"Thus for those of us who love and seek wisdom
the more modest and fitting term is "philosopher."
And whoever does no better than put words together
we could call a poet or writer."
2007-11-07 05:37:37 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Poetry
Elaine...Elaine...thou shalt expect 10 points for thy answer! =P
2007-11-07 23:32:07 · update #1
i meant..."shall"...oh..i'm not sure... shalt or shall...wutever...=P
2007-11-07 23:33:33 · update #2
Socrates was a pragmatist. He may have been a great thinker for his time, but he was not creative. In my opinion, Socrates is to poetry as an historian is to art. We need both kinds of thinking in society, but just because Socrates believed that poets and writers dealt in fantasy rather than reality, is no reason for us to agree w/him. Think of what the world would be without Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Chaucer.
2007-11-07 23:28:05 · answer #1 · answered by Elaine P...is for Poetry 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I do love Socrates - and not just for his fantastic cameo in _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_. (That was really him, wasn't it? Hmmmm...) Quotes like these have always given me pause, though. I think he could have a point, if one interprets this with a heavy emphasis on "does no better than"; a poet or writer can "do better than put words together," and a poet can certainly "love and seek wisdom." However, it is also possible for a poet not to love and seek wisdom. I think the error comes in trying to apply strict labels when there is room for intersection.
Socrates (and/or Plato) had a magnificent gift for rhetoric that obscured the tautological thinking he/they employed. Starting from the standpoint of the philosopher's absolute superiority, it would have been difficult to embrace the notion that "lesser" kinds of thinkers could actually intersect with what philosophers do; instead, they follow the circle completely: philosophy is king, therefore anything not the same as philosophy is lower; writing poetry is not the same as philosophy; poets write poetry; therefore, poets are lower than philosophers. There are plenty of flaws there, in terms of false dichotomies, tautological reasoning, potentially false assumptions. As such, I think there is a point of difference to be found, but to assume the difference is absolute is incorrect.
2007-11-07 14:44:00 · answer #2 · answered by Jeff R 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are, some writers who seem to do little more than put words together but for the sake of argument, I'll just speak about those writers and poets who seek and express wisdom through the very medium Socrates was debasing when I say that I couldn't disagree more. A love of words and putting them together is essentially an effort to gain wisdom through the understanding of what you are writing about.
2007-11-07 15:35:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
While it is true Socrates died some 2,400 years ago, it would be slightly premature to begrudge his opinion of poets. Just as today- where for every great poet there are a thousand merely pleasuring themselves with the sound of words strung together- there were in Socrates' time innumerable, insufferable neophytes kissing whomsoever would let themselves be kissed while Socrates was calmly (and not so calmly) trying to walk the streets.
There is another reason to doubt Socrates wholesale dismissal of poetry. As recorded by Plato, Socrates believed the same inner voice that directed his philosophical musings was also responsible for poetry and love. Moreover, he believed this voice to be divine.
In this particular excerpt, it was more likely that he was treating those who he felt to be "faking" a divine mark, and wholly willing their "divine voices" of their own accord.
2007-11-07 15:28:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
To some extent I agree. There are poets and writers that do nothing of any real note (like all those trashy romance novels on the shelves =P) but there are also writers that write only to show their ideas. So, in my opinion there are philosophers that talk about ideas, writer/poets that write nonsense, and wrisophers and philoets that write their ideas and philosophies into their works. Yup.
2007-11-07 14:44:57 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yeah Plato and Socrates always had it in for poets. Those who can't do...take hemlock and die.
That's what I think of his quote.
2007-11-07 13:57:21 · answer #6 · answered by Todd 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
i used to fret about what plato and socrates said about poets.
but then i read lee harwood's poem 'plato was right'.
i don't care what plato says if i get a poem like lee harwood's out of it.
2007-11-07 16:07:15 · answer #7 · answered by synopsis 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