But, if you want to understand the fucked-upedness of the western mind, Plato is extremely useful.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:40:06 -0400 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> On Apr 15, 2012, at 8:36 PM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote
> > The other thing is, just for the record, [Plato] was a very
> good writer. Pellucid, clear, fairly simple and straightforward.
The guy who taught me such Greek as I know referred to Plato as 'the Henry James of Greek'. This I found was an exaggeration. Plato is hard, though clearer than Uncle Henry, but it's only because he's a Sophist trying to make a point, and not a good one.
His stuff is quite mellifluous and beautiful; he had a great gift as a writer. But even so we could lose him and never feel the loss. During the French Revolution they pulled down the abbey of Cluny. Few lefties are shedding tears over that. But personally I would trade every word of Plato to have Cluny back.
Doug observes:
> You don't have to like [Plato]. But he is kind of important.
No doubt. But how Philistine to confuse importance with value.
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
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