squidwert-deactivated20121102 asked:
How do you feel about the ancient Greek philosophers? I know you're an existentialist, but do you ever read the ancient Greeks?
Of course! As a philosophy major, it’s really hard to escape the Greeks. I don’t know a whole lot about the pre-Socratics, but I’ve read a good deal of Plato and a ton of Aristotle. Aristotle was the man! Not that I think he was always right, of course, but he’s always an interesting read. His stuff on form and matter is really interesting (as are Plato’s forms.) Ethically, he can’t match people like Kant or Kierkegaard, but the Nicomachean Ethics is a classic and indispensable piece of ethical writing. His metaphysics are pretty crazy, too. All that stuff about time and whether statements about the future have any truth value and whether there will be a sea battle tomorrow…good stuff.
So I’m totally pro-Aristotle. Plato’s pretty cool too.
