2005/04/13
Plato: Things Which Are Greek 3
Hundreds of years after Homer, the growth of Greece kept on. They had towns, buildings, markets and schools. Every town had its political system in which every free men got together in the square, had talks and discussion, made decision about the way of the town society. There were great events for men of physical power, the meetings which went by the name of the Olympics. There were events for actors and experts of music, producing stories from Homer's verse as plays on the stage.
Wise men of knowledge and learning came together at one of the towns: Athene, or Athens. They had discussion, walking in the woods. Among them, the best and greatest teacher was Socrates.
Socrates was no writer of books. He gave his teachings only in talks and questions. Some men on the town were unhappy about his teachings. They made up a false story about him, saying he was giving bad effects to the town society. Socrates gave a public talk about that to make clear who was truly bad. After the talk he himself took poison and went to death.
Platon, or Plato, was one of the learners under Socrates. He put Socrates' teachings into writings. His books are still on the list of important books in a great number of universities all over the earth.
I. A. Richards put Plato's writing, or Socrates' teaching, about the best government and society, into simple, Basic-like English: The Republic of Plato. We may say it's the first important book of political science in the West.
Richards, in addition, made talks and death of Socrates produced as a public reading or stage-play at Harvard. Like the teachings of Socrates, it wasn't made printed in books, but it was recorded.
One of the learners under Plato was Aristotle, who gave his teachings to Alexander, but that is another story.
Men, women and higher beings in Homer's stories are like boys and girls, even if their bodies are old. They sometimes do good things and bad things for foolish reasons. Socrates, or Plato, on the other hand, says that there are no places, in the best society, for arts, stories or pictures, which make copies of things and persons. Socrates and Plato, their thoughts and theories based on long experiences, were a long way from Homer. Those are the two important, and very different, sides of things which are Greek. ¶ 02:41
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 The picture was taken by Mr. Gay Sherman. |
Wise men of knowledge and learning came together at one of the towns: Athene, or Athens. They had discussion, walking in the woods. Among them, the best and greatest teacher was Socrates.
Socrates was no writer of books. He gave his teachings only in talks and questions. Some men on the town were unhappy about his teachings. They made up a false story about him, saying he was giving bad effects to the town society. Socrates gave a public talk about that to make clear who was truly bad. After the talk he himself took poison and went to death.
Platon, or Plato, was one of the learners under Socrates. He put Socrates' teachings into writings. His books are still on the list of important books in a great number of universities all over the earth.
I. A. Richards put Plato's writing, or Socrates' teaching, about the best government and society, into simple, Basic-like English: The Republic of Plato. We may say it's the first important book of political science in the West.
Richards, in addition, made talks and death of Socrates produced as a public reading or stage-play at Harvard. Like the teachings of Socrates, it wasn't made printed in books, but it was recorded.
One of the learners under Plato was Aristotle, who gave his teachings to Alexander, but that is another story.
Men, women and higher beings in Homer's stories are like boys and girls, even if their bodies are old. They sometimes do good things and bad things for foolish reasons. Socrates, or Plato, on the other hand, says that there are no places, in the best society, for arts, stories or pictures, which make copies of things and persons. Socrates and Plato, their thoughts and theories based on long experiences, were a long way from Homer. Those are the two important, and very different, sides of things which are Greek. ¶ 02:41
