Short story idea - The Monist Support Group
The other day I was walking my dog - a fluffy white cockapoo I named Gallifrey after the Doctor's home planet - when I saw something that caught my attention and demanded my investigation. There was a van - a white fifteen passenger van that looks suspicious even when it has legitimate reasons for being where it is - that had a picture of seven white people of middle age and a token, younger black man sitting in a circle, each delightfully holding their own djembe plastered on its side. The van was labeled "Therapeutic Drum Circle" and advertised a website. Gallifrey and I had to investigate.
I followed the van as quickly as my poor little dog could go who was becoming agitated with our suddenly rapid rate as it caused him to miss out on sniffing near identical bushes every three feet along a path we had traveled together countless times. His body language screamed that I was messing up his investigation. He had no idea that we were on a joint investigation as he hadn't seen the van, or if he had he had no reason to be suspicious of it as he can't read or generally understand pictures well. In spite of his tiny, ten pound frame he was able to stop my greater than tiny, two hundred and fifty pound frame from continuing in pursuit at a sufficient speed to follow the van. Sadly, Gallifrey and I lost the suspicious van. We turned around and walked back to our house, stopping every three feet or so to investigate suspicious, near identical bushes.
Two weeks later I was driving to the store when I happened upon the van again. Gallifrey was in the car with me with his butt in my lap and his head out the window. He generally refuses to sit in the passenger seat, instead opting to sit in the driver's lap completely unaware of the safety issues his presence causes. This time I was able to abandon my current task at hand and follow the suspicious van. Gallifrey might annoy me or cause me to break some laws by sitting in my lap while driving, but his tiny frame can't stop my car as easily as he can stop me on foot.
Had I been living in New York City (which I never have) I imagine that I wouldn't have found this notion of a bunch of people getting into a drum circle for therapeutic reasonings all that suspicious. New York City has nearly 8.5 million people in it and the odds of eight weirdos getting together to do something weird is not strange. Had I been living somewhere in California like San Francisco or Los Angeles (which I never have) I probably wouldn't have found this strange either as I believe it is a prerequisite to being a left coast Californian. Had I been living in Washington DC (which I have) I wouldn't have found it all that odd either because there are a lot of protesters and invariably protestors come equipped with either an acoustic guitar or a djembe as a symbol of their protestation.
Personally, I always thought those who brought a djembe to anywhere other than a place specified for musical performance were just attention seekers; and I held the conservative notion that most protestors were akin to those types of people that bring a djembe to a non-musical settings. Logically, I assumed that those who brought a djembe to a protest were doubly attention seeking and likely faking anything to get the attention they craved. Had I been living in east-central, rural Indiana (which I have) I would have feared for their safety. But I was living in Augusta, GA.
Augusta has its fair share of weirdos and kooks, but its a different kind. They eat pimento cheese sandwiches on white bread - velveeta cheese mixed with mayonnaise, pimentos and spices spread on processed white bread. They drive countrified, jacked-up trucks much like the trucks I was accustomed to in east-central Indiana, only when they get out they look like they stepped out of a Brooks Brothers store - a pastel colored polo, seersucker shorts and boat shoes. Not only is this juxtaposition jarring, but their pride in it is flabbergasting. Many of those same countrified trucks with snooty prep school drivers are emblazoned with the words "Prep Neck" in bold letters somewhere on the truck. Augusta is full of weirdos, just not your typical hippie or revival hippie variety. But as I was driving in pursuit of this anomalously weird van I slammed on my breaks when my eyes read something even stranger - a tiny store front with tiny little letters that read "Monist Support Group".
I immediately pulled a u-turn causing poor Gallifrey to slide into the passenger seat. He yelped in protest of being unseated so rudely and climbed back into my lap and resumed his place by setting his chin on the window behind the mirror. Sometimes I think he likes the idea of the wind rushing through his hair and ears more than he likes the actual wind rushing through his hair and ears. I parked the car and rolled up the window just enough so he couldn't jump out, assuring him that I would be right back. As I walked up to the odd storefront I could feel his panicked eyes following me to make sure that my trip would be a short one. I read the sign again and my eyes were not deceived. It was a building dedicated to a Monist Support Group. In even smaller letters it announced the meeting times - Monday, closed; Tuesday, 12:30 pm; Wednesday, closed; Thursday; 7:25 pm; Friday, closed; Saturday, closed; Sunday, 6:45 am. Odd hours for an odd little store. I looked at my watch. It was Tuesday, 11:16 am. I had to investigate.
I drove Gallifrey back home and was back at the support group's building too quickly. It was only 11:37. I felt bad for leaving Gallifrey as Tuesday's were normally our special day together. It usually started with a walk, which was painfully slow as he had to sniff every three feet to see which other dogs in the neighborhood had peed there recently. After that it was lunch which was sometimes at home and sometimes at one of the restaurants downtown where I could sit outside with him. He enjoys bahn-mi, hamburgers, apples and bacon. He is not a big fan of peaches, sushi or pimento cheese. After that I get him an ice cream cone which he loves, but tends to make him shiver even in the oppressive Georgian summer. We would still get the ice cream I told him before leaving to go to the meeting. I tried to peer inside but the windows and doors were mirror-tinted. But, while unsuccessfully trying to see in I caught a reflection of a cafe across the street that I had never eaten at before. It was truly a day of discovery.
