(August 31, 2013 at 7:29 am)genkaus Wrote:(August 31, 2013 at 7:21 am)Brian37 Wrote: Skip the damned labels, this is the problem with all claims of all god/s in human history.
I used to be a huge fan of Plato until I read Dawkins's criticism of Platonic idealism. Plato stupidly postulated that if you simply "thought" about something you could find it's "essence" which lead to the popular idea of perfection. Dawkins blames much of modern religion on this stupid chase of utopias because of Plato's ideas.
To be fair, modern religion's theology is a childish version of Plato's philosophy.
I know, and if I could invent a time machine and go back and kill Plato for the poison he infected humanity with, I would.
Dawkins burst my bubble with Plato. I used to be a huge fan of Plato until I read the opening of "The Greatest Show On Earth". In which Dawkins, and rightfully so, places blame on human thought squarely on Plato.
It isn't that theology is a childish version of Plato, Plato himself lacked modern science and technology himself.
Plato can only be given credit for valuing thinking for yourself. Where he failed was that the intent of "thinking" was not about testing, merely mentally masturbating. It is why his idea of "essence" has fucked up humanity since.
Plato was as childish, not that he could have known better, as the spawn of theism he gave rise to.
Plato could not have known back then anything about evolution so he could not see slow changes over long periods of time. So his core mantra was to simply "think" about the "essence" or "perfection".
He certainly was a skeptic, but he had no knowledge, nor could have known the importance of quality control.
Plato, certainly cannot be blamed for all modern social ills. But he was the first to popularize the idea of "essence".
