almost all of the period known as greek civilisation was based very firmly on slavery,and infanticide in the case of daughters..i do not see the connection to egalitarianism..plato himself preached and wrote against egalitarianism in his famous dissertation stating that upward mobility amongst the population is a no no..would egalitarianism have meant that he would have to free his slaves and not buy more???

@konstantinos

Ditto.

Know them, studied them, but honestly always had big problems with them. I know that back then metaphysics was the easiest way out of problems people were unable to give an answer to, but I still can't bear how most ancient philosophers regularly fell into that trap.

However, Epicurus deserves utmost respect for coming up with brilliant ideas, anticipating Hume's philosophy for the most part. Not to mention that the Epicurean paradox is still extremely fun to read, almost as fun as the silly attempts of theists to find a solution through the application of that farce called theodicy.

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? --Woody Allen

Of course Plato Socrates, and Aristotle rightfully get a lot of attention. But my favorite outside of that triumvirate is Zeno of Citium the founder of the Stoic school.

"I pity people who don't drink. When they wake up feeling good in the morning, that is the best they are going to feel" Frank Sinatra

OH MY .................
@ Pietro Della
What's the point to attack a whole civilisation, that between the centuries of its existence,
HAS ,at least, proved that it has a huge historical and civilisational past ?
Is egalitarianism wrong as an idea , if emerged from philosophers ?
Do not confuse the idea(s) with the state(s)...philosophers cannot possibly "make" societies...
they're simply thinkers...that's we're talking about.......................................................................

@ shaka
wow...."theodicy" or in ancient greek = "θεοδικία"..= ''god's" determination for human's acts,may they be "good or evil "....hehe, I crave for linguistics and etymology !

Konstantinos,please do not take this personally but always,one mans meat?without 2 viewpoints there is nothing to discuss...from my perspective the men who brought greece to power were macedonian..not greek...greece was an amalgam of socially isolated city states,finally FORCED to join by philip..later ,bismark took a leaf from his book...what rankles me is that you brutally conquered my country and tried to legislate hellenism,pan theism it was called..when greece arrived we were MONOtheistic,so in fact by trying to destroy that mono theism greece tried to annihilate meand my people..even the glorious empire of alexander,was not BUILT by alexander but by cyrus who by the way crushed many of the greek statesand the evidence of this is the immediate collapse of the empire virtually immediately following his death..(was he really fragged do you think) in the end it was left to tiny Isra el to execute tre greek king and throw the mighty hoplites into the sea..end of greek empire...the holy temple repurified from pig heads and grecian pan theism..thousands upon thousands of our own people ruthlessly slaughtered by we ourselves..thou shalt put away the evil that is amongst the...and Konstantinos,no culture which legally condoned infanticide can be called GREAT in my book..

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? --Woody Allen

@ pietro della
This is a topic about greek thinkers, philosophers, may they be ancient and why not.. modern philosphers like, let's say, Kostas Axelos and Cornelius Castoriadis..

It is strictly concerning human thought and its evolution in this country, but definately not a topic about its historical past which is vast, debatable if you think so, but that's totally off topic.............................
Regards and thanks for the understanding

Whether you like it or not, the Greek civilisation contributed to a huge extent to shape the world as we know it. Sorry, but much more than the Hebrew civilisation ever did. What your ancestors brought to the world is religion, a particular form of monotheism - an adaptation of earlier polytheism - which later on gave birth to Christianity and Islam.

I, myself, could easily state that what your ancestors brought to the world eventually led to the greatest atrocities and massacres in history, more gruesome than anything the Greeks ever made in their polytheistic past, but then I would make the same mistake of condemning a whole culture in retrospect. However tempting and, perhaps, psychologically rewarding, it is largely pointless. Let's just stop it.

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? --Woody Allen

@ shaka
I agree with you...

Perhaps anything in a debate could seem like an ideological lure or even worse, a trap in where anyone can get easily caught...

this topic is the perfect exemple of this, and that's a semiological problem...notions are distorted,
the very first meaning is lost, arguments may arise, communication is out of sight then

And yes, we should stop a possible extortion of any other meaning

This topic remains as it was posted.....about greek philosophers...as f******* simple that can be........