Pierre Grimes, PhD, is a specialist in classical Greek philosophy. He is the founder of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. He is also founder of the Noetic Society in the Los Angeles area. He is author of Philosophical Midwifery: A New Paradigm for Understanding Human Problems, Socrates and Jesus: A Dialogue in Heaven, and Unblocking: Removing Blocks to Understanding. He is also a decorated veteran of the second world war.

In this video from 2017, he suggests that the human condition has always been tragic and will remain so — because all humans carry within themselves a burden of unrecognized rage and false beliefs. The best way to cope with tragedy, he maintains, is to engage in a process of illuminating and modifying these false beliefs that he defines as “pathologos”. As an exemplar of possible heroic transformation he describes Achilles’ change of heart in Homer’s Iliad.

(Recorded on October 3, 2017)

Published on January 6, 2023