Tag Archives | Antiquity

From the Cat to the Crescent

On Wednesday I participated in a Philosophy Club panel on “Politics and Philosophy” at the Coffee Cat; I argued that the anti-authoritarian structure of philosophical inquiry made philosophy into an anarchist enterprise.

Tomorrow morning I speak at the Students for Liberty New Orleans Regional Conference on “Liberty Through the Lens of Virtue.” Longtime readers can guess the general content: virtue ethics, classical eudaimonism, unity of virtue, thick libertarianism.

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Andromeda Strain

Here are some pictures of Andromeda, the princess that Perseus rescued from a sea monster and then married. Notice anything about her?

Yes, she’s naked and in chains. I’m sure you noticed that right off. But what else?

She’s white.

What’s wrong with that? Well, Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess. “Ethiopian” comes from a Greek word meaning “burnt face.” In other words, the Greeks knew perfectly well that Ethiopians are black, so the correct colour of the woman whose beauty so stunned Perseus would have been traditionally understood by ancient audiences. Modern depictions have erased a fairly important woman of colour, and a fairly important interracial marriage, from Greek mythology.

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