Paul Christensen's Blog - Posts Tagged "greece"

Crito by Plato

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There are those who go against the grain
(Even if it results in pain),
And those who conform to the Many.

Socrates goes against the grain,
Yet submits himself (as he here explains)
To the punishment willed by the Many.

He could disobey the verdict,
And flee like a lonesome hermit,
But thought it would harm the city.

As his nationalism was earnest,
If the polis wronged his person
He’d abide, not flee from self-pity.



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Plato's Euthyphro by Plato

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a frustrating dialogue, because Euthyphro throws in the towel
Before Socrates has properly interrogated him (technically, a foul).

Socrates does not understand the Homeric account of the gods.
That disagreements should arise among them is not particularly odd;

The essential mission of Aryan gods is eternal war against Entropy,
Decreasing which in the cosmos is the true definition of piety.

In this the gods are all as one, and what's loved by them all is pious;
They follow an imperative beyond themselves, in spite of Socrates' bias.

The gods follow the ultimate good (that they love it is one of its attributes,
But not however its essence), else sans meaning would be their attitudes.

There is no 'Euthyphro dilemma', for you see both gods and men
Follow something higher (call it 'good'), whose essence is beyond them.

We help the gods to help the good, not the other way around;
This dialogue will clarify that - frustrating, yet profound.



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Ion by Plato

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The first half of this dialogue is good,
Dealing as it does with inspiration,
Magnetic power beyond the conscious ‘should’.
But then it makes erroneous equations,
Equating conscious knowledge with the pearl
Of true rhapsodic passion in a whirl.
Directed inspiration is a thing:
A mean, between blind groping on the wing
And uninspired and hollow artifice;
But Plato never says a word of this.



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