[lbo-talk] compare and contrast

[123hop at comcast.net]

Plato is more interesting than Rand. Rand is a Hollywood hack with delusions of grandeur. Her appeal to Americans (and note that she is nothing outside of U.S.) has mostly to do with the fact that this country is still in its adolescent stage and easily affected by an adolescent "philosophy".

Plato, on the other hand, is a man with significant creative powers who, as a result of his class identification and interests, was incapable of really comprehending Socrates' gnostic teachings. That makes him more interesting as a touchstone in the evolution of western thought.

"The Symposium" is a real work of art.

Joanna

----- Original Message -----
On Apr 15, 2012, at 1:56 PM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:
> Not easy to like Plato. I don't.
> 
> But he's a seminal figure in western history/thought, and if you want to understand something about the pathology of western ideology, you want to read his stuff.
> 

You have a point, but then again the same could be [increasingly] said of Ayn Rand and there is the danger that the subject might turn pathological herself/himself! :-)

	—ravi

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