The menu of the cafe said that they had the best pimento cheese in Augusta. They didn't. Everyone in Augusta knows that the Augusta National has the best pimento cheese in Augusta. I discovered pimento cheese when I moved here at age 28. I discovered that it wasn't just an Augusta thing, but the whole south was crazy about pimento cheese. It's basically just mayonnaise and processed cheese and somehow each little corner of the south has put their own twist on it! The only time I can get my hands on a pimento cheese sandwich from the Augusta National is during Master's Week when someone other than me goes to a practice round and brings me back one (along with a souvenir cup). Most of the other places in Augusta make reference to how theirs compares with the Master's version. It's sold in every grocery store here and just about every restaurant puts some type of store brand or homemade version on a burger with bacon. I ate so much of the stuff the first three months I lived in Augusta that I've grown tired of it, but there is a good place in Columbia, SC about an hour away called DiPrato's that makes one with jalapeños in it and serves it with pita chips that is pretty darn good. The best I've ever had though was in Charleston, SC from a place called Burgage's Grocery. This little cafe had mediocre pimento cheese in spite of their claim to be the best and I'm fairly certain that it was just Kroger brand slapped on whatever bread they got on sale last week.
I entered the Monist Support Group storefront right on time. Upon arrival I was given a clipboard and instructed to fill out the questionnaire and return it to the front. The lady who worked the desk seemed like a character out of a bad 80's movie with a nostalgia theme harkening back to the better era of the 50's. She had those pointed, black spectacles with a chain and a quasi-beehive hairdo and popped her purple gum loudly. I later found out that she didn't believe in any of this Monist hoodoo but it was an easy second job that somehow miraculously paired perfectly with her regular job as a Waffle House waitress. That should have been an indicator that maybe the Monists were on to something, but the intricacies of the Universe were lost on me at that moment.
INSERT QUESTIONNAIRE HERE
Outline for the rest of the story
There were eleven people in the room - myself and the Waffle House waitress were the only ones to have not experienced the ineffable oneness of the One yet. There was one leader who didn't have a clipboard. That left six others scribbling answers on their clipboards other than me, in total nine individuals, seven of which didn't believe in individuality at all.
Each individual told their story of how they became aware that everything was one and all else was illusionary.
1) The leader (classical hippie type) - arrived at the One via a bastardization Dvaitadvaita Hinduism
2) Shelia (classical hippie type) - arrived at the One via a bastardization of pseudo intellectual yoga
3) Jeremy (neo-hippie type) - arrived at the One via reading the heart sutra while smoking pot
4) Tanya (neo-hippie type) - arrived at the One while in coitus with Jeremy (her boyfriend)
5) Mark (business professional) - arrived at the One when a homeless man asked him for change in LA, he reached into his pocket to produce a few coins only to find the homeless man there holding a $20 bill asking him if he could break it so he could get a soda out of the machine
6) Connie (young, stay-at-home mom) - arrived at the One during breast feeding
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Diary Entry: 6/25/16 corresponding to Diary Entry: 8/06/06
1. Should have listened to the shoulders. The shoulders were not wrong. She was a disaster.
2. Suddenly, nearly a decade on, painting is my passion-do-jour again. Everything is cyclical.
3. "Project Utopia" and my metaphysical beliefs were never published because I lost interest and they were never written.
4. Philosophy was a labor of love - nothing has come of it yet.
5. Rereading Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy at the moment. Everything is cyclical.
6. Remarried. Hopefully, at least one thing isn't cyclical.
2. Suddenly, nearly a decade on, painting is my passion-do-jour again. Everything is cyclical.
3. "Project Utopia" and my metaphysical beliefs were never published because I lost interest and they were never written.
4. Philosophy was a labor of love - nothing has come of it yet.
5. Rereading Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy at the moment. Everything is cyclical.
6. Remarried. Hopefully, at least one thing isn't cyclical.
Story Ideas - Mind Control & The Sandwich Shop
I've got two short story ideas
1) Mind Control
A man believes that he alone exists. Everything else that exists is merely a construct of his mind. However, he is frustrated that he cannot seem to control everything the way he thinks he ought to given his creation of the objects. Setting is in a mental institute. The funny thing is, is that he is actually crazy so some of the people and objects he creates are actually in the story.
2) The Sandwich Shop
There exists a sandwich shop where customers come in and go out like all other sandwich shops in the world. But, the workers never leave. The delivery drivers step out with the food and enter nothingness only to return to the shop without the food. It is an infinite loop.
1) Mind Control
A man believes that he alone exists. Everything else that exists is merely a construct of his mind. However, he is frustrated that he cannot seem to control everything the way he thinks he ought to given his creation of the objects. Setting is in a mental institute. The funny thing is, is that he is actually crazy so some of the people and objects he creates are actually in the story.
2) The Sandwich Shop
There exists a sandwich shop where customers come in and go out like all other sandwich shops in the world. But, the workers never leave. The delivery drivers step out with the food and enter nothingness only to return to the shop without the food. It is an infinite loop.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Assessment of Fury
Fury was the first Salman Rushdie book I had ever read. I finished the book when I was out and on the way home I stopped by the used book store and picked up The Enchantress of Florence. I loved the book. The story was good and that is usually what draws me into a book (crazy huh?) but the language and word usage was what really took me in this time. Normally this happens when I read someone like Vonnegut because of his colloquial, conversational prose or when I encounter a writer that is either a surrealist or influenced by them because of the odd usage of words and juxtaposition. But, in the case of Rushdie I just found myself mesmerized by his mastery of English and the beauty of his sentences.
After reading the book I looked at the reviews of it on Goodreads and found a lot of negative reviews. I was surprised by this. But, as this was my first encounter of Rushdie, I found a lot of the negative reviews praised his other works and found this one to be lacking. Without that context however I couldn't form a meaningful opinion. The reviews that dismissed the book as being simply trash or garbage however, I took with a grain of salt. Obviously, I enjoyed the book enough to seek out another of his novels immediately.
After reading the book I looked at the reviews of it on Goodreads and found a lot of negative reviews. I was surprised by this. But, as this was my first encounter of Rushdie, I found a lot of the negative reviews praised his other works and found this one to be lacking. Without that context however I couldn't form a meaningful opinion. The reviews that dismissed the book as being simply trash or garbage however, I took with a grain of salt. Obviously, I enjoyed the book enough to seek out another of his novels immediately.
