Socrates is often regarded as the starting point of Western philosophy, yet as this First Friday Lecture explained, he was not the first Western philosopher. From this perspective, the lecture showed that philosophical thought had been developing in Greece for more than a century before Socrates’ birth, in the work of thinkers we now call the Presocratics. These early figures introduced questions and ideas that shaped the intellectual environment into which Socrates later emerged. Previously, philosophical reflection had only just begun to develop, but the Presocratics began to give it more definite shape, establishing themes and concerns that would continue to influence later thought. This lecture provided an introduction to the most significant among these early philosophers and explained how their contributions helped lay the groundwork for Socrates’ role as the first major figure in the tradition. The lecture, therefore, placed Socrates within the broader arc of early Greek philosophy rather than presenting him as an isolated beginning.
Historians Made Elsewhere Than at Rome: Polybius and Josephus on the Roman Empire
This lecture examines how historians from conquered societies wrote about the Roman Empire.
