodasses in ancient Greece, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty son of Chadragupta Maurya, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE.[6][7], Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia.[4] Considered by many to be one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Patna), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain. Ashoka after the war of kaliningrad get upset with the bloodshed and vowed to never fight again. He embraced Buddhism and patronised Buddhism in his rule and reign."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka
In the 40 odd years since then, I've thought he might have been right. Today I think a benevolent dictatorship/monarchy might be the perfect form of government. The rub seems to be that benevolent dictators have been pretty thin on the ground within my lifetime...
I've read that some of the ancient pharaohs were pretty good. Akhenaten tried to introduce a form of monotheism to Egypt . However, he was apparently a bit of a cunt about it, as religious fanatics tend to be.
The only benevolent dictator I've read about was Ashoka The Great because . He became a devout Buddhist and did all kinds of peachy things---of course that was after his wars and casual killings of individuals.
"Ashoka (/əˈʃoʊkə/; Brāhmi: 𑀅𑀲𑁄𑀓, Asoka,[5] IAST: Aśoka), also known as Ashoka the Great, Piodasses in ancient Greece, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty son of Chadragupta Maurya, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE.[6][7], Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia.[4] Considered by many to be one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Patna), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain. Ashoka after the war of kaliningrad get upset with the bloodshed and vowed to never fight again. He embraced Buddhism and patronised Buddhism in his rule and reign."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka
