Socrates Perfume Oil $28.00

Socrates Perfume Oil

$28.00

SOCRATES of Athens (c. 470 BCE – 399 BCE)

To Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” He did his examining publicly, by elenchus, which is italics for “the question-and-answer analysis of ideas.” (We still call this “the Socratic Method” and it still bugs people.)

Socrates portrayed himself as a “gadfly” to the torpid “great and noble steed” of the state, and powerful Athenians agreed, though they were not universally grateful.

Socrates also claimed he had a mystical inner voice (his daimonion) and it dissuaded him from such deeds as seeking high office. Ineluctably, this daimonion and his many other peculiarities were weaponized by Athenians of high office.

Despite his patriotic service – as soldier, as divinely-appointed nuisance of Athens – Socrates was tried, convicted of impiety and corruption of the youth, and sentenced to death by drinking Conium maculatum, which is italics for poisonous hemlock.

Socrates remained Socrates to the last.

…I had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you would have liked me to address you, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and saying and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear from others, and which, as I say, are unworthy of me. But I thought that I ought not to do anything common or mean in the hour of danger: nor do I now repent of the manner of my defense, and I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.
– Plato-s Apology

Inspired by anointing oils used in the philosopher’s time after partaking in public baths: orris root, ambergris accord, frankincense, olive blossom, black fig, and marjoram.

Unemployed

The origins of The Unemployed Philosophers Guild are shrouded in mystery… or maybe those are wine stains.

Early in the 4th century BCE, Socrates drank from one of our vessels. Although the UPG almost never endorses drinking poisonous hemlock, we made it look good.

Millennia passed. The Roman Empire. Attila the Hun. The Plague. Gingivitis. A couple witch hunts were in there. Kon-Tiki.

Finally, in the 1990s, two brothers in New York City’s Lower East Side inherited the mantle of the UPG at a time when a mantle was a difficult thing to pawn.

The Unemployed Philosophers Guild was reborn when these champions turned their advanced degrees, creativity, and love of paying rent toward noble ends: meeting the needs of the people for finger puppets of the great philosophers, transforming coffee mugs, and cracking up at stuff.

Additional information

Weight 1 oz

Reviews

  1. Natalie

    Amazing! My favorite purchase since Green Tree Viper! Lightly floral with a hint of rich complexity. Round and not sweet or cloying at all. Getting another bottle!

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