Plato's Views on the Technology of Writing Essay example

"Unless," I said, "the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place, while the many natures now making their way to either apart from the other are by necessity excluded, there is no rest from ills for the cities, my dear Glaucon, nor I think for human kind, nor will the regime we have now described in speech ever come forth from nature, insofar as possible, and see the light of the sun."(THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO By Allan B- 473d - 473e)

Plato's final argument in Phaedo for the immortality of the soul is one of the most interesting topics of all time. It goes hand to hand with the application of the theory of forms to the question of the soul's immortality, as Plato constantly reminds us, the theory of forms is the most certain of all his theories. The Phaedo is Plato’s attempt to convince us of the immortality of the soul by using several main arguments. These include the argument of forms and the law of opposites. In the final passage of the Phaedo, Plato provides his final proof, although it may be his last attempt to give his reasoning, it is not very convincing. Plato has some good points and reasoning to believe in the immortality of the soul, but his arguments often

The dialogue opens up with Meno asking what virtue is and whether it could be taught. Socrates asks Meno for a general definition of virtue, since as Socrates points out, we cannot figure out if virtue can be taught if we do not have a clear idea what it is. Socrates is looking for a general, or formal definition of virtue, not just examples or instances of it. Socrates wants to know what all the examples of virtue have in common. He wants to know the essence of virtue. Meno initially offers a list of virtues, but Socrates rejects this as a sufficient account. Meno also states that there are different virtues for everyone. The virtue of a man is to order a state and the virtue of a woman is to order a household. I believe that virtue can

Plato was a philosopher who was born in Athens (470-390 BCE), and was also a student of Socrates. He felt that intelligence and one’s perception belonged to completely independent realms or realities. He believed that general concepts of knowledge were predestined, or placed in the soul before birth even occurred in living things. Plato believed that the cosmos was intelligible, and the the universe was mathematically understandable. He believes that mathematical objects could be seen as perfect forms. Forms, a doctoral of Plato, can be understood as an everyday object or idea, which does not, exists in the everyday realm, but merely is existent in the hypothetical realm or reality.

Plato has a different sense of justice than what we ourselves would consider to be justice. Justice starts in the heart and goes outward. Justice is about being a person of good intent towards all people, doing what is believed to be right or moral. Plato believes that once a person has a true understanding of justice that they will want to be “just” for its own benefit regardless of good or bad consequence. Though being just is known to have good consequences also makes being “just” a positive trait. (Clark, 2003, 13) Living a “just” life is good and good is the “well being of well living, the best life is supreme good.” (Bao, 2011, 259) The cause of

Developments in digital technology are expanding our understanding of “writing.” To the extent that technology is available and appropriate, by the end of their first

When consideration is given to the status of philosophy in Greece at the end of the fifth century

Online media is pushing literacy in different and cool directions. Kids and teenagers today are coming up with new ways of writing. Clive tells us in The New Literacy,¨The brevity of texting, and status updating, teaches young people to develop haiku-like concision.¨ When kids text they write short and fast things and don't go into much detail. Since we are changing the way we write, in four years from now when we have even more new technology imagine how many more ways of writing there will be. He also says that, ¨For Lunsford, technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it—and pushing our literacy in bold new directions.¨ But still most people think

When Plato was writing Phaedrus he strategically wrote inspiring speakers arguing one who speaks noble and well must know the truth about the subject he is going to discuss. Likewise, Plato did not forgot about the responsibility of an audience. “According to reflections inaugurated by the Theuth and Thamus myth, the written word is not the most suitable vehicle for communicating truth, because it cannot answer questions put to it; it simply repeats itself when queried; it tends to substitute the authority of the author for the reader’s open minded inquiry into the truth; and it circulates everywhere indiscriminately, falling into the hands of people who cannot understand it.”(Kraut) Thus, the responsibility of the audience is to have an accurate

This strategic tool that Plato employs slows the pace down, and by doing this he gives readers time to process the ideas presented in his writing. Therefore he gives readers a better understanding on what he believes good rhetoric is. The dialogue is also beneficial because it helps engage readers. Aristotle’s way of speaking to his audience is different; what he is essentially doing is lecturing his audience. For some readers this style of writing may work for them, but for most this could create a disconnect between them and the speaker. Aristotle goes on and on mainly without offering further explanations to his complex ideas. The confusion caused by his lecture approach in his writing may confuse readers and therefore lose a good portion of his audience. In essence Plato’s use of dialogue leaves readers with less confusion than Aristotle’s writing approach

Plato says that oration is better because the orator can answer back directly any questions the audience might have. One can see Plato's point in this belief. An author's words can be easily misconstrued and the original meanings lost; this is a fact that can be witnessed everyday. How often do our own words get misconstrued in our day to day interactions with other people? In Phaedrus, Socrates says of the ambiguity of writing, "[T]hose who think they can leave written instructions for an art, as well as those who accept them, thinking that writing can yield results that are clear or certain must be quite naïve" (275c). Perhaps this is the reason that Plato chose to write in his dialogical format; however, his mastery of language and rhetorical devices still shines through in each of his works. Plato obviously has strong doubts that writing could help us achieve knowledge in any way.

Technology and advancement have always been a driving force of many great instances for humankind, and have also lead to issues that are still dealt with today. This understanding of technology was also known by the ancient philosophers as well. Coming from an oral culture, writing was a new technology to look at and evaluate. Some of the teachers like Isocrates saw the value of writing. He wrote speeches and also wrote his ideas of Rhetoric and Philosophy for more ready study today.

Diamond emphasizes the importance of a writing system to a civilization. He states that “knowledge brings power”. And writing brings power to civilization by making it possible to transmit knowledge accurately. Writing enables humans to record information in “far greater quantity and details from more distant lands and more remote times”.

Plato was a philosopher and educator in ancient Greece. He was one of the most important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. Plato was born in Athens into a family that was one of the oldest and most distinguished in the city. His father Ariston died when Plato was only a child. The name Plato was a nickname meaning broad shoulders. Plato's real name was Aristocles. Plato had aspirations of becoming a politician, however these hopes were destroyed when his friend Socrates was sentenced to death in 299 B.C. Extremely hurt Plato left Athens and traveled for several years. In 387 B.C., Plato returned to Athens and founded a school of philosophy and science that became known as the Academy. Topics such as astronomy,

Plato was among the most important and creative thinkers of the ancient world. He was born in Athens in 428 BC to an aristocratic and well-off family. Even as a young child Plato was familiar with political life because his father, Ariston was the last king of Athens. Ariston died when Plato was a young boy. However, the excessive Athenian political life, which was under the oligarchical rule of the Thirty Tyrants and the restored democracy, seem to have forced him to give up any ambitions of political life. In 388 BC he journeyed to Italy and Sicily, where he became the friend of Dionysius the ruler of Syracuse, and his brother-in-law Dion. The following year he returned to Athens, where he devoted his