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Imaginary Hierarchies: Theory and the Representation of Difference
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27
makes Socrates not only a vague and abstract figure, to whom only a “method” can be attributed,
but also a personality who makes claims, and these not only relative to others views, but also on
his own behalf.
III
The Agon and Claims to Truth
To grasp more fully the cultural and social framework within which certain kinds of
authoritative philosophical assertions or pronouncements about the right way to live a life are
made, we must consider the pattern of the agon in Greek intellectual life, both in its
institutionalized or “necessary” form, driven by structures of economic and social competition,
and in its more culturally pervasive forms, where forms of expression and styles of thought and
affirmation have become, if not cultural norms, then at least available “cultural repertoires” that
can be drawn on in social interactions and exchange. In many respects, the forms of the agon are
constitutive of Greek “popular morality,” as well as of the struggles of the intellectual and
cultural elite.
41
41
Some sociologists have tried to tackle the relationship between philosophy and social
structure. Alvin Gouldner, Enter Plato. Classical Greece and the Origins of Social Theory (New York: Basic Books, 1965), chapter 2 - “The Greek Contest System: Patterns of Culture,” pp. 41-77, proposes to situate the emergence of Plato’s social theory in terms of Athenian society, and, among other things, in terms of the agon. A very different approach is taken by Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies. A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), chapter 3 - “Partitioning Attention Space: The Case of Ancient Greece,” pp. 80-133. See also Joseph Bryant, Moral Codes and Social Structure in Ancient Greece. A Sociology of Greek Ethics from Homer to the Epicureans and Stoics (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).
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| | Authors: Goldman, Harvey. |
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27
makes Socrates not only a vague and abstract figure, to whom only a “method” can be attributed,
but also a personality who makes claims, and these not only relative to others views, but also on
his own behalf.
III
The Agon and Claims to Truth
To grasp more fully the cultural and social framework within which certain kinds of
authoritative philosophical assertions or pronouncements about the right way to live a life are
made, we must consider the pattern of the agon in Greek intellectual life, both in its
institutionalized or “necessary” form, driven by structures of economic and social competition,
and in its more culturally pervasive forms, where forms of expression and styles of thought and
affirmation have become, if not cultural norms, then at least available “cultural repertoires” that
can be drawn on in social interactions and exchange. In many respects, the forms of the agon are
constitutive of Greek “popular morality,” as well as of the struggles of the intellectual and
cultural elite.
41
41
Some sociologists have tried to tackle the relationship between philosophy and social
structure. Alvin Gouldner, Enter Plato. Classical Greece and the Origins of Social Theory (New
York: Basic Books, 1965), chapter 2 - “The Greek Contest System: Patterns of Culture,” pp. 41-
77, proposes to situate the emergence of Plato’s social theory in terms of Athenian society, and,
among other things, in terms of the agon. A very different approach is taken by Randall Collins,
The Sociology of Philosophies. A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1998), chapter 3 - “Partitioning Attention Space: The Case of Ancient
Greece,” pp. 80-133. See also Joseph Bryant, Moral Codes and Social Structure in Ancient
Greece. A Sociology of Greek Ethics from Homer to the Epicureans and Stoics (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1996).
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