Anarchism as Metaphilosophy
Near the end of the prologue of Platoโs Republic, Socrates says to his opponent Thrasymachus that what they are discussing is โno ordinary/insignificant matter, but how we ought to liveโ (1.352d). As in many of Platoโs writings, Socrates here played the role of his mouthpiece: โHow we ought to liveโ 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 disciplineโs prehistory, it is sometimes suggested that Western philosophy started with Plato. Alfred North Whitehead even claimed that the history of Western philosophy โconsists of a...