Friday, June 10, 2016
A correction of my earlier self
It is interesting in reading some of earlier writings from 2006. It shows how I've changed my mind, what I thought was important then vs. what I consider important now and just an overall development of my thinking process. For example in 2006 I was staunchly beholden to a literal Seven-Day Creationist approach in understanding Genesis. I railed against evolution and was "pained" in an early attempt at apologetics to find that my arguments couldn't rule out evolution. Now, I don't think that evolution and Creation are mutually exclusive and not a vey important part of Christian theology. Likewise, I railed against the ontological argument for the existence of God. Now, I find myself more convinced by it then any other argument for the existence of God. On that however, my twenty-two year old self did admit that he didn't like the ontological argument possibly because he didn't understand it. It's just funny and enlightening to reflect on my past thought process and view it from a point further down the road.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Chapter 15 - The Theory of Ideas
(Originally written June 8, 2016 in Book 26)
History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter XV - The Theory of Ideas
Plato asks what is a philosopher and answers, "a lover of wisdom", not just an intellectual curiosity, but a man who loves the vision of truth.
The vision of truth is the demarcation of opinion and knowledge. The art lover may love beautiful things, movies, paintings, music, etc. But, the philosopher loves beauty itself. The lover of beautiful things has opinions; the philosopher has knowledge.
Plato held that knowledge was infallible, but opinion can be false. Knowledge is of things that are, that is to say, to have knowledge is to have knowledge of something. But particular things have contradictory existences and thus are suited for opinion only. A particular thing is simultaneously beautiful and ugly. That particular thing is somewhere between being and non-being. There is no knowledge of a particular, only of the eternal. "Thus we arrive at the conclusion that opinion is of the world presented to the senses, whereas knowledge is of a supersensible eternal world" (Russell, 121).
Plato arrives at the dichotomy of opinion and knowledge by combining Parmenides' notion of what is, is and what is not, is not (nothing does not exist) with Heraclitus' notion of we are and we are not to. Combining the two we necessarily have particular items that both are and both are not, to which knowledge cannot be applied and necessitates opinion. But since knowledge exists and knowledge demands that it must know some 'thing', some 'thing' must exist.
The 'thing' of which knowledge is capable of cannot be a particular thing from a logical standpoint. The word, "cat" for instance can be used to describe a number of particular cats and the meaning of the word cat preexists and retains meaning beyond any particular cat's existence. "If the word 'cat' means anything, it means something which is not this or that cat, but some kind of universal cattyness" (Russell, 121). This is the logical part of Plato's argument for his theory of ideas or forms.
There is also a metaphysical part to his theory. The metaphysical part demands the word 'cat' to mean the ideal cat. This ideal cat is created by God and is unique. All particular cats take part in the nature of the ideal cat imperfectly. Because the particulars take part imperfectly there can be numerous. The eternal cat is what we can have knowledge of. The particular cats we have opinions of. The eternal cat is real. Particular cats merely have appearance because they are a representation of the real cat.
The philosopher is only concerned with the real things. He is concerned with the things that God has made, which are universal. He isn't concerned with the particulars, which are mere copies.
Plato uses the analogy of the cave to explain the difference between knowledge acquired through reason and understanding via sense perception. He likens the acquisition of knowledge to seeing a thing in the light of day whereas when we use sense perception we are akin to viewing something in the twighlight hours and thus, our vision is cloudy and confused.
Plato likens the philosopher to a group of men bound in a cave who see only the shadows of themselves and objects on the cave wall. The philoospher is the man who escapes and sees the real objects (by leaving the cave). If he truly is a philosopher and fit to be a guardian, he will be compelled to teach the others still believing in the shadows to be the real objects erroneously. But this will be a difficult task for the philosopher as he, having viewed sunlight, will have a harder time distinguishing the shadows in the darkness of the cave than the others who have not seen the sun.
Plato has an interesting notion of the good. He claims science and truth are like the good, but the good is higher. To Plato the reality is the good, the appearance is like the good.
Plato marks the beginning of serious intellectual discourse on universals and the problem of universals.
History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter XV - The Theory of Ideas
Plato asks what is a philosopher and answers, "a lover of wisdom", not just an intellectual curiosity, but a man who loves the vision of truth.
The vision of truth is the demarcation of opinion and knowledge. The art lover may love beautiful things, movies, paintings, music, etc. But, the philosopher loves beauty itself. The lover of beautiful things has opinions; the philosopher has knowledge.
Plato held that knowledge was infallible, but opinion can be false. Knowledge is of things that are, that is to say, to have knowledge is to have knowledge of something. But particular things have contradictory existences and thus are suited for opinion only. A particular thing is simultaneously beautiful and ugly. That particular thing is somewhere between being and non-being. There is no knowledge of a particular, only of the eternal. "Thus we arrive at the conclusion that opinion is of the world presented to the senses, whereas knowledge is of a supersensible eternal world" (Russell, 121).
Plato arrives at the dichotomy of opinion and knowledge by combining Parmenides' notion of what is, is and what is not, is not (nothing does not exist) with Heraclitus' notion of we are and we are not to. Combining the two we necessarily have particular items that both are and both are not, to which knowledge cannot be applied and necessitates opinion. But since knowledge exists and knowledge demands that it must know some 'thing', some 'thing' must exist.
The 'thing' of which knowledge is capable of cannot be a particular thing from a logical standpoint. The word, "cat" for instance can be used to describe a number of particular cats and the meaning of the word cat preexists and retains meaning beyond any particular cat's existence. "If the word 'cat' means anything, it means something which is not this or that cat, but some kind of universal cattyness" (Russell, 121). This is the logical part of Plato's argument for his theory of ideas or forms.
