The Search for the Historical Socrates: Was Socrates a Failure? (essay © 2007)

This essay is the fruit of an independent study project I did with Dr. D. Stefan Schindler, a philosophy professor at La Salle University of many specialties and author of the forthcoming article, “The Tao of Socrates” (TBA).  As with “The Search for the Historical Confucius,” my style has gotten a lot better (or so I like to think) since 2007, and I also no longer subscribe to evolutionary historiography.  Both essays were written before I discovered John Wansbrough and the possibility of applying literary theory and criticism to historical research.  Nevertheless, I really enjoyed writing them, especially the argumentative sections.  — CS 12.07.2008

The Search for the Historical Confucius: How Knightly was Confucius? (essay © 2007)

This essay is the fruit of an independent study project I did with Dr. Charles Desnoyers, La Salle University’s resident Sinologist and author of A Journey to the East: Li Gui’s A New Account of a Trip Around the Globe (2004). As with “The Search for the Historical Socrates,” my style has gotten a lot better (or so I like to think) since 2007, and I also no longer subscribe to evolutionary historiography. Both essays were written before I discovered John Wansbrough and the possibility of applying literary theory and criticism to historical research.  Nevertheless, I really enjoyed writing them, especially the argumentative sections. — CS 12.07.2008