Eric Brown is associate professor of philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis. His research has explored ancient Stoic calls to live as a citizen of the world, the argument of Plato’s Republic, Plato’s theory of the soul, Aristotle’s evaluation of external goods such as wealth and honor, and Epicurus’s account of friendship and society. Brown’s work also addresses ancient conceptions of what philosophy is and what politics is, and the eudaimonist structure of ancient Greek ethical theories.
The Classical Athenians told stories of Persuasion connecting brute desires and communal concerns, for both good and ill, because they experienced persuasion as an extraordinary power that could fortify or undermine their democracy.