Anarchism as Metaphilosophy
Near the end of the prologue of Platoβs Republic, Socrates says to his opponent Thrasymachus that what they are discussing is βno ordinary/insignificant matter, but how we ought to liveβ (1.352d). As in many of Platoβs writings, Socrates here played the role of his mouthpiece: βHow we ought to liveβ was indeed no insignificant matter for Plato, but the starting point and ultimate purpose of his philosophical investigations. Relegating the pre-Socratic philosophers to the disciplineβs prehistory, it is sometimes suggested that Western philosophy started with Plato. Alfred North Whitehead even claimed that the history of Western philosophy βconsists of a...