Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens

by John David Lewis

In "Solon the Thinker" John Lewis presents the hypothesis that Solon saw Athens as a self-governing, self-supporting system akin to the early Greek conceptions of the cosmos. Solon's polis functions not through divine intervention but by its own internal energy, which is founded on the intellectual health of its people, depends upon their acceptance of justice and moderation as orderly norms of life, and leads to the rejection of tyranny and slavery in favour of freedom. But Solon's naturalistic views are limited; in his own life each person is subject to the arbitrary foibles of moira, the inscrutable fate that governs human life, and that brings us to an unknowable but inevitable death. Solon represents both the new rational, scientific spirit that was sweeping the Aegean - and a return to the fatalism that permeated Greek intellectual life. This first paperback edition contains a new appendix of translations of the fragments of Solon by the author.

Genres: History, Greece, Politics, Philosophy, Law, Ancient

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

John David Lewis was a political scientist, historian and Objectivist scholar.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. You can read the description to get an idea of the subject matter - all I will say is that the author has written a highly engaging study that makes the perfect bridge from Herodotus to the moral philosophers such as Plato. I would recommend familiarity with the Herodotean Solon and the fragments of his poetry, but that is not required. This is a dense book, and I mean that in a good way. It is not light reading, nor is it needlessly obtuse. I found myself continually complementing the authors' ability to get his point across with great economy, in a non-dogmatic fashion.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denna var svår, och svår av många anledningar.

Först och främst är det snedvridande att se en objektivist tolka en försokratiker - lite som tidiga lutheraners skrivanden om kyrkofäderna: ja, det finns en logik; nej, det är inte en förbundenhet som känns självklar. Mitt påstående här handlar inte om något slags identitetspolitik, utan istället om sanningsbegreppet. Lewis förankrar Solons tankar i den fysiska verkligheten, och i diagnoser av den. Även om han inte beskrivs som en Schaman av Diogenes Laërtius, förefaller mer åt det hållet, liksom hos Aristoteles. Samtidigt så fungerar verkligen Lewis tolkning, och han underbygger den mycket mycket väl.

Det för oss till punkt två. Den här boken förutsätter en viss bekvämlighet med antika grekiska koncept. Jag har den, men knappt. Sådant som att våld och liv ligger nära varandra förutsätts läsaren kunna läsa ut, liksom phrens anknytning till senare filosofiska koncept. Det finns ett lexikon på de sista sidorna, men man behöver känna igen begreppen för att förstå användningen. Det gör att man får jobba en del för de insikter boken erbjuder.

Givet dessa två punkter, är den riktigt riktigt bra. Jag rekommenderar den för filosofinördar (och antikvetare), som vill se en ickepolitisk tolkning av Solon.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for *uni* as i'm currently studying a whole bunch of greek archaic and early classical lyric poetry and solon is a big chunk of that.
really interesting, and helped to consolidate a good understanding of solon's political ideology (i liked the mafia metaphors for contemporary athens). rating is three stars because i just didn't find the writing style that engaging - but to be fair, i had a splitting headache for the last thirty pages, so that probably didn't help.
the bit on the kosmos-polis was really, really interesting!

[Nixon Sucuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on a great ancient hero, Solon.