There is also a metaphysical part to his theory. The metaphysical part demands the word 'cat' to mean the ideal cat. This ideal cat is created by God and is unique. All particular cats take part in the nature of the ideal cat imperfectly. Because the particulars take part imperfectly there can be numerous. The eternal cat is what we can have knowledge of. The particular cats we have opinions of. The eternal cat is real. Particular cats merely have appearance because they are a representation of the real cat.
The philosopher is only concerned with the real things. He is concerned with the things that God has made, which are universal. He isn't concerned with the particulars, which are mere copies.
Plato uses the analogy of the cave to explain the difference between knowledge acquired through reason and understanding via sense perception. He likens the acquisition of knowledge to seeing a thing in the light of day whereas when we use sense perception we are akin to viewing something in the twighlight hours and thus, our vision is cloudy and confused.
Plato likens the philosopher to a group of men bound in a cave who see only the shadows of themselves and objects on the cave wall. The philoospher is the man who escapes and sees the real objects (by leaving the cave). If he truly is a philosopher and fit to be a guardian, he will be compelled to teach the others still believing in the shadows to be the real objects erroneously. But this will be a difficult task for the philosopher as he, having viewed sunlight, will have a harder time distinguishing the shadows in the darkness of the cave than the others who have not seen the sun.
Plato has an interesting notion of the good. He claims science and truth are like the good, but the good is higher. To Plato the reality is the good, the appearance is like the good.
Plato marks the beginning of serious intellectual discourse on universals and the problem of universals.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
The History of Western Philosophy Ch. 11 - 14
(Originally written June 7, 2016 in Book 26)
What a fantastic day. Bill fixed our Volvo two days ago and then today, boom! The same thing happens. This time though the car died right in the middle of a busy intersection during rush hour. Other than that today was grand. No, I'm actually not too annoyed (and obviously don't blame Bill; though, that first sentence might've seemed to indicate it). The only truly frustrating thing was the car died. C'est la vie?
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter 11 - Socrates
Socrates is a man we may know much or little about because two of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato wrote volumes about him. Those voluemes however don't always sync up to provide a precise picture.
Xenophon defends Socrates too well. If Xenophon's analysis was wholly correct Socrates would never have been put on trial. But one of the few undisputed facts we know about Socrates is his trial and death in 399 B.C.
Xenophon and Plato both agree that Socrates was concerned with putting the right people into powerful positions.
The problem with taking Xenophon's Socrates as the historical one is the fact that Xenophon makes Socrates so pure he wouldn't have been accused of corrupting the youth. The problem with taking Plato's Socrates as the historical model is Plato's ability as a writer.
Plato's Apology is widely considred as historical. This is Socrates' defense at his trial (which Plato was present at).
The grounds for Socrates' trial seems pretty lear: Socrates was evil, curious and constanly making the right seem wrong and the wrong seem right. The real grounds for the trial also seem clear: he was aristocratic and many of his pupils wre of that class and had acted perniciously while in power.
According to Athenian law, when Socrates was found guilty and stenced to death he was to offer a suitable, lesser punishment for the jury to choose between. Instead he annoyed the court by offering to pay a tiny fine so he would not be mistaken as accepting cupability.
The prosecutors held that Socrates did not follow the religion, introduced noew gods and taught (corrupted) the youth with such ideas.
In his defense Socrates states that he is on trial because the Oracle at Delphi had claimed him to be the wisest man. In pursuit of disproving this he has made many enemeies by exposing those who thought they were wise as being unwise.
In attacking one of his prosecutors he points out that he is on trial for introducting new gods but this prosecutor is accusing him of atheism.
In his defense he states, "fear of death is not wisdom, since no one knows whether death may not be the greater good" (Russell, 87).
After convicted of death, Socrates shames the court, "If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistaken; that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honourable; the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves" (Russell, 89).
On death he contends, either death is a good, dreamless sleep or a migration to another world.
Plato describes him as the Orphic saint: "in the dualism of heavenly soul and earthly body, he had achieved the complete mastery of the soul over the body" (Russell, 91).
Socrates was more concerned with ethical questions than scientific knowledge. He believed however knowledge was important because no one sinned on purpose. Thus, by acquiring knowledge one could abstain from sin.
"The close connection between virtue and knowledge is characteristic of Socrates and Plato. To some degree, it exists in all Greek thought, as opposed to that of Christianity. In Christian ethics, a pure heart is essential, and at least as likely to be found among the ignorant as among the learned. The difference between Greek and Christian ethics has persisted down to the present day" (Russell, 92).
The dialectic, seeking knowledge via question and answer wasn't invented by Socrates; but, he definitely used it and developed it.
Chapter 12 - The Influence of Sparta
To understand philosophers from Plato onward it is necessary to know about Sparta. Sparta had a double impact on Greek thought; first, through reality and second, through myth.
The reality of Sparta was the Spartan defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
The myth is the impact of Lycurgus, immortalized by Plutarch, and its impact on later philosophies including Rousseau, Nietzsche and National Socialism.
Sparta arose out of some Dorian conquerors in Laconia. They reduced the indigenous population to serfdom. The citizens of Sparta owned the land but were forbidden to cultivate it because of the demeaning nature of the work and its interference with their time as soldiers.
The Helots worked the land. The Helots were Greek and resented the order of things. They rebelled often. The Spartans maintained a Police State apparatus to control the Helots and once a year declared war on them to weed out agitators.
"The sole business of a Spartan citizen was war, to which he was trained from birth" (Russell, 95).
Children who passed their inspection after birth were educated solely to become good and loyal soldiers. Those who did not pass this intial inspection were killed.
Boys became men at 20 (serving in the military). They became citizens at 30.
No Spartan was to be poor or rich. Their currency was made of iron.
Women received the same physical training as the men. They were forbidden to show any emotion that didn't coincide to the state's favor.
Sparta was ruled by two kings from two different hereditary lines. The two kings belonged to the thirty-man Council of Elders. The Council tried criminal cases and prepared matters for the Assembly. The Assembly was a body of all citizens who could only vote yes or no on matters.
