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/lit/ - Literature

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8933707 No.8933707 [Reply] [Original]

What is the point in reading Plato dialogues? What do you feel like you gain from them? Plato's dialogues never reach a final conclusion on topics such as "Virtue" or "Courage", but rather just leave the reader more confused than before.

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>> No.8933924

>>8933707
>never reach a final conclusion
that's the point

>rather just leave the reader to reflect and decide for himself*
that's why it's a dialogue, a two-way street, and the reader's response and active reading is what he proposes by the form of a dialogue. if he were to reach a final conclusion, he would, in a way, betray his whole philosophy - to keep an open mind to change and growth, to always critically think and keep in mind that what you think you know you might not know at all. these dialogues are supposed to stimulate your mind to think, without necessarily getting somewhere. that's why Socrates didn't write, cause written word is final (and can and will be used for evil in the future), it is a "shadow of the spoken word" as he pointed out in Phaedrus I believe.

>> No.8933998

>>8933707

they are tools or spaces for thinking. perhaps theaters for thinking would be the best fit, as it seems to suggest tones of both.

>> No.8934008

>>8933707
I like theaetatus because it demonstrates how hopeless and circular epistemology is, and I like Phaedrus because it reveals Platonism for the mystical nonsense it is.

>> No.8934042

>>8934008
how is it mystical nonsense exactly?

>> No.8934047

>>8933707
He comes to two conclusions: All I know is that I know is that I know nothing and The unexamined life is not worth living.

He reveals more than what is apparent. He has a concrete belief system about the soul and the law.

>> No.8934053

>>8934047
Meant to say, All that I know is that I know nothing.

>> No.8934154

>>8934042
because it relies on the afterlife to explain universals.

>> No.8935979

>>8934154
You didn't get it. Please accept this advice: read Plato alongside good secondary literature about him or at least use translations with a lot of in-depth notes and commentary. Everyone suggests to just dive in his works because they look easy, but they are not.

>> No.8936018

Enjoyment

>> No.8936087

>>8933707
>Leave the reader more confused than before.

Hey that's cool you read the introduction to one and thought you got it.