Chapter 11 Summary and Analysis

Three schools of thought exist among Hellenic thinkers, all concerned with the Delphic message of "know thyself." (p. 181) Each of the three is concerned with the slavery-freedom issue. The Socratic method is one of moral introspection, postulating that the soul is trapped inside the body during life and is freed when the body dies. If the soul has been pure of passions, it will go to the gods. If not, it will go to Hades.

Cynicism is an outgrowth of Socratic thought. In Cynicism there is complete personal freedom, both inner and outer. Obviously, many of its proponents either are slaves or former slaves. Freedom is equated with independence and self-sufficiency, both physically and socially. Dependency is viewed as the equivalence of slavery. From this point of view, the slave master's dependence on the slave means the slave master isn't free...