In addition to these three bodies there were the Ephors. There were five Ephors who acted as the Supreme civil court and had criminal jurisdiction over the two kings.
Tradition held that Lycurgus laid down the Spartan law in 885 BC.
Most other Greek city-states admired SParta. Paritally as an ideal from a bygone era. Partially as a model of stability. Partially for their near invincible status in battle on land.
Aristotle was intensely critical of the Spartan way of governance. Aristotle probably was writing of the real Sparta whereas Plato and Plutarch wrote of the mythical Sparta. Pultarch's praise of Sparta and Lycurgus was of great importance to post-Renaissance thinkers.
Sparta was isolationist, often foiling pan-Greek alliances and forbade its citizens from travel and allowed very few foreigners into the city for fear of corrupting the values of the state.
Chapter 13 - The Source of Plato's Opinions
Plato and Aristotle are the two most influential philosophers in history, and Plato is more important than Aristotle.
Plato's top ideas: 1) Utopia, 2) Theory of ideas, 3) arguments in favor of immortality, 4) his cosmogony, 5) knowledge as reminiscence rather than reception
Plato was born in 428/7 BC during the early years of the Peloponnesian War into an aristocratic family. He was a young man when Athens was defeated by Sparta and coupled with his aristocratic background was staunchly anti-democratic, blaming it for the Athenian defeat.
He was a pupil of Socrates.
He was an admirere of Spartan government (primarily because of his anti-democratic bent)
He was influenced by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Socrates, each leading him to a pro-Spartan outlook. From Pythagoras came the other-worldliness, religious and mystical bent. From Parmenides came the beleif that reality is eternal and change illusionary. From Heraclitus came the belief that nothing is permanent in the sensible world. From Socrates he took the obsession with ethics and a teleological view of the universe.
Chapter 14 - Plato's Utopia
Plato's most important dialogue is The Republic. In it is contained the earliest of Utopias.
One conclusion of Plato is that rulers must be philosophers.
The purpose of The Republic is to define justice.
Plato works to define justice by defining an ideally just state.
In this state he divides citizens into three classes:
1) Common people
2) Soldiers
3) Guardians
The guardians are the sole holders of political power, initially selected by a legislator but then passed through hereditary means. (Plato does allow for exceptional men to rise from the other two classes and for an ill-fated guardian to drop).
The guardians, as politcal agents, are Plato's main concern and that main concern begins with the proper education to rule.
Education was divided into Music and Gymnastics. Music covered everything considered today as culture. Gymnastics concerrned physical training. Musical education was about educating the ruling elite to become 'gentlemen'.
The training up of gentlemen began young. Stories were told to children only if they were approved. Homer & Hesiod were not allowed because:
1) They show the gods misbehaving
2) They cause the fear of death
Sidenote (Future Modern Ancient Greeks)
When discussing political systems with some Alien, the hero gets offended when America is not mentioned. The Alien responds, "Oh yes... the great petry dish, the grand experiment politik, the new Rome, a system built on complete contradictions, an aristocracy so perfect it fooled the lower classes into believeing it was egalitarian in nature. It was perfect until you side-tracked into a primitive hero worship of completely unimportant entitites. There's nothing wrong with admiring or even elevating your artists to godlike status but when you elevate your inartistic to artistic and then what you call the artistic to the status of demigods you get a rather sad and debased populace. A pity really becaue everything was going so well. You survived your Punic war with the Soviets but will you survive long enough to allow the rise of a new Parthia to give you the impetus to survive a millenia? Or have you sped up your timeline and already become decadent and too self-obssessed and self-assured to recognize the imminent but slow rot that overtakes all empires? Not of course you, per se, because you are now a child of the stars and without the wherewithal to return home to the decaying America. But even if your America could cut out the corrosion and you found an astronomically improbable way home, would you be satisfied with life back on a primitive planet now that you have seen just a portion of what other worlds have to offer?" The alien continued with his political treatise in soliliqy as (our hero) ost all sense of national pride and pondered a suddenly existential question, if he ever could make it home, would he want to?
Sidenote complete
3) The homeric poems approve of uncontrollable laughter
4) Homer praises lavishness
Homer and Hesiod cannot be taught in the ideal State because the ideal gaurdians of that State must respect religion (misbehaving gods of Homer are unworthy of respect), must be willing to die for the State and thus, cannot fear or mourn death, be in control of their emotion (no great mirth() and be temperate and praise temperance and simplicity.
Education of the gaurdians also forbids any stories where the wicked are happy or where the good are unhappy.
Plato also banned drama because authors and actors would have to portrait either villains or those beneath their status; thus, debasing themselves.
Music, diet and exercise were also strictly monitored for ideal outcomes.
The young gaurdians must also see no ugliness until they are fully trained and then be exposed to temptations that must be found untempting and terrors which must not terrify.
Economically, Plato insisted on a communist approach where the gaurdians have little private property but are not lacking or unhappy. Poverty and wealth both produce ills so both will be banished.
Wives and children will be common to all men who are gaurdians.
Women gaurdians will be equal to all men gaurdians and recieve the same education.
Interestingly, marriage ceremonies where bride and groom will be chosen (they think) by lot will actually be arranged by legislators to produce the best offspring.
Children will not know who their parents are and parents will not know their children. Thus, children are common to all parents.
Women are to bear children between 20-40. Men to father children should be 25-55. ALl sex outside of these ages is fair and free.
All this reorientation of familial structures is to create a loyalty to the State as the primary focus.
The government is to be built on one great lie, "one royal lie", to get the whole thing in motion.
This lie is that God made men of three kinds - gold, silver and brass/iron. The men made of gold are to be the gaurdians. The men made of silver are to be the soldiers. The men made of brass and iron are to do the manual labor.
