RE: Thomism: Then & Now
October 27, 2021 at 9:20 pm
(This post was last modified: October 27, 2021 at 9:50 pm by vulcanlogician.)
I love Plato, emjay. The Republic is my favorite book of all time.
Try the Symposium next. Avi Sharon translation is the best. Benjamin Jowitt doesn't do that one justice, but he's fine for the other works.
You really can get away with just reading Aristophanes' speech (because it's awesome) and Socrates' speech (because that has Diotima's ladder in it). But again, don't do the Jowett translation.
As far as this particular discussion, Plato will only take you so far. I think Aristotle shares some ideas about intelligibility with Plato, but they are quite different thinkers on a great deal of matters. But (IMO) Plato is the superior philosopher. The Apology is an amazing work. As are the Republic and Symposium. Those are my three faves. (Phaedrus is pretty cool too.)
We can get a Plato thread going too if you want a sounding board for the stuff in any of those books. Bel is a Plato fan too.
Especially in Plato's early/middle works these are philosophical discussions he's not just shoving ideas at you to convince you of them. He's trying to get you to think. That's the beauty of Plato. We can still pick up those discussions today. AND he's an excellent writer. That counts for something too.
Try the Symposium next. Avi Sharon translation is the best. Benjamin Jowitt doesn't do that one justice, but he's fine for the other works.
You really can get away with just reading Aristophanes' speech (because it's awesome) and Socrates' speech (because that has Diotima's ladder in it). But again, don't do the Jowett translation.
As far as this particular discussion, Plato will only take you so far. I think Aristotle shares some ideas about intelligibility with Plato, but they are quite different thinkers on a great deal of matters. But (IMO) Plato is the superior philosopher. The Apology is an amazing work. As are the Republic and Symposium. Those are my three faves. (Phaedrus is pretty cool too.)
We can get a Plato thread going too if you want a sounding board for the stuff in any of those books. Bel is a Plato fan too.
Especially in Plato's early/middle works these are philosophical discussions he's not just shoving ideas at you to convince you of them. He's trying to get you to think. That's the beauty of Plato. We can still pick up those discussions today. AND he's an excellent writer. That counts for something too.
