AN INTERNET COURSE ON PLATO

The handsome bust above is of Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher who lived before Plato's time. I put it here because I want people to think it's Plato and be favorably disposed to him, at least for a moment. The guy (Plato) is out of favor now and needs every help he can get.

A while back I talked about Coursera, an internet school which offers free lectures and courses (graded or ungraded) on liberal arts subjects. Well, one of Coursera's latest offerings is a class on three of the dialogues of Plato. I'm not a Platonist but I grudgingly like the man because...Aaargh!... it's hard to finish that sentense. Plato's not a logician like Aristotle. What he has to offer is more subtle, more difficult to articulate. I'll give it a shot here, but I'm not confident that what I say will stand up to scrutiny.

Plato (that's him above) wants to be useful to real people in real situations. He believes in logic but he accepts the fact that real people are bound to culture and tradition and have a kind of in-built romantic bias. In order to reconcile all that he's willing to entertain ideas that are somewhat contradictory, something that Aristotle would never do.

If you were to tell Aristotle that you don't believe in ghosts but would be scared to spend a night in a haunted house, Aristotle might turn his back on you in disgust. Plato, on the other hand would be sympathetic, but...he might require you to at least try to find a unifying principal.

Plato's aware that accepting contradictions can lead to chaos so he emphasizes the need for  character and thoughtfulness. A philosopher should study mathematics so he has a good ground in logic, but he should also sharpen his intuition and be self-critical and pious. Most people aren't capable of this kind of self-discipline, which is why Plato didn't believe in democracy. Neither did his hero, Socrates (above). I do believe in democracy, but it's possible to enjoy Plato without agreeing with him.

Anyway, that's my understanding.  The class only started a couple of weeks ago. The teacher (above) is a little hard to take because he's always injecting his own jokes into the lectures...something Plato himself did. Anyway, I'll stay with him because I'm grateful to him for donating his time. I don't think he gets paid for this.

A DISCUSSION OF PLATO'S "REPUBLIC"

SOCRATES: "Glaucon, we've been through this before. You know the type of person
who would best rule the city."

GLAUCON: "Sure Socrates, the philosopher king."

SOCRATES: And what qualifies a person to be a philosopher king? "

GLAUCON: "He has to be honorable and have studied math til age 30."

SOCRATES: "And why should he study math?"



SOCRATES'S WIFE: "Because math is completely abstract and nobody ever has emotional arguments over it. Since all human activity can be expressed mathematically, a philosopher can settle disputes with numbers without fear of upsetting anyone."

WIFE'S FRIENDS: "Wow! That's cool!"

SOCRATES'S CONCUBINE: "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You can talk all you want about being honorable and all that but in our culture the honorable man is expected to serve without pay. This poor-but-honorable stuff sucks! Look at me! I'm your concubine and I can't afford underwear without holes!"

SOCRATES: "Those are virtuous holes. You should be proud of them."

WOMEN: "Boy, that Socrates knows how to pinch a penny!"



GLAUCON: "Quiet everybody! You're not giving Socrates a chance to answer! He says the philosopher king can solve the poor-but-honorable problem by appearing austere during the day and enjoying his luxuries at night, when the curtains are closed."

Um... why does everybody have their hands up? I'm just scratching my unmentionables."

FRIEND: "A different philosophy for the night? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard of! And that thing about solving disputes with math is just plain silly! Why does anybody bother to read about Socrates, anyway?


GLAUCON: "Glad you asked! Socrates is weird alright, but he's completely honest, even when he's advocating dishonesty. He has a way of getting to the root of a problem, and he expresses it in simple, human and very memorable terms. You only realize how rare that is when you read other philosophers.

Was he right about math solving all disputes? No, of course not, but when you think about it there is no satisfactory solution to a lot of disputes. Socrates reminds us that we should seek objective solutions while remembering how liable to error we are, and he does it in a uniquely poetic way that's likely to stick in our minds. And the closed-curtain solution really is the best way to handle the concubine's problem. It's not perfect but can you think of anything better?

I don't blame anyone for thinking Socrates is silly or boring on the first hearing, but the day will come when you'll be glad you read about him.

Many, many thanks to Barbie Miller for the terrific pictures. I stole them from her site:

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