The lie was well thought out. Plato assumed that the first generation of Utopia wouldn't buy it, but subsequent generations through indoctrination would.
Plato reaches his definition of justice in the three types of men God created living in harmony. The city becomes just when each is doing the job he ought to do without interfering with anyone from another class.
Like philosophers before him, and the poets who lived before the dawn of philosophy, Plato embodies the Greek notion of fate - everything having its place and function. Justice was the harmony of living within the boundaries of this fate.
Plato's definition of justice allows for inequality without injustice. The gaurdians, even though the smallest class, rule because they are the wisest and fated to do so. Injustice would only occur if someone from the lower two classes was wiser than a gaurdian. That is why Plato allowed exceptions for promotion or demotion.
Plato, unlike many later Utopians, saw his Utopia as viably feasible and wished to implement it. Unfortunately he chose to try with Syracuse and it failed. Soon thereafter the rise of Macedonia made the polis antiquated and the notion of establishing a Utopian city-state impossible in the face of empires.
What a fantastic day. Bill fixed our Volvo two days ago and then today, boom! The same thing happens. This time though the car died right in the middle of a busy intersection during rush hour. Other than that today was grand. No, I'm actually not too annoyed (and obviously don't blame Bill; though, that first sentence might've seemed to indicate it). The only truly frustrating thing was the car died. C'est la vie?
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter 11 - Socrates
Socrates is a man we may know much or little about because two of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato wrote volumes about him. Those voluemes however don't always sync up to provide a precise picture.
Xenophon defends Socrates too well. If Xenophon's analysis was wholly correct Socrates would never have been put on trial. But one of the few undisputed facts we know about Socrates is his trial and death in 399 B.C.
Xenophon and Plato both agree that Socrates was concerned with putting the right people into powerful positions.
The problem with taking Xenophon's Socrates as the historical one is the fact that Xenophon makes Socrates so pure he wouldn't have been accused of corrupting the youth. The problem with taking Plato's Socrates as the historical model is Plato's ability as a writer.
Plato's Apology is widely considred as historical. This is Socrates' defense at his trial (which Plato was present at).
The grounds for Socrates' trial seems pretty lear: Socrates was evil, curious and constanly making the right seem wrong and the wrong seem right. The real grounds for the trial also seem clear: he was aristocratic and many of his pupils wre of that class and had acted perniciously while in power.
According to Athenian law, when Socrates was found guilty and stenced to death he was to offer a suitable, lesser punishment for the jury to choose between. Instead he annoyed the court by offering to pay a tiny fine so he would not be mistaken as accepting cupability.
The prosecutors held that Socrates did not follow the religion, introduced noew gods and taught (corrupted) the youth with such ideas.
In his defense Socrates states that he is on trial because the Oracle at Delphi had claimed him to be the wisest man. In pursuit of disproving this he has made many enemeies by exposing those who thought they were wise as being unwise.
In attacking one of his prosecutors he points out that he is on trial for introducting new gods but this prosecutor is accusing him of atheism.
In his defense he states, "fear of death is not wisdom, since no one knows whether death may not be the greater good" (Russell, 87).
After convicted of death, Socrates shames the court, "If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistaken; that is not a way of escape which is either possible or honourable; the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves" (Russell, 89).
On death he contends, either death is a good, dreamless sleep or a migration to another world.
Plato describes him as the Orphic saint: "in the dualism of heavenly soul and earthly body, he had achieved the complete mastery of the soul over the body" (Russell, 91).
Socrates was more concerned with ethical questions than scientific knowledge. He believed however knowledge was important because no one sinned on purpose. Thus, by acquiring knowledge one could abstain from sin.
"The close connection between virtue and knowledge is characteristic of Socrates and Plato. To some degree, it exists in all Greek thought, as opposed to that of Christianity. In Christian ethics, a pure heart is essential, and at least as likely to be found among the ignorant as among the learned. The difference between Greek and Christian ethics has persisted down to the present day" (Russell, 92).
The dialectic, seeking knowledge via question and answer wasn't invented by Socrates; but, he definitely used it and developed it.
Chapter 12 - The Influence of Sparta
To understand philosophers from Plato onward it is necessary to know about Sparta. Sparta had a double impact on Greek thought; first, through reality and second, through myth.
The reality of Sparta was the Spartan defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
The myth is the impact of Lycurgus, immortalized by Plutarch, and its impact on later philosophies including Rousseau, Nietzsche and National Socialism.
Sparta arose out of some Dorian conquerors in Laconia. They reduced the indigenous population to serfdom. The citizens of Sparta owned the land but were forbidden to cultivate it because of the demeaning nature of the work and its interference with their time as soldiers.
The Helots worked the land. The Helots were Greek and resented the order of things. They rebelled often. The Spartans maintained a Police State apparatus to control the Helots and once a year declared war on them to weed out agitators.
"The sole business of a Spartan citizen was war, to which he was trained from birth" (Russell, 95).
Children who passed their inspection after birth were educated solely to become good and loyal soldiers. Those who did not pass this intial inspection were killed.
Boys became men at 20 (serving in the military). They became citizens at 30.
No Spartan was to be poor or rich. Their currency was made of iron.
Women received the same physical training as the men. They were forbidden to show any emotion that didn't coincide to the state's favor.
Sparta was ruled by two kings from two different hereditary lines. The two kings belonged to the thirty-man Council of Elders. The Council tried criminal cases and prepared matters for the Assembly. The Assembly was a body of all citizens who could only vote yes or no on matters.
In addition to these three bodies there were the Ephors. There were five Ephors who acted as the Supreme civil court and had criminal jurisdiction over the two kings.
Tradition held that Lycurgus laid down the Spartan law in 885 BC.
Most other Greek city-states admired SParta. Paritally as an ideal from a bygone era. Partially as a model of stability. Partially for their near invincible status in battle on land.
