A Philosophical Mystery

A very interesting article here on the identity of a mysterious modern philosopher. This has only a nodding connection to the Great Books but I think that anyone reading this blog would find it interesting.

Republic 1 and 2 - Plato

Back to Plato! The Republic is basically a long conversation, or series of conversations mostly having to do with the nature of justice. This leads to a broader discussion of government, or how to order a society.
The first book largely deals with whether justice is a virtue or not. On the face of it, this seems like a preposterous question since we use 'justice' and 'virtue' as nearly interchangeable terms. But the question does become interesting once it is dug into. Restated, who makes out better, the just man or the unjust one? Can you lead a more successful life by cheating?
In the second book Socrates is asked for a definition of 'justice'. He decides to look for justice at the very creation of the state. This then springboards into a discussion of what an ideal state would look like. After a short detour into how to train the guardians, he talks about how to teach the children of the state.
One of the difficulties that I've had reading Plato is that I find it far to easy to argue with him. For instance when justice is defined as 'repaying your debts', Socrates says:

Suppose that a friend when in his right mind has deposited arms with me and he asks for them when he is not in his right mind, ought I to give them back to him? No one would say that I ought or that I should be right in doing so, any more than they would say that I ought always to speak the truth to one who is in his condition.

This is certainly true but also incomplete. Paying debts is certainly just but in the case there is another thing to consider; whether or not repaying the debt at one limited time would be in the best interest of your friend. Time and again it seems that Socrates will use a specific to disprove a general.
I've come to see this as limited thinking on my part though. If we want a complete definition of justice then we have to acknowledge the limitations of a general rule. We have to understand the various tiers of concerns that come into play. We must work harder at it and frankly, that work is its own reward. Or as Stan said here:

the dialogues are best read as a training ground for philosophic thought, rather than a source for statements of Platonic dogma.

So the challenge becomes not to nitpick but to figure out what the better answers would be. And what the better questions would be too!

In the second book Socrates tackles a problem in a way that I greatly respect. When answering a question about the state he doesn't look to adjust what has been built organically, he instead says 'what would the ideal look like' and then goes from there. Too often I think that we take the current state for granted and simply try to tweak. The Platonic system offers a way to look at the perfect and compare.
I was a bit frustrated by the cut off in this reading assignment because I started to get caught up in the piece right near the end. When I have time I will definitely move on and read more about the ideal states. We cover books 6 and 7 during year four but none of the rest.

What did the rest of you think?

Biography of Aristotle

Aristotle was born in northern Greece but was sent to Athens when he was 18 so he could study at Plato's academy. So the chain goes Socrates > Plato > Aristotle. Which is an amazing set of brains for one school.
He was at the academy for about 20 years. One story has him leaving because he doesn't like the direction the school takes after Plato died. Another story is that he fled a growing anti-Macedonian sentiment. After traveling for a bit he was invited to Macedon by King Philip II and there he became the tutor to Alexander the Great.
According to Wikipedia:

Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but
made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle
studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography,
geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on
aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology,
rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature
and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek
knowledge. It has been suggested that Aristotle was probably the last person to
know everything there was to be known in his own time.

Not too shabby. Unfortunately it is thought that only about a third of his writings still survive. This is a true tragedy, one that wasn't really brought home to me until I read Umberto Eco's wonderful 'Name of the Rose'.

Biography of Plato

Plato was born of a well to do family. There is some dispute over his name with an ancient suggestion that his true name was 'Aristocles' but he was called 'Plato' because he was broadly built. I humbly present that this should give hope to all of us who could stand to lose a few pounds.
He was a student of Socrates and from what I understand virtually everything he wrote was taken from the speaking of his teacher. This leads to questions over how much we can trust just how close a trancription he took. On the other hand, what has been left to history reads as clean conversation.
According to A.N. Whitehead:

The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition
is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the
systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his
writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.

So keep in mind that this is a biggie here.

First Month Finale

I forgot to put this up last week, but since we haven't started digging in to month two yet, it isn't too late. This is mostly a place for some more thoughts on Socrates and Aristophanes. So . . .

• Should Socrates have tried to escape as he was urged to in the Crito?
• Was there more to 'Clouds' than I mentioned?
• Would Lysistrata have been able to stop a war by withholding sex?

And of course

• What did Socrates think he was accomplishing in 'the Apology'?

After one month I'm pretty happy with this project. I've spent many a night falling asleep while pondering some Plato. Stan said this would change our lives and I can see that. I'm also very happy to have some companions on the Great Books path with me. We only have 119 months left but I'm sure we'll have a good time.

Author Timeline

At some point I'll put one of these together for the whole author list. It's interesting to see how the list clumps, both in time and geography. Anyway, this (again) is just for this year.

BC
Aristophanes 446 - 386
Plato 424? - 348?
Aristotle 384 - 322

AD
Plutarch 46 - 120
Gospel of Matthew, Acts of the Apostles (around the end of the first century)
St. Augistine 354 - 430
Machiavelli 1469 - 1527
Rabelais 1494 - 1553
Montaigne 1533 - 1592
Shakespeare 1564 - 1616
Locke 1632 - 1704
Rousseau 1712 - 1778
Gibbon 1737 - 1794
Declaration of Independence - 1776
The Constitution of the US - 1787
Federalist Papers 1787 -1788
Smith 1723 - 1790
Marx/Engles 1818 - 1883/1820 - 1895

February Reading

Again, here are the pieces for this month:

Plato: 'Republic' books 1 and 2 Kindle/Nook/Google

Aristotle: 'Ethics' book 1 Kindle/Nook/Google
Aristotle: 'Politics' Book 1 Kindle/Nook/Google

You may want to know that we'll be returning to some of these again in the future. Here is a full list of the ten years if you'd like to look at it. It doesn't break it down by month like I have but at least you see what else is out there. (I'll post the full breakdown at some point.)