We cannot understand the relation of Socratic philosophy to ancient Greek religion unless we first distinguish between the natural religion of the philosophers, the mythic religion of the poets, and the civic religion of the polis. These are not three religions but three differing interpretations of Greek religion. The Socratic philosophers attack the religion of the poets in order to reform the civic religion in the light of natural religion. All three kinds of Greek religion are focused on the relations between gods and humans and on the question of whether a person can traverse the chasm between human and divine. In Greek mythology and cult, some heroic human beings, like Heracles, were able to become gods. For the Socratics, philosophers are the new Greek heroes, able to divinize themselves by dint of rational discipline.

While it provides support not only for prison abolitionism but also for anarchism, the liberal and cosmopolitan version of natural law theory this book defends need not deny that people will sometimes in fact opt to welcome ties with each other rooted in history and heritage. And of course it can offer insights not only in relation to an envisioned stateless society but also in the context of contemporary statist politics. But liberalism and natural law theory rightly prompt skepticism regarding affirmations of national identity. Chapter 7 suggests that the putative liberal Richard Rorty’s attempt to articulate a liberal American patriotism provides a useful case study–and proves ultimately unsuccessful.