Aristotle was intensely critical of the Spartan way of governance. Aristotle probably was writing of the real Sparta whereas Plato and Plutarch wrote of the mythical Sparta. Pultarch's praise of Sparta and Lycurgus was of great importance to post-Renaissance thinkers.
Sparta was isolationist, often foiling pan-Greek alliances and forbade its citizens from travel and allowed very few foreigners into the city for fear of corrupting the values of the state.
Chapter 13 - The Source of Plato's Opinions
Plato and Aristotle are the two most influential philosophers in history, and Plato is more important than Aristotle.
Plato's top ideas: 1) Utopia, 2) Theory of ideas, 3) arguments in favor of immortality, 4) his cosmogony, 5) knowledge as reminiscence rather than reception
Plato was born in 428/7 BC during the early years of the Peloponnesian War into an aristocratic family. He was a young man when Athens was defeated by Sparta and coupled with his aristocratic background was staunchly anti-democratic, blaming it for the Athenian defeat.
He was a pupil of Socrates.
He was an admirere of Spartan government (primarily because of his anti-democratic bent)
He was influenced by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Socrates, each leading him to a pro-Spartan outlook. From Pythagoras came the other-worldliness, religious and mystical bent. From Parmenides came the beleif that reality is eternal and change illusionary. From Heraclitus came the belief that nothing is permanent in the sensible world. From Socrates he took the obsession with ethics and a teleological view of the universe.
Chapter 14 - Plato's Utopia
Plato's most important dialogue is The Republic. In it is contained the earliest of Utopias.
One conclusion of Plato is that rulers must be philosophers.
The purpose of The Republic is to define justice.
Plato works to define justice by defining an ideally just state.
In this state he divides citizens into three classes:
1) Common people
2) Soldiers
3) Guardians
The guardians are the sole holders of political power, initially selected by a legislator but then passed through hereditary means. (Plato does allow for exceptional men to rise from the other two classes and for an ill-fated guardian to drop).
The guardians, as politcal agents, are Plato's main concern and that main concern begins with the proper education to rule.
Education was divided into Music and Gymnastics. Music covered everything considered today as culture. Gymnastics concerrned physical training. Musical education was about educating the ruling elite to become 'gentlemen'.
The training up of gentlemen began young. Stories were told to children only if they were approved. Homer & Hesiod were not allowed because:
1) They show the gods misbehaving
2) They cause the fear of death
Sidenote (Future Modern Ancient Greeks)
When discussing political systems with some Alien, the hero gets offended when America is not mentioned. The Alien responds, "Oh yes... the great petry dish, the grand experiment politik, the new Rome, a system built on complete contradictions, an aristocracy so perfect it fooled the lower classes into believeing it was egalitarian in nature. It was perfect until you side-tracked into a primitive hero worship of completely unimportant entitites. There's nothing wrong with admiring or even elevating your artists to godlike status but when you elevate your inartistic to artistic and then what you call the artistic to the status of demigods you get a rather sad and debased populace. A pity really becaue everything was going so well. You survived your Punic war with the Soviets but will you survive long enough to allow the rise of a new Parthia to give you the impetus to survive a millenia? Or have you sped up your timeline and already become decadent and too self-obssessed and self-assured to recognize the imminent but slow rot that overtakes all empires? Not of course you, per se, because you are now a child of the stars and without the wherewithal to return home to the decaying America. But even if your America could cut out the corrosion and you found an astronomically improbable way home, would you be satisfied with life back on a primitive planet now that you have seen just a portion of what other worlds have to offer?" The alien continued with his political treatise in soliliqy as (our hero) ost all sense of national pride and pondered a suddenly existential question, if he ever could make it home, would he want to?
Sidenote complete
3) The homeric poems approve of uncontrollable laughter
4) Homer praises lavishness
Homer and Hesiod cannot be taught in the ideal State because the ideal gaurdians of that State must respect religion (misbehaving gods of Homer are unworthy of respect), must be willing to die for the State and thus, cannot fear or mourn death, be in control of their emotion (no great mirth() and be temperate and praise temperance and simplicity.
Education of the gaurdians also forbids any stories where the wicked are happy or where the good are unhappy.
Plato also banned drama because authors and actors would have to portrait either villains or those beneath their status; thus, debasing themselves.
Music, diet and exercise were also strictly monitored for ideal outcomes.
The young gaurdians must also see no ugliness until they are fully trained and then be exposed to temptations that must be found untempting and terrors which must not terrify.
Economically, Plato insisted on a communist approach where the gaurdians have little private property but are not lacking or unhappy. Poverty and wealth both produce ills so both will be banished.
Wives and children will be common to all men who are gaurdians.
Women gaurdians will be equal to all men gaurdians and recieve the same education.
Interestingly, marriage ceremonies where bride and groom will be chosen (they think) by lot will actually be arranged by legislators to produce the best offspring.
Children will not know who their parents are and parents will not know their children. Thus, children are common to all parents.
Women are to bear children between 20-40. Men to father children should be 25-55. ALl sex outside of these ages is fair and free.
All this reorientation of familial structures is to create a loyalty to the State as the primary focus.
The government is to be built on one great lie, "one royal lie", to get the whole thing in motion.
This lie is that God made men of three kinds - gold, silver and brass/iron. The men made of gold are to be the gaurdians. The men made of silver are to be the soldiers. The men made of brass and iron are to do the manual labor.
The lie was well thought out. Plato assumed that the first generation of Utopia wouldn't buy it, but subsequent generations through indoctrination would.
Plato reaches his definition of justice in the three types of men God created living in harmony. The city becomes just when each is doing the job he ought to do without interfering with anyone from another class.
Like philosophers before him, and the poets who lived before the dawn of philosophy, Plato embodies the Greek notion of fate - everything having its place and function. Justice was the harmony of living within the boundaries of this fate.
