Plato

Let us consider, for a moment, the implications of this doctrine. It involves a complete rejection of empirical knowledge, including all history and geography. We cannot know that there was such a place as Athens, or such a man as Socrates; his death, and his courage in dying, belong to the world of appearance. It is only through sight and hearing

Milton and Locke, Rousseau, Jean Paul, and Goethe are the legitimate descendants. Like Dante or Bunyan, he has a revelation of another life; like Bacon, he is profoundly impressed with the unity of knowledge;

In Ancient Greece, for example, there existed polymathic philosophers, freethinking enquirers who transcended fields and disciplines. They would pursue a question, and would be willing to explore any field of knowledge that might shed light on it. They were known as atopos or ‘unclassifiable’. It is they – the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

It is they – the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – who came to define the Greek philosophy we are so indebted to. During the Roman Era, the culture of otium (‘leisure time’ undertaken by politicians, lawyers, merchants and soldiers in order to pursue intellectual or artistic activities) gained currency and the development of a multifaceted l