John Armstrong
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socraticstrolls.bsky.social
John Armstrong
@socraticstrolls.bsky.social
Philosophy professor @svuedu answering questions Socratically

https://linktr.ee/socraticstrolls
Seneca, Letter 108:

He who studies with a philosopher should take away from him some one good thing every day; he should daily return home a sounder man, or in the way to become sounder.
July 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I’m translating Socrates’s Protrepticus in Plato’s Euthydemus. He distinguishes something I hadn’t noticed before: using things well (eg, expert builder) and acting well (eg, expert musician). Plato anticipates Aristotle again.
May 19, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Making something from material ingredients, rather from ideas only, gives my body, especially my legs, a welcome break from sitting before a computer. This is a brown sugar layer cake with cranberry Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, Yossy Arefi’s recipe—a pre-Thanksgiving treat.
November 24, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by John Armstrong
As an undeserved break from grading, I made a starter pack. I've no doubt made lots of mistakes, and I hope you'll help me correct them. But I also hope it's helpful to some people who are interested in ancient Greek philosophy.
November 22, 2024 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by John Armstrong
I'm going to post this video every day so we never forget
November 21, 2024 at 12:16 PM
Did Plato think women should rule?

In Plato’s REPUBLIC, Socrates argues that sex differences are irrelevant to whether a woman should be in the governing class. What matters is her potential for virtue and wisdom, the same virtue and wisdom that male rulers should have (451d–457b).
November 21, 2024 at 11:28 PM
Man is born for mutual help; anger for mutual destruction. The one desires union, the other disunion; the one to help, the other to harm; one would succor even strangers, the other attack its best beloved.
Seneca, On Anger 1.5
November 21, 2024 at 4:23 PM
Should our enemies be destroyed?

The philosophy of Socrates held that justice is a skill that makes people more just, never less just.

Socrates held that to harm someone is to make them less just. It is never just to do that.

Stroll 113

#philosophy
November 20, 2024 at 11:54 PM