Approaching Plato

Texts

(the following readings are on-line. Plato’s Symposium
is also on-line, but the paperback, preferably the
Gill Penguin edition, makes for easier reading)

 

Plato’s Light Plato's Light

Plato’s Cave Plato's Parable of the Cave

Plato’s Line Plato's Divided Line  

Greek Rhetoric & Philosophy An approach to Greek rhetoric & philosophy
Plato’s Symposium Plato's Symposium

In the next two weeks we will explore new approaches
to understanding and action, approaches we will
term philosophical. Athenians prided themselves
on their open society, where foreigners and natives
mixed, exchanging views, reconsidering attitudes,
habits of attention, customs and assumptions.

 

Begin with Pericles Pericles and plague

Your objective is to see how Athenians tell stories,
how they explore new situations, how they
understand and act.

 

Pericles’ oration invites his audience to share with him an Athenian sense of doubt, to question how and why customs came into being, and to consider adapting customs to new particulars. Consider how he invites Athenians to changing, historical circumstances. To fall in love with Athens is to practice Athenian reasoning. How does an Athenian distinguish himself or herself from traditional Spartans?

Pericles’ account of plague demonstrates not heroic ideals, but the search for patterns in nature and in mind which can alter our understanding of how things work. What distinguishes Pericles’ approach to fate? How might understanding of tragic circumstances benefit observers? How does Pericles distinguish Athenian inquiry from traditional attitudes evident in the Iliad?

 

Consider Plato’s Cave Plato's Parable of the Cave

Your objective is to consider why Plato
uses a parable, to “see” how the parable works.

 

Plato uses a parable and a geometric demonstration to detach his readers form conventional assumptions. Why does Plato use a parable, followed by a geometric demonstration? Answer that question by experiencing each. To really “see” our situation in our cave requires more than speculation. To really see the relationship of squares and divided lines requires a process of discovery.

A parable is only a parable to one who lives it out. How does the Parable of the Cave work? It may be easy to understand, but difficult to practice.

 

 

Outside the cave, of course, observers can “see” chained inhabitants falsely assuming the projections they experience are “real.” The parable, however, identifies US as inhabitants, and my speculations that such may be the case cannot enable me to believe such a possibility. Perhaps the sun which illuminates and warms my world is itself merely a great fire, obscuring realities beyond, blinding me from realities unseen.

 

Consider Plato’s Divided Line

Your objective is to follow a geometric demonstration,
to distinguish demonstrable truth from mere belief.

 

Divide Plato’s Line Plato's Divided Line

 

A geometric demonstration shows relationships necessary for a specific conclusion. We may believe that the following smaller squares are more or less half the size of the square surrounding them.

 

But the following sequence should enable you to see the true relationship of two squares: how can we see an inner square half the area of the outer square?

 

 

Begin by folding your square into quarters.

Then fold over one of the quarters as a triangle.

Now fold over a second quarter to leave two triangles.

Folding the two remaining triangles leaves a new square.

 

Note the four equal triangles enclosed by the inner square.

Note the four additional equal triangles outside the inner square.

 

The inner square is half the outer square.

 

Now return to the original squares.
Can you “see” that the inner squares are half the outer squares? How?

 

  

 

Does this inner square look half the outer square?

Plato’s divided line leads to one particular ratio
of lines with astonishing properties: those which appear in five-pointed stars and pentagons.

 

 

 

Approach Greek Philosophy Plato's Divided Line

Greek exploration, trade and colonization exposed them to alternative ways of thinking and acting. Most Athenians took pride in their open society, exercising critical attitudes towards received common sense and towards traditional cultural practices. An appreciation of conditions in which new approaches to narrative develop can enhance the reading of philosophy.

 

Join Plato’s Symposium Plato's Symposium

You may find starting Plato’s Symposium an effective introduction to Greek philosophy, enabling you to return to Pericles’ funeral oration and account of plague, to Plato’s Parable of the Cave, and to Plato’s Divided Line with renewed energy.

 

Your first objective is to appreciate
the praise of love offered by one of the speakers at the symposium. Consider
how the circumstances and interests
of the speaker color the development
of his praise.

 

Your second objective is to see
how Socrates guides an understanding
of love.

 

Your third objective is to consider
how historical settings can influence audiences.

You may find starting Plato’s Symposium an effective introduction to Greek philosophy, enabling you to return to Pericles’ funeral oration and account of plague, to Plato’s Parable of the Cave, and to Plato’s Divided Line with renewed energy.