Plato's definition of justice allows for inequality without injustice. The gaurdians, even though the smallest class, rule because they are the wisest and fated to do so. Injustice would only occur if someone from the lower two classes was wiser than a gaurdian. That is why Plato allowed exceptions for promotion or demotion.
Plato, unlike many later Utopians, saw his Utopia as viably feasible and wished to implement it. Unfortunately he chose to try with Syracuse and it failed. Soon thereafter the rise of Macedonia made the polis antiquated and the notion of establishing a Utopian city-state impossible in the face of empires.
Monday, June 6, 2016
Aristophanes & Euripides
(Originally written June 6, 2016 in Book 26)
It's been nearly nine years since I've written in this particular journal. To the archivists (Ha!) I'm sorry for the lapse. I just didn't want to leave so much blank space in journal 26 on up and waste paper. But, I haven't been completely idle in nine years. Anyway, I've been primarily digitizing my journals recently; thus, I haven't studied much. Currently I'm midway through Salman Rushdie's Fury. It's a pretty riveting book and much newer than most of my reading this year.
As I state, primarily I've been working to bring my journals all into a comprehensive blog, tagged with numerous categories in case I ever want to research a topic. This way I can pull up my notes and move from there. Books 3, 4 and 5 have a lot of notes from 2006 on Bertrand Russell's The History of Western Philosophy and lo and behold, ten years later I'm reading it again, It's somewhat coincidental and definitely gives it a comical symmetry. Iv'e read the introduction which covers the PRe-Socratics and am now starting the part on Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Additionally, I'm reading my books from History of philosophy at Taylor (A History of Western Philosophy by W.T. Jones) to get a fuller depth of understanding. It is there I'll actually begin.
The Classical Mind
W.T. Jones
Ch. 2 - Education by Violence
Aristophanes
Aristophanes held that democracy was destroying the state.
Aristophanes was a playwright during the violent chaos of the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath. It is for this reason he so avidly opposed the unruliness and inefficiency of democracy.
He criticized the Athenian practice of paying people to be on the j tries because it led to lazy, incompetent and ignorant juries, making a travesty of justice.
Aristophanes used many of his plays to attack the mass democracy and the ills it foisted on Athens. But in Ecclesiazusae he offered a solution that anticipated Plato's Utopia and is akin to communism:
- land, money and private property became common to all
- no rich or poor
- women belong to all men in common
- "Athens will become nothing more than a single house, in which every thing will belong to everyone" (Jones, 51).
Euripides
Euripides (480-406 BC) was a playwright during the Peloponnesian War. Initially his plays were optimistic and patriotic to the Athenians, but after the brutal subjugation of the Melians by the Athenians his tone changed.
Euripides believed in a moral order which was a natural order. He used the gods and goddesses as an embodiment of that order, dishing out justice and punishment.
In his play Trojan Women he points out the doubly futile nature of war. First, its consequences are greater than the spark which ignited the war in the first place. Second, ti generally does not achieve the desired ends.
The war caused Euripides to lose his faith in the natural order, the moral order and religion. This profound loss contrasted Euripides from an earlier generation. While they were sure and optimistic in light of the Pax Athenica, in spite of many flaws, Euripides was a product of the horrors of war.
Euripides clings to the Greek ideal of moderation, but taught by war, mourns its loss.
It's been nearly nine years since I've written in this particular journal. To the archivists (Ha!) I'm sorry for the lapse. I just didn't want to leave so much blank space in journal 26 on up and waste paper. But, I haven't been completely idle in nine years. Anyway, I've been primarily digitizing my journals recently; thus, I haven't studied much. Currently I'm midway through Salman Rushdie's Fury. It's a pretty riveting book and much newer than most of my reading this year.
As I state, primarily I've been working to bring my journals all into a comprehensive blog, tagged with numerous categories in case I ever want to research a topic. This way I can pull up my notes and move from there. Books 3, 4 and 5 have a lot of notes from 2006 on Bertrand Russell's The History of Western Philosophy and lo and behold, ten years later I'm reading it again, It's somewhat coincidental and definitely gives it a comical symmetry. Iv'e read the introduction which covers the PRe-Socratics and am now starting the part on Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Additionally, I'm reading my books from History of philosophy at Taylor (A History of Western Philosophy by W.T. Jones) to get a fuller depth of understanding. It is there I'll actually begin.
The Classical Mind
W.T. Jones
Ch. 2 - Education by Violence
Aristophanes
Aristophanes held that democracy was destroying the state.
Aristophanes was a playwright during the violent chaos of the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath. It is for this reason he so avidly opposed the unruliness and inefficiency of democracy.
He criticized the Athenian practice of paying people to be on the j tries because it led to lazy, incompetent and ignorant juries, making a travesty of justice.
Aristophanes used many of his plays to attack the mass democracy and the ills it foisted on Athens. But in Ecclesiazusae he offered a solution that anticipated Plato's Utopia and is akin to communism:
- land, money and private property became common to all
- no rich or poor
- women belong to all men in common
- "Athens will become nothing more than a single house, in which every thing will belong to everyone" (Jones, 51).
Euripides
Euripides (480-406 BC) was a playwright during the Peloponnesian War. Initially his plays were optimistic and patriotic to the Athenians, but after the brutal subjugation of the Melians by the Athenians his tone changed.
Euripides believed in a moral order which was a natural order. He used the gods and goddesses as an embodiment of that order, dishing out justice and punishment.
In his play Trojan Women he points out the doubly futile nature of war. First, its consequences are greater than the spark which ignited the war in the first place. Second, ti generally does not achieve the desired ends.
The war caused Euripides to lose his faith in the natural order, the moral order and religion. This profound loss contrasted Euripides from an earlier generation. While they were sure and optimistic in light of the Pax Athenica, in spite of many flaws, Euripides was a product of the horrors of war.
Euripides clings to the Greek ideal of moderation, but taught by war, mourns its loss.
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