Plato, the idiosyncratic man

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

Plato is really an unusual but interesting man whose philosophy is equally made out of the ordinary elements. The Greek thought which nourished and moulded modern western civilisation was, for the first time, presented methodically by Plato. His ideas virtually on every subject are presented in twenty-nine "dialogues" and are powerful enough to engage the attention and interest of modern audience.

A fair portion of what he expressed bears striking resemblance to those ideas that the Buddha had given expression to almost 136 years previously. For instance, the Buddha's concept of 'selfishness' is further spelled out by Plato in his famous dialogue 'Republic.'

Plato's religion was his own philosophy which squarely shut out well-established Greek mythology and literature specially the poetry by Homer. He declared that ill-equipped teachers are to be responsible for the disorganisation of society.

Therefore, he ruthlessly criticised the role of most teachers in Greece and he was the only man to have dismissed western literature specially the poetry which, he said, swerved the intellect of people. His argument (strangely of course) was that literature deceived people.

Dialogues

His dialogues practically touched on everything and they sometimes assumed the format of a drama. Though he despised literature, his own work had a literary value.

It is perhaps totally fair to say that Plato feared literature.

Young Plato was inspired by Socrates the great philosopher who was more than forty years elder to him.

Socrates was born the teacher and the companion for him - a friendship which cast its Olympian shadow over Plato's whole life. Socrates being condemned to death by the jury of Athens, greatly distressed him and he thus developed certain amount of scepticism over Greek politics. After the death of Socrates, disappointed Plato decided to leave Athens and travel to other regions to have fresher experiences.

Back in Athens after 10 years, Plato established his 'Academy' the first educational centre in the western world. He was given the opportunity of experimenting with his own philosophy in political power.

He was summoned to counsel the Prince of Dionesus of Syracuse because the Prince in political authority was less educated.

Dionesus who kept on with studies under Plato with a fair degree of enthusiasm at first, soon ignored his education and disappointed Plato returned to Athens.

Again he was summoned to the Palace of Dionesus. This time too Plato failed in all his efforts to train the young ruler probably because his philosophy had appeared impracticable to the Prince.

He came back to his Academy and engaged in intellectual dialogues and research till he died at the age of 82.

Socrates is the central figure in most of Plato's dialogues.

Here Socrates demands a passable explanation for a selected concept from those around him and he promotes active dialogue by asking graded questions along the concept.

Those who believe that they can provide satisfactory explanation, illustrate what they know about the given concept.

Socrates conducts the dialogue in a way that finally convinces each speaker in the dialogue that he is mistaken in his views. Ultimately Socrates words strike home.

Phaedo

The dialogue titled Phaedo centres round Socrates' final tragic hours before he is put to death on false charges.

Any writer who may illustrate such a tragic situation, would definitely have exploited that same situation to create an effect on the reader's emotions.

The dialogue shows how Socrates bids farewell to his friends and family, how he instructs his friends about his funeral and how he spends the last few minutes after drinking the poison.

Here, Plato controls the reader's emotions and pushes him to deeper penetrations of life.

Thus the reader ultimately realises that Greeks' own mistakes have deprived the whole nation of eminent philosophers such as Socrates.

Plato's dialogue "The Symposium" voices Socrates' ideas on love and Plato's reactions to the people's view of love. At the grand dinner organised by Agathon, several invitees hold a scholarly discussion on different aspects of love as they see them.

They agree on speaking about love rather than enjoying general festivities accompanied by dancing, singing and drinking wine. After the grand dinner, they begin to express their view of love (probably because intoxication might reveal their innermost feelings.)

Taking the first opportunity to speak, Phaedro says, "Love always projects good qualities of man. Even God loves an honest, courageous lover as I am. The lover is always intoxicated with love and he is closer to God in this regard. So love is the only way to gain access to happiness."

Love

Next Agathon comments on love, "Love is a wonderful gift for humans. Both the person who loves and the person who receives love are fortunate, cheerful, charming and agreeable. Love produces not only children but also many attractive things.

A lover is generally possessed by the desire to produce what is beautiful. I reject the idea that love is one's desire to keep close to another body......"

Aristodamus Pausani says that there is nothing completely right or completely wrong in the act of loving and everything depends on the occasion." A bad lover loves not the soul but the body and such a love is totally unstable......" says Aristodamus.

Through the dialogue of "Symposium", Plato presents the philosophic discourse on what love is and who a true lover is. Those who speak about 'love' at the grand dinner party represent diverse levels of thinking, moods and feelings.

They are different not only in mental aspects and intellect, but likewise in their natural feelings and desires from each other. Plato uses this method to present different problems and attitudes of different men and thus he addresses readers of all moods and feelings.

It is noticeably evident that most speakers start their speeches with Greek mythology and finally Plato creates the background to criticise gods.

Eccentric views

Most views Plato expressed through his dialogues are notably strange and sceptical of contemporary social trend in Greece. Plato strongly criticised half-educated teachers and poets of the day who, he said, impressed people by non -intellectual material and popular techniques.

His strong political awareness developed in him a type of aversion to literature and arts on the whole.

He criticised Greek heroes, gods, poets, and concept of life after death. Some of his oddly formulated theories and comments are as follows:

* "Had Homer been an expert in wars, he would have been a military officer, not a poet as he was......"

* "A poet is comparable to a painter who prepares a portrait of somebody which does not have the least resemblance to the real person...."

* "Just as a painter distorts the real things in his paintings, poets like Homer and Hisiad create misconceptions in people about gods and heroes...."

* "What is non-intellectual is easy to present. It becomes popular in no time."

* "When we see suffering on the stage, we shed tears. Those tears are for other's suffering, not for ours. Thus the intellect in us loosens its grip on us. When this continues, someday we will not be able to control ourselves."

* "Literature nourishes unwanted sentiments and feelings. Finally emotions control us when we should control emotions."

* "Madness is a gift from god above."

* "A literary text is just like an unresponsive painting. Though anybody blames the painting for any defect, it remains silent.