Plato in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern - Nec plus ultra

 Plato in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern

Nec plus ultra

 

Plato is the nec plus ultra for this reader. It is as far as I can go with reading philosophy in the original, unadapted, unabridged or explained version. And I know few other authors who have expressed such beautiful, mesmerizing ideas.

The fact that I had Plato in my hands when I was about twenty is one of the luckiest events of my whole life. It transformed me. Mind you, I did not turn into a wise thinker. With the genes I have, that would have been impossible. We learn more about the importance of genes, with every week that goes by. You can put in thousands of hours of playing the piano, but if your genetic heritage is not favorable, all that activity can be in vain: you will never reach a world class standard.

Plato has a sensational philosophy- in the words of Strathern:

-          “Alpha plus for his philosophy, but omega minus for his politics”

Heidegger and Nietzsche were of the opinion that philosophy never recovered from Plato. In other words, he had a malefic influence

Although modern psychology plays down the role of childhood in the development of the adult, as opposed to the Freudian doctrine, which explains everything in terms of sexual impulses and events of childhood, Plato had an early period which has affected his thinking. The policy towards children and women who would be public property- exposed in the Republic- was influenced by Plato’s experiences as a boy.

Plato took part in sports competitions and we can only be glad (in the past, the word gay could be used here) that he did not win to become an Olympic athlete, for we wouldn’t have had his work then. We know Plato by his ring name

As a young man, Plato spent a long time listening to Socrates – at his feet- and we can read about that in the early dialogues, which scholars say that they describe the views of Socrates. The middle and later works express the thinking of Plato.

Plato had the misfortune to land in the middle of disputes with Dionysus I of Syracuse and later with his son- Dionysus II of Syracuse

The Republic is probably Plato’s best known and most influential work.

It touches an amazing array of issues- feminism, psychology, education, and politics. Alas, it seems to have come to life in the form of Nazism and Communism. As Strathern points out:

-          At its best, The Republic of Plato would be boring, at its worst- a ruthless tyranny

In The Republic Plato contradicts himself; he argues for the banning of poets even if he wrote as beautiful and compelling as a poet himself

In the ideal society only music “suitable „for the proper development of the population would be played- marches, no Ionic rhythms

That sounds very much like the Communist society that I had to endure for 25 years. Peoples act like individuals, for good results all the parts must work well. All the three categories of citizens must perform their function well

The fact that a philosopher king would be elected from the wise men sounds like a great idea, but Paul Strathern makes the opposite argument:

So far, the rulers that showed an interest in philosophy have proved disastrous when compared with those who revealed no such inclinations.

The politics of Plato as a pledge for Tyranny- every individual must have a leader and obey him in all that he does, dress, everything. The makings of the dictatorships are here.

The religious dogma of the Middle Ages relied upon platonicism or neo-platonicism

The famous metaphor of the cave and the shadows are mentioned, with the message that education should make people come out of the shadows, see the light gradually

Some of the pre Socratics are mentioned –

Heraclitus – “no one steps in the same river twice’

Pythagoras is analyzed, with his emphasis on numbers, albeit he probably was referring more at “forms” as we see them today. Pythagoras was a philosopher, dietician, priest; he asked his followers not to eat beans! Heart or their own dog. They were supposed to ban swallows from nesting at their houses.

For all his shortcomings, Plato is a king of philosophers for me. Idealism was born from his writings. I lived looking for the half sphere that he mentioned when describing love. Alas. Plato showed me what to look for, but I did not find it.

There are aspects that will never fit my or anyone’s life, except for crazy Nazis and the like:

You can never go through life listening to marches. I mean, I had to listen to the Communist marches, but I hated that and in no way felt uplifted or better because of that crap.

I agree with Plato that the elites must rule. The educated, “thinking” classes ought to have a much better role that those who are only concerned with stuffing belies, shooting animals, throwing dice and the like. The communist rulers were not out of The Republic textbook, they were the pigs from The Animal Farm by George Orwell. Uneducated savages.  A true, refined elite we can find in the history of The British Empire and that ruled half the world rather decently, with the inevitable excesses which are in the human nature.