What made ancient philosophers so intelligent?

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I think part of the reason people like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are considered so great is they got in on the ground floor of Western Philosophy. I don't mean that they weren't intelligent or had great insight and all of that. I mean they stepped into history when Western Philosophy was in its infancy, so their contributions were so profound. And they didn't have an established academic system to contend with. Plato's 21st century counterpart is a PhD holder fighting for a tenure-track position who writes half a dozen papers on AI or the historical importance of interpretations of neoclassical paintings in the Weimar Republic that maybe ten people in the world will ever thumb through, but he still pumps the paper out because it's publish or perish and he needs something, anything to put on his CV and then gets to fight rush hour to go home and make dinner for his kids.
 
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Very easy.

They didn't spend 8 hours of the day in the wagie cagie, they didn't spend the other 8 on tiktok.

They were paid to deepthunk and argue with each other, and a dumb sticker/ twitter block/ resetera ban brigade wasn't an easy I win button.
 
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All philosophers are retarded, no exceptions. Diogenes was funny and I'm 100% sure he was just a schizophrenic that some other Greek bumpirate philosofag paraded around as a joke until people forgot it was a joke.
Like how Free Jazz is a joke about giving schizos saxophones and pretending that shit is music.
 
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They were archaic motivational posters. Paid by sponsorships to sit around and talk "smart shit" that sounds good but in reality has no usage. Art of War? Yeah try applying that to running a corporation. Sure you can make some reaches for points of logic but really, what the fuck does literal war tactics have to do with selling pots and pans?

There's a reason misled incels spend their days watching marble statue music videos with random inspiring text on top. "YOU CAN DO IT! YOU DEFINE YOUR LIFE TODAY!"... which in their case should involve applying for an education or joining dad's welding business and make a name for themselves, while instead being told to live in a barrel and fling shit.
 
William Murderface said:
I think part of the reason people like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are considered so great is they got in on the ground floor of Western Philosophy. I don't mean that they weren't intelligent or had great insight and all of that. I mean they stepped into history when Western Philosophy was in its infancy, so their contributions were so profound. And they didn't have an established academic system to contend with. Plato's 21st century counterpart is a PhD holder fighting for a tenure-track position who writes half a dozen papers on AI or the historical importance of interpretations of neoclassical paintings in the Weimar Republic that maybe ten people in the world will ever thumb through, but he still pumps the paper out because it's publish or perish and he needs something, anything to put on his CV and then gets to fight rush hour to go home and make dinner for his kids.
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Modern academic philosophy and history departments are 90% sophists because the systems select for slop producers who know how to fully use nepotism to the fullest. A few people produce gold and gems, but that is despite the system.

Same with journalism. The closest thing we have to a great philosopher in the current era Christopher Hitchens and he was a journalist. Is this because of the institutions of journalism? No, it is despite them.
 
Slap47 said:
Modern academic philosophy and history departments are 90% sophists because the systems select for slop producers who know how to fully use nepotism to the fullest. A few people produce gold and gems, but that is despite the system.

Same with journalism. The closest thing we have to a great philosopher in the current era Christopher Hitchens and he was a journalist. Is this because of the institutions of journalism? No, it is despite them.
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It's kind of the same way in history departments in the US. There's good work being done by some of the historians, but it's a publish or perish environment, even with tenure, so you have a lot of historians who pump out an article a semester that will end up in some obscure journal that will never be read or cited by anyone in the future. But it's enough to show up on a CV and keep the department head happy.

Meanwhile, there are some solid non-professional historians who are doing very important work, especially at the local and state history levels. They simply aren't working at a university where they spend half their time teaching survey level classes.
 
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They were intelligent because they had no barbarian blood flowing through their veins. There's a reason why Rome collapsed after they started mixing with the Celtics and Germanics. We all know what happens when one introduces a bunch of feral niggers to an advanced civilization.
 
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Badungus Kabungus said:
They were intelligent because they had no barbarian blood flowing through their veins. There's a reason why Rome collapsed after they started mixing with the Celtics and Germanics. We all know what happens when one introduces a bunch of feral niggers to an advanced civilization.
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I think it's mostly just dysgenics. Strong men create good times, useless eaters multiply. Brave men die abroad without producing as many children as the useless cowards.

DNA-testing shows mostly the same DNA in italians today as in roman times. If it were just introgression by germanic genes how fo you explain the industrial revolution?
 
Profound thinking was something rare back in the day.
Now everyone wants to be profound, which makes nobody profound.
 
Attempt Turd said:
DNA-testing shows mostly the same DNA in italians today as in roman times. If it were just introgression by germanic genes how fo you explain the industrial revolution?
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The industrial revolution was driven by the steam engine, a technology that was known back in the Roman days. If it wasn't for European barbarism leading to the dark ages, the industrial revolution would've happened a thousand years sooner.
 
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The Pythagorians highest peace of enlightenment was not eating beans. Wow what an intelligent doctrine, the main man's contribution to mathematics besides
 
They were literally just charismatic Academics who got wrote about a lot, just ancient Noam Chomskys. People ultimately like Diogenes not for being enlightened master but being a retarded shitposter taking them down a peg or two, just like they deserved. Unfortunately people can't make the basic connection that all academics are total retards and should be made fun of.
 
Slap47 said:
Modern academic philosophy and history departments are 90% sophists because the systems select for slop producers who know how to fully use nepotism to the fullest
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Isn't that just like the ancient ones?

William Murderface said:
then gets to fight rush hour to go home and make dinner for his kids.
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I feel like you don't have your finger on the pulse of the modern world with this example.
 
Badungus Kabungus said:
The industrial revolution was driven by the steam engine, a technology that was known back in the Roman days. If it wasn't for European barbarism leading to the dark ages, the industrial revolution would've happened a thousand years sooner.
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That is not an explanation of how barbarians managed to go to the moon
 
Government didn't hold them back from drinking and doing drugs. Society didn't hold them back from working out all the time and being racist.
 
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Intelligence is mostly genetic. Philosophy is the act of questioning everything, regardless of your emotions on the matter. It's amazing what you can accomplish when not being hindered by small-mindedness.
 
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