Thomas Aquinas College Lectures & Talks "Thucydides as a Philosopher"
Mar 25, 2026
Dr. John McCarthy, a tutor and lecturer at Thomas Aquinas College who studies classical political thought, explores Thucydides as a thinker. He traces realism, method, and rhetoric in Thucydides' histories. Short takes: debates over justice versus expediency, how crises reveal human nature, the Melian Dialogue and Sicilian hubris, and history as a guide to prudence.
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McCarthy's Long Personal Engagement With Thucydides
- John McCarthy recounts teaching Thucydides during his interview and at a high school program, indicating long engagement with the text.
- This personal history establishes his credibility and lifelong study of Thucydides.
Prudence Versus Justice Is Thucydides' Core Question
- Central to Thucydides is the debate whether statesmen should prioritize justice or expediency; he often shows expediency prevailing.
- Pericles and Athenian arguments justify empire as natural, invoking honor, fear, and profit over justice.
Crisis Reveals Human Nature According To Thucydides
- Crises like the plague and civil war strip away cultural veneers, revealing what Thucydides treats as unchanging human nature.
- He claims such upheavals predictably produce brutality as customs lose their restraining power.