Free Republic

Is your government slowly becoming tyrannical? Aristotle warned us 2,300 years ago. In this eye-opening exploration of Aristotle's analysis of tyranny, we delve into the timeless insights of one of history's greatest political thinkers. Drawing from Aristotle's great work "Politics," we uncover the mechanisms of tyrannical rule that are as relevant today as they were in ancient Greece. Discover how Aristotle's experiences with the Thirty Tyrants of Athens and his personal relationship with the tyrant Hermias shaped his understanding of unjust rule. Learn the tactics tyrants use to rise to power and maintain their grip on society - from manipulating...

Modern society's focus on credentials has created a two-tiered system, where multi-talented individuals are criticized, and elites oversee a dependent underclass. The songwriter, actor, country/western singer, musician, U.S. Army veteran, helicopter pilot, accomplished rugby player and boxer, Rhodes scholar, Pomona College and University of Oxford degreed, and summa cum laude literature graduate, Kris Kristofferson, recently died at 88. Americans may have known him best for writing smash hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “For the Good Times,” his wide-ranging, star-acting roles in A Star is Born and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, his numerous solo albums, especially with...

Dittany of Crete is an ancient Greek herb known for its “magical” healing properties which was mentioned in the world of Harry Potter. Dittany, known as Dictamo in Greek (Δίκταμο), is one of the symbols of Crete. It captivated ancient minds, with notable ancient Greek scholars praising its healing traits. Even to this day, it remains a part of Greek medical and culinary traditions. Dittany ancient Greek healing herb known since Minoan times Dittany of Crete is steeped in ancient legends, leading to the adoption of multiple names reflecting its use in Greek culture. Researchers suggest that this slender, small-leaved...

US Capitol Building, which was inspired by ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Ancient Greece and the ideals we celebrate on Fourth of July greatly influenced the push for American independence. Credit: Public domain Greek Americans have one more reason to be proud on the Fourth of July each year because they don’t only celebrate America’s Independence Day, but also the great influence of Hellenism on the birth of the American nation. The ideas and practices that are celebrated on Fourth of July and that led to the development of the American democratic republic after 1776 owe a debt to the...

On the 15th of July, 1606, Golden Age artist Rembrandt was born. He looked back for wisdom to the ancient Greeks. The Greek ideas of society are a crucial part of the foundations of The West. In 1951, also on the 15th of July, Jesse Ventura was born in Minneapolis. He is a modern part of the Western Tradition of freedom. A man whose words show that he is appalled by the horrors big government can create” “I want to make government more directly accountable to the people.” “I believe in the American people’s ability to govern themselves. If government...

Why his repulsiveness may have been exaggerated. Posted April 25, 2023 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk -His students Plato and Xenophon described Socrates as ugly and made much out of this. -His supposed repulsiveness did not prevent Socrates from leading a rich and remarkable love life. -Plato and Xenophon may have had good reasons for inventing or exaggerating their teacher's ugliness. Socrates was remarkably full-blooded for an ascetic philosopher. In Xenophon’s Symposium, he says, “For myself I cannot name the time at which I have not been in love with someone.” By all accounts, Socrates’s greatest love was with the...

The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, who lived 2,500 years ago, applied his genius to music as well throughout his brilliant career, creating the Pythagorean comma as part of music theory, and his brilliance is still recognized to this day. The Pythagorean Theorem remains one of the fundamental concepts in the realm of mathematics and is still taught in schools across the world. The influence of the Ancient Greek thinker, who was born on the island of Samos in the year 570 BC, remains strong today in many realms—but, unfortunately, so do the mysteries surrounding the great Greek philosopher. Pythagoras’...

I mentioned in my last piece that the standard (mis)interpretation of Oedipus Rex—that Oedipus got what he deserved thanks to a moral shortcoming he couldn't or wouldn't correct—traces back to an earlier misinterpretation of Aristotle's comments on tragedy. That provides a nice segue, because what Aristotle actually says in his Poetics (and his Politics) provides further insight into our current problems. What Aristotle actually points out in Chapter 13 of Poetics is that great tragedies revolve around hamartia (ἁμαρτία) inherent in, or committed by, a protagonist. All this Greek word refers to is error. It does not necessarily imply moral...

