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stenudd.COM Stefan Stenudd Author, Artist, Aikido instructor |
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MYTH Myths of Creation The Logics of Myth Psychoanalysis of Myth Genesis 1: The first creation of the Bible Enuma Elish: Babylonian Creation Cosmos of the Ancients: Greek philosophers Cosmos of the Ancients: The book Aristotle - life and work Aristotle's Poetics Ideas and learning Life Energy Encyclopedia The Taoist source About the writer ANCIENT GREECE Introduction Thales Anaximander Anaximenes Pherecydes of Syros Pythagoras Xenophanes Theagenes Hecataeus Heraclitus Pindar Parmenides Anaxagoras Empedocles Herodotus Gorgias Melissus Protagoras Euripides Prodicus of Ceos Leucippus Democritus Critias Antisthenes Diagoras of Melos Plato Aristotle Epicurus Euhemerus Table of the Greek Philosophers Literature Aristotle - life and work Aristotle's Poetics ![]() COSMOS OF THE ANCIENTS What the Greek philosophers thought about religion, cosmology, myth, and the gods. Get the book at Amazon. ![]() LIFE ENERGY ENCYCLOPEDIA Qi, prana, spirit, and other life forces around the world explained and compared. Get the book at Amazon. ![]() MURDER Thoughts on life, death, and the meaning of it all - by Stefan Stenudd. Get the book at Amazon. ![]() QI Increase your life energy The book about the life energy qi, with exercises on how to awaken and use it. Get the book at Amazon. |
Cosmos of the AncientsThe Greek Philosopherson Myth and Cosmology GorgiasGorgias took pride in rhetoric rather than sophism, wanting to teach the ability of persuasion, as Plato shows in the dialogue Gorgias, where to the question from Socrates of what art he is skilled in, Gorgias bluntly replies: "Rhetoric, Socrates." And he goes on to admit proudly that he is able to teach others the same – in essence: "the ability to persuade with speeches." This power of persuasion was not necessary to hold the truth, but to make believable – something abominable to Socrates, as the unusual arrogance and harshness of his words in this dialogue indicate. Yet, Gorgias' arguments against existence are not easily brushed aside, not even if applied to modern day big bang theory. In old Greece, though, his statement must have been a provocation to the pious. Another fragment of his reads: "Being is unrecognizable unless it succeeds in seeming, and seeming is weak unless it succeeds in being," which again denies anything certain to be stated about anything, and at the same time – if gods would seem to exist, although fragile, it would be some kind of existence. To Gorgias there does not appear to be much of a distinction between what is and what might be, so his unwillingness to adopt an ethic standpoint as a sophist must have made good sense to him – when it is impossible to decide what is, how could one possibly profess the ability to judge it? Literature Plato, Gorgias, 449a, WWW Perseus. Freeman, Kathleen, Ancilla to The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, Oxford 1952. © Stefan Stenudd 2000How to get the book An edited and extended version of the texts on this website was published in 2007. If you want to buy the book, you can do so at most international web based bookstores, such as Amazon and the like. Here are links to the book on Amazon US and Amazon UK. Use the latter if you are European - then you get the book cheaper and quicker. Otherwise, you may want to buy it at Amazon US.
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![]() Stefan Stenudd is a Swedish author and historian of ideas, who researches the thought patterns in creation myths. He has also written books about Chinese and Japanese traditions. TAOIST SOURCE The Taoist source. The complete Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu. More on this website: Aikido Aikibatto sword exercises Myth Greek Philosophers Aristotle and his Poetics The Taoist source Qi - life energy Fiction by Stenudd Art by Stenudd Astrology and horoscopes |