The Bleak Political Implications of Socratic Religion
This book poses a radical challenge to the legend of Socrates bequeathed by Plato and echoed by scholars through the ages: that Socrates was an innocent sage convicted and sentenced to death by the democratic mob, merely for merely questioning the politic
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Also by Shadia B. Drury Aquinas and Modernity: The Lost Promise of Natural Law (2008) The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss (Updated Edition, 2005) Terror and Civilization: Christianity, Politics and the Western Psyche (2004) Leo Strauss and the American Right (1998) Kojève and the Roots of Postmodern Politics (1994) Chauvinism of the West (in progress)
Shadia B. Drury
The Bleak Political Implications of Socratic Religion
Shadia B. Drury Department of Philosophy & Classics and Department of Politics and International Studies University of Regina Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
ISBN 978-3-319-54441-0 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54442-7
ISBN 978-3-319-54442-7 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940635 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration © iStock / Getty Images Plus Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
In memory of my beloved J. Dennis Drury
PREFACE
Ever since his death by hemlock in 399 BCE, Socrates has been lionized as a fount of wisdom, virtue, and intellectual freedom—a whirlwind of insight whose philosophical prodding thrust humanity to unprecedented intellectual heights as well as spiritual depths. By subjecting conventional opinions to the tribunal of reason, he forced the West to transcend the puerile polytheism of Homer in favor of a moral vision that was loftier, more advanced, and more sublime. In the most shameful and cowardly act imaginable, Socrates was unjustly condemned to death by an ignorant Athenian mob, harboring a venomous aversion to his genius and his goodness. The death of Socrates was a backlash against the Greek Enlightenment by
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