When you will have made him a body without organs,
then you will have delivered him from all his automatic reactions
and restored him to his true freedom.
Then you will teach him again to dance wrong side out
as in the frenzy of dance halls
and this wrong side out will be his real place.
- To Have Done with the Judgment of God
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Artaud, Briefly
Had the pleasure of seeing EgoPo's production of Artaud Unbound tonight, featuring stagings of his radio scenarios, black-and-white scenarios, and "Spurt of Blood" with readings from "Theater and its Double". Quite the treat, to understate it.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Adventures with Plato and "The Republic"
It really was an adventure, what with the single worst translation moment in history ("a shabby sort of thing") and the discovery of Franklin O. Loveland, III (Dartmouth Class of 1964, the last person to read this copy). Beyond that, I was pleased to discover that "The Republic" was not only readable, but directly relevant to current events! The chapters on despotism coincided with Egypt's anti-Mubarak protests this past week-- which also almost (almost) made me want to take a second look at "The Prince".
Anyway, moving on to the meat of it ... Plato puts forth a ridiculously difficult hypothesis: Morality is in the interest of the individual. In other words, it pays to be just. He clarifies that this doesn't mean only acting morally (external justice) but being moral (internal justice, which begets external). For example, giving to charity for the sake of garnering favorable opinions but not for the sake of the charity's work, that would be external justice. I seem like a great person.
Mini-note: the word ontology means the study of existence and being. (What is real?)
Mini-note #2: Plate defines philosophy as the desire for TOTAL knowledge and Truth, beyond the desire/curiosity for new experiences like travel and culture ... Plato is all about getting at absolutes, not relative appearances
Plato begins with the Social Contract theory, summed up as "Hey, let's agree not to murder or steal from each other and everything'll be great." BUT, imagine the suspension of law and that Social Contract ... if I have to the power to do so without punishment, wouldn't I steal? (I believe this might be called looting.) Do morality and justice have worth beyond appearances?
Plato says: Being just is success in itself -- a virtue by its intrinsic effect on a person.
Amid this main argument, Plato seeks to describe an ideal city state in order to relate back to an ideal individual. This city state (hence, the republic) is governed by a Philosopher-King, who has wisdom of the true Good -- as best as I can tell, this ultimate Good described by Plato is more or less the meaning of life.
At this point, everyone in the dialogue wants to know how to get this "wisdom" of the Good ... which leads to the famous Allegory of the Cave. The true Good of knowing is similar to the Sun (= enlightenment!). Plato also introduces his theory of Forms. For example: I'm in a dark room and I discover there's a chair in the room; I can feel around the edges and it exists. But then say I turn on the light. There's still the chair in the room, only now I know what the color and shape is all together, and should I turn off the light again I still know what it really looks like (its' Form). The absolute Form is in contrast to the world of appearances (in the dark, maybe I think it's an ugly chair ... my friend might think it's a beautiful chair ... how can it be both ugly and beautiful?).
Random movie connections: "The Matrix" (waking from the dream of the world of appearances into the Real world of Forms) & "American Beauty" (plus note the contrast between the "beautiful" girl and the Beauty of the plastic bag) ... I guess 1999 was a good year for Plato.
The philosopher in a way gets the best of all worlds. He is wise and therefore just, and is able to show moderation and restraint in his gains and ambitions (self-control). Whereas a man who is ambitious and rich but not wise will not be fully satisfied in his soul.
The big argument against the unjust man is that he is haunted by FEAR, and therefore ultimately a slave (always guarding property, paranoia, avoiding the law). Plato argues that injustice also throws off the balance of the soul (psychological strain).
I thought it was interesting that, in describing the education of philosophers and the just man, Plato shows glimmers of a concept later explored by Foucault -- the social norm.
Continuing with modern connections ... Plato agrees with Susan Sontag that in art, aesthetics is linked with ethics. From my earlier Sontag entry: "The qualities which are intrinsic to the aesthetic experience ... are also fundamental constituents of a moral response to life." The moral pleasure in art in intelligent gratification ... one gains knowledge (WISDOM) through experiencing art! Both also stress emotionally-free, undramatic responses to art.
Plato's issue with art and specifically Homer's epics is that it reproduces conventional ideas and appearances of beauty, honor and justice, while indulging the emotions. Rather than against healthy catharsis, he seems to be more against trashy sentimentalism a la the soap opera and Jerry Springer.
