Are Plato's Dialogues profound or absurd?

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Plato’s dialogues deserve to be read twice: once in youth and once in old age.

The old age version, I think, is vastly more interesting. 👍

This applies especially to The Republic.
 
Charlemagne_II said:
Plato’s dialogues deserve to be read twice: once in youth and once in old age.

The old age version, I think, is vastly more interesting. 👍

This applies especially to The Republic.
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I think twice in a lifetime underestimates the value of the best. 🙂
 
I think of Plato’s Republic as dialog between the gods in the creation of our ‘modern’ world (after the flood). Much of the dialog is profound, and provides insight into the planning and development of this world. Combine this with the history of the OT and they act as powerful tools in understanding the world around us. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
 
Robert_Sock said:
I think of Plato’s Republic as dialog between the gods in the creation of our ‘modern’ world (after the flood). Much of the dialog is profound, and provides insight into the planning and development of this world. Combine this with the history of the OT and they act as powerful tools in understanding the world around us. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
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👍 Even though we may reject some of his ideas his work is a landmark in the history of thought because it implies a detailed analysis of human nature and society.
 
Plato’s dialogues are immensely profound; and are highly useful for Christians and Catholics.
  1. they teach people how to think and argue; how to ask questions and how to address them;
  2. The Republic is primarily a work about ethics (most of what Plato wrote was really about Ethics); about what man is, what his ends are, and in what the good life consists.
  3. Plato (and Socrates) was concerned with refuting the Sophists - who were the epistemological and ethical relativists of the time; and for which there are very strong parallels in our contemporary world.
  4. Socrates was a theological genius; and thereafter Plato put forth a revolutionary idea, that of transcendent reality. Ever since Plato, the deepest division in the West - a war still being fought - is between those who believe there is only this here; and those who believe in a transcendent reality.
  5. Socrates and Plato have so profoundly informed what we believe and think about so many things, that Whitehead wasn’t exaggerating much to say that every philosopher since is really a mere footnotes.
I could go on and on and on. Read Plato. And then read Aristotle. And then read Aquinas. And then go back to Plato. Throw away the rest of your books. I jest. Sort of. LOL. 😃

~Micawber
 
Thank you, Micawber, for saying it so well.

I often feel genuine sorrow that so many people have not had the great pleasure of reading Plato.
 
Micawber said:
Plato’s dialogues are immensely profound; and are highly useful for Christians and Catholics.
  1. they teach people how to think and argue; how to ask questions and how to address them;
  2. The Republic is primarily a work about ethics (most of what Plato wrote was really about Ethics); about what man is, what his ends are, and in what the good life consists.
  3. Plato (and Socrates) was concerned with refuting the Sophists - who were the epistemological and ethical relativists of the time; and for which there are very strong parallels in our contemporary world.
  4. Socrates was a theological genius; and thereafter Plato put forth a revolutionary idea, that of transcendent reality. Ever since Plato, the deepest division in the West - a war still being fought - is between those who believe there is only this here; and those who believe in a transcendent reality.
  5. Socrates and Plato have so profoundly informed what we believe and think about so many things, that Whitehead wasn’t exaggerating much to say that every philosopher since is really a mere footnotes.
I could go on and on and on. Read Plato. And then read Aristotle. And then read Aquinas. And then go back to Plato. Throw away the rest of your books. I jest. Sort of. LOL. 😃

~Micawber
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👍 A superb post!
 
Plato’s Cave Analogy is my favorite, and speaks to us today stronger than ever. The fire with shadows, and people tied up against their will, represents our being glued to the media and the false reality it paints for us. Some of us too can escape this false reality by studying religion and having our spirit lifted. I saw reality with my own eyes, and there is hope for us all! But try telling that to others, and they will crucify you.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Plato’s Cave Analogy is my favorite, and speaks to us today stronger than ever. The fire with shadows, and people tied up against their will, represents our being glued to the media and the false reality it paints for us. Some of us too can escape this false reality by studying religion and having our spirit lifted. I saw reality with my own eyes, and there is hope for us all! But try telling that to others, and they will crucify you.
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👍 A powerful image which applies particularly to those who think science and sense data are our sole or primary source of information.
 
tonyrey said:
Have they made any substantial contribution to human knowledge?
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Omnia profundi sunt absurdi. Et nihil absurdus est sine aliquid profundus. Sicut illa sententia. Ambo mixta semper.

Plato est certe propheta occidentis. Secundum Sanctum Augustum, Moyses Platoni dedit instructio re Deo, eternitateque animarum, vinculo et errore corporis et sensibilis mundi, etc. Procul dubio verum.

Si Plato non scrivit sicut scrivit, non possumus habere hanc discussionem…
 
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