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"It is only males who are created directly by the gods and are given souls." - Plato
"The reason for women's inferiority lies in a defect." - Aristotle
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It's easy to quote anyone out of context without trying to see what they are really getting at.
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You cannot be serious. There are far more of the "greatest and finest" living now than ever before. Even on something as banal as a hockey message board, there are many people who can discuss philosophy and politics intelligently whereas a hundred years ago only the upper crust might say the same, and few enough of them.
As John Ralston Saul has said, any society can throw up an educated elite, but educating the masses of the people is far more difficult and praiseworthy.
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Are we discussing philosophy and politics intelligently? Can we discuss it and understand it like Socrates and his students? Of course not. Socrates was poor, by the way.
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Who has said otherwise? I'm not sure what is difficult about understanding the difference between knowing what is good and what is evil, and DOING good as opposed to evil.
If I am starving, and my neighbor has a loaf of bread, I am more likely to try to acquire that loaf by immoral means than if I already have a loaf of my own. This doesn't mean that my condition causes the evil, but it is a contributing factor. It also doesn't mean I don't understand that what I am doing is wrong, I just no longer care enough about the distinction.
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It's easy for you to argue this point. It's basic liberalism, we are all liberals and are inundated with its assumptions regarding human nature. You have the language and the politics on your side. As I said, I don't think you have the philosophy on your side.
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Add up enough contributing factors from various discrepancies between WANT and HAVE, and you are looking at survival behavior taking precedence over moral behavior in almost all cases. Start removing those discrepancies, and you tip the balance the other way. Technology is that balance tipper.
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Once again, this is pretty basic stuff. Our science and liberalism essentially degrades humanity to the level of other animals to be studied. I'm not denying nature, nor the reality of humans be reduced to animal nature, I'm talking about finding the higher things. As I have demonstrated, philosophers or those who read philosophy are rather indifferent to material needs.
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Hey, I'm just using your argument. Philosophy can lead to dangerous social experiments, evil political creeds, and oppression by the bourgeoisie, so we'd better rethink our stance on philosophy. Isn't that essentially what you're saying about science?
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Philosophy is just the pursuit of wisdom. Science is the pursuit of power. I have more that I want to say on this, but I am just sticking to my basic position.