{"id":6570,"date":"2016-03-21T06:39:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T06:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/03\/21\/callicles-as-precursor-of-de-sade\/"},"modified":"2016-03-21T06:39:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T06:39:33","slug":"callicles-as-precursor-of-de-sade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/03\/21\/callicles-as-precursor-of-de-sade\/","title":{"rendered":"Callicles as Precursor of De Sade"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

At Gorgias<\/em> 492, tr. Helmbold, the divine Plato puts the following words into the mouth of Callicles:<\/span>
  <\/span>
     A man who is going to live a full life must allow his desires to<\/span>
     become as mighty as may be and never repress them. When his<\/span>
     passions have come to full maturity, he must be able to serve them<\/span>
     through his courage and intelligence and gratify every fleeting<\/span>
     desire as it comes into his heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

     [. . .]<\/span><\/p>\n

     The truth, which you claim to pursue, Socrates, is really this:<\/span>
     luxury, license, and liberty, when they have the upper hand, are<\/span>
     really virtue, and happiness as well; everything else is a set of<\/span>
     fine terms, man-made conventions, warped against nature, a pack of<\/span>
     stuff and nonsense!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"De<\/a>Now let us consider what the decidedly undivine Marquis de Sade has Mme. Delbene say in Julliette or Vice Amply Rewarded<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n

     . . . I am going to dismiss this equally absurd and childish obligation which enjoins us not to do unto others that which unto<\/em> us we would not have done.<\/em> It is the precise contrary Nature     recommends, since Nature's single precept is to enjoy oneself, at<\/em> the expense of no matter whom.<\/em> But at our leisure we shall return to these subjects; for the nonce, let's now put our theories into  practice and, after having demonstrated that you can do everything<\/span> without committing a crime, let's commit a villainy or two to  convince ourselves that everything can be done. (p. 30, emphasis<\/span>  in original, tr. Casavini)<\/span><\/p>\n

From the cover: "abridged but unexpurgated from the original  five-volume work especially for the adult reader." In other other words, the good stuff, i.e., the philosophy, has been cut, but the 'adult matter' remains. I get a kick out of this use of 'adult' — but that's another post.<\/span><\/p>\n

The natural man, in the grip of his lusts, is a natural sophist:  what can be done is eo ipso<\/em> permissible to do.  Reason in a philosopher without God easily becomes unhinged.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>The Pig, the Fool, and Socrates<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Potentiality and the Substance View of Persons<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Gorgias 492, tr. Helmbold, the divine Plato puts the following words into the mouth of Callicles:       A man who is going to live a full life must allow his desires to     become as mighty as may be and never repress them. When his     passions have come to full maturity, he must be able to … Continue reading “Callicles as Precursor of De Sade”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literary-matters","category-sex-love-lust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}