No, this isn’t a joke.Edward Luttwak, the distinguished Israeli-American strategist and public intellectual, tweeted the following this morning:11 Chinese universities teach Greek and Latin. Another 20 seek staff to so as well. Back in the US, the Princeton CLASSICS department has just eliminated the Latin or Greek requirement “to address systemic racism”. Truly racist say I. Why not just end it ? Jobs await in 中国The Chinese characters at the end mean “Middle Kingdom.”Princeton created an uproar by ditching the requirement for classics majors to learn Greek or Latin. That shouldn’t be a surprise: In 2017 Harvard eliminated the music...

Halley's comet portrayed on ancient coin Heather Catchpole ABC Science Online Wednesday, 19 May 2004 Could the star shape on the king's crown be Halley's comet? A rare ancient coin may feature an early record of Halley's comet, researchers say. The coin features the head of the Armenian king Tigranes II the Great, who reigned from 95 to 55 BC. A symbol on his crown that features a star with a curved tail may represent the passage of Halley's comet in 87 BC, say the Armenian and Italian researchers. Their research will be published in Astronomy & Geophysics, a journal...

The Uranus reversal begins a backward journey that will carry through early January 2021. Our surprises are about to get more baffling, random, disparate and mysterious. This is also very thrilling, as it provides the sort of work that requires making sense of the nonsense. Life is a puzzle, the solving of which will be extremely satisfying....

“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,” said 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. “Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!” He was wrong on both counts. Zeal for liberty can be (and sometimes is) taken way too far, and without moderation, even the noblest of goals is easily turned into something evil. A great example of this: the French Revolution. The revolution began with some long-overdue reforms. It abolished the special privileges of nobles and clergy and guaranteed Frenchmen fundamental rights similar to those promised in our own Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights....

Is the United States headed for a civil war? Every new partisan battle feels like the battle to end all battles. But contemplating apocalyptic violence and massive upheaval brings doubt: even with all the current acrimony, could it really be the case that the most successful nation on earth is spiraling towards internal war? Isn’t intense partisanship a hallmark of American democracy? At what point does intense partisanship threaten to devolve into civil war? And how would we know—especially when so many of our intuitions are bolstered by unfounded hopes and the assumption that things can’t change? Let’s step away...

In the early 17th century, the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon envisioned a bold, multiphase program to accumulate knowledge of the natural world. A critical part of this plan was Novum Organum, which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year. In this work, Bacon attempted to undo the centuries-old dominance of Aristotelian forms of inquiry, encouraging readers to instead apply inductive reasoning to carefully curated observations of the natural world. “Book One” of Novum Organum addressed why so little progress had thus far been made in understanding nature. Here, Bacon cautioned against “idols and false notions” that can interfere with...

REASON #8: PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY IS A DEEP SUBJECT THAT CAN BE QUITE INTIMIDATING. MODERN PHILOSOPHY IS SO ESOTERIC THAT FEW CAN UNDERSTAND OR RELATE TO IT, BUT CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY IS DIFFERENT. As with so many things, if you go back to the beginning and learn first principles, you can develop a deep and satisfying understanding of a subject that is baffling in its modern form. While philosophy may seem abstract and unrelated to the real world, quite the opposite is true. In fact, we are all philosophers; we all have a view of reality, a worldview, as we say today....

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Aristotle. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He is considered one of the classic architects of Western Civilization, of which the Democrat Party and the Deep State are attmepting to destroy. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the...

“I am a friend of Plato, and a friend of Aristotle, but truth is my greater friend.” These are words from a personal notebook of Sir Isaac Newton, written when he was around 20 years old. With these words, he was proclaiming a revolutionary decision to search beyond the boundaries of classical teachings to understand the biggest questions about the world and universe. Proverbs 25 in the Bible says it is the honor of kings to search out the things that God has concealed. In Newton’s search to understand various baffling aspects of the Creation, he proved to be regal....

I have felt while writing these new chapters a fresh realization of the refuge and strength the past can be to us in the troubled present. “Let us keep our silent sanctuaries,” Senancour wrote, “for in them the eternal perspectives are preserved.” Religion is the great stronghold for the untroubled vision of the eternal; but there are others too. We have many silent sanctuaries in which we can find a breathing space to free ourselves from the personal, to rise above our harassed and perplexed minds and catch sight of values that are stable, which no selfish and timorous preoccupations...

On this episode of "YOUR WELCOME" Michael Malice is joined by author and historian Arthur Herman. Arthur has written a number of books including The Idea of Decline in Western History, How the Scots Invented the Modern World about the Scottish enlightenment and Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Listen as he talks to Michael about Plato and Aristotle, Douglas MacArthur, Joe McCarthy and his forthcoming book about the Vikings...