Wrapping up briefly ...
My issues with Plato:
- endorsement of censorship (noble lie vs. control of information)
- communism in the ideal city (unity vs. sharing wives)
- totalitarianism in the ideal city (Philosopher-King knows best vs. political self-determination)
Bottom line: I'm glad I read this; overall inspiring and relevant.
Anyway, moving on to the meat of it ... Plato puts forth a ridiculously difficult hypothesis: Morality is in the interest of the individual. In other words, it pays to be just. He clarifies that this doesn't mean only acting morally (external justice) but being moral (internal justice, which begets external). For example, giving to charity for the sake of garnering favorable opinions but not for the sake of the charity's work, that would be external justice. I seem like a great person.
Mini-note: the word ontology means the study of existence and being. (What is real?)
Mini-note #2: Plate defines philosophy as the desire for TOTAL knowledge and Truth, beyond the desire/curiosity for new experiences like travel and culture ... Plato is all about getting at absolutes, not relative appearances
Plato begins with the Social Contract theory, summed up as "Hey, let's agree not to murder or steal from each other and everything'll be great." BUT, imagine the suspension of law and that Social Contract ... if I have to the power to do so without punishment, wouldn't I steal? (I believe this might be called looting.) Do morality and justice have worth beyond appearances?
Plato says: Being just is success in itself -- a virtue by its intrinsic effect on a person.
Amid this main argument, Plato seeks to describe an ideal city state in order to relate back to an ideal individual. This city state (hence, the republic) is governed by a Philosopher-King, who has wisdom of the true Good -- as best as I can tell, this ultimate Good described by Plato is more or less the meaning of life.
At this point, everyone in the dialogue wants to know how to get this "wisdom" of the Good ... which leads to the famous Allegory of the Cave. The true Good of knowing is similar to the Sun (= enlightenment!). Plato also introduces his theory of Forms. For example: I'm in a dark room and I discover there's a chair in the room; I can feel around the edges and it exists. But then say I turn on the light. There's still the chair in the room, only now I know what the color and shape is all together, and should I turn off the light again I still know what it really looks like (its' Form). The absolute Form is in contrast to the world of appearances (in the dark, maybe I think it's an ugly chair ... my friend might think it's a beautiful chair ... how can it be both ugly and beautiful?).
Random movie connections: "The Matrix" (waking from the dream of the world of appearances into the Real world of Forms) & "American Beauty" (plus note the contrast between the "beautiful" girl and the Beauty of the plastic bag) ... I guess 1999 was a good year for Plato.
The philosopher in a way gets the best of all worlds. He is wise and therefore just, and is able to show moderation and restraint in his gains and ambitions (self-control). Whereas a man who is ambitious and rich but not wise will not be fully satisfied in his soul.
The big argument against the unjust man is that he is haunted by FEAR, and therefore ultimately a slave (always guarding property, paranoia, avoiding the law). Plato argues that injustice also throws off the balance of the soul (psychological strain).
I thought it was interesting that, in describing the education of philosophers and the just man, Plato shows glimmers of a concept later explored by Foucault -- the social norm.
"Is not the public itself the greatest of all sophists [teachers], training up ... into the most accomplished specimens of the character it desires to produce? ... He accepts all their notions of right and wrong."The danger of conformity! Society creating identity! Ahh!
Continuing with modern connections ... Plato agrees with Susan Sontag that in art, aesthetics is linked with ethics. From my earlier Sontag entry: "The qualities which are intrinsic to the aesthetic experience ... are also fundamental constituents of a moral response to life." The moral pleasure in art in intelligent gratification ... one gains knowledge (WISDOM) through experiencing art! Both also stress emotionally-free, undramatic responses to art.
Plato's issue with art and specifically Homer's epics is that it reproduces conventional ideas and appearances of beauty, honor and justice, while indulging the emotions. Rather than against healthy catharsis, he seems to be more against trashy sentimentalism a la the soap opera and Jerry Springer.
Wrapping up briefly ...
My issues with Plato:
- endorsement of censorship (noble lie vs. control of information)
- communism in the ideal city (unity vs. sharing wives)
- totalitarianism in the ideal city (Philosopher-King knows best vs. political self-determination)
Bottom line: I'm glad I read this; overall inspiring and relevant.
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