Aristotle was something of a character in his own time, an omnivore with an appetite for all knowledge, collecting mollusks, geodes, plants, animals, and books. He is credited with the first private library so large was his collection of books (scrolls). Any foreigner visiting Athens, whether theorist-tourist or not, might sell to Aristotle artifacts collected on the voyage.
L. Sprague de Camp basis a novel on Aristotle’s legendary lust for knowledge.
It is rather fun. Alexander the Great decides to send his old teacher a present from the East, an elephant. His intentions are mixed, but certainly include the knowledge that sheltering and feeding the beast will be a sizeable problem for Aristotle. The book recounts the adventures of those assigned the task of seeing the elephant safely to Athens.
Putting some Aristotle first is a way of signaling his importance as the last of the line, combining aspects of those who went before. It is really a line that stretches back to the Iliad and Achilles, the man who proved stronger than the political institutions of the day, a theme entirely omitted from the Brad Pitt version of Troy. It also provides the class with a reference, an indication of where all of this is leading. On Aristotle there will be more below but first we must return to the chronology with Thucydides.
The world at war that Thucydides describes is exactly what Aristotle hoped to avert by a correct ordering of cities. To better understand Aristotle’s cure, we need to understand the disease, and who better to help us than that pathologist of Athens, Dr. Thucydides.
I also checked on the Internet Movies Data Base for films representing ancient Greece and these theorists. No I did not descend to swords and sandals. There are a few things. I have a VHS of an Off Broadway version of the trial of Socrates that is barely to be watched because it is a very poor quality reproduction that I paid for years ago. It is called “Socrates! Socrates!” from Flying Eight Balls Productions which is no where on the web. I decided it was not worth the apologies (get it?) and so looked for other things. I know Roberto Rossellini’s “Socrate” (1970) but my memories of it were not good, though it scores 7.8/10 on the Internet Movies Data Base http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210296/
I also found it available on DVD from an obscure vendor that I might try.
Years ago I came across a DOS (yes, years ago) computer game based on the arguments in the Euthyphro about the existence of god. Since it was for teaching philosophy the focus was logic, form, not substance. In this dialgoue Socrates argues that the good stands apart from god. We know things to be good because of their properites, and not because god tells us they are good. That is, god may tell us they are good but they are good whether or not god tells us. There are twists and turns in the argument. But it is also evidence of Socrates’ impiety.