Look At How They Flock to Him

Well, it's the last day of the semester, rather, it's the last day of instruction for grad students: I do have one final that I do have to sit for on the 16th, but otherwise, I'm done! Time to drink! And sleep! I finished my second of two term papers last night. I ended up titling it: "Speaking with the Gods: The Role of Swearing and Invocation in Plato's Theaetetus and Apology." It weighs in at just under 20 pages, and I would have liked to have at least 2 or 3 pages more to write as I wanted to explicate further the role of de-mythologizing that postmodernism, mostly by Barthes, attributes to philosophy and the philosopher. But, that probably would have ended up turning into a completely new paper, so it's probably for the best that I couldn't extend that line of thinking. Here is the introduction of the paper, and if you want the whole thing, let me know, and include an email address and I will send it to you. Otherwise, skip over it.

One of man’s greatest gifts is his curiosity, his desire to look inward and outward with a sense of openness, a sense of wonder. However, upon much introspection, one comes to the realization that there are more questions to be asked than answers that are readily supplied by such introspection. The workings of nature, the presence of the soul, enquiries into death, and even into the depth of life, are profundities that arise from such a reflective existence. In light of this double existence – living, but also living-with these problems – man has historically reached out, and in most cases, created, many of the great problem-solving systems in human history: science, philosophy, art, mathematics, history, religion, etc. For that is what all of these systems, processes, and constructs represent: a searching beyond the human from within the human, a desire to have answers that come “from beyond” and yet are still relevant to our existential recognition. This searching and reaching-beyond is compatible with the life that questions, the life that seeks to enrich itself by stretching beyond itself. Nietzsche enriches this necessity of distance: “We had forgotten that some greatness, like some goodness, wants to be beheld only from a distance and by all means only from below.”
The development of these informative systems has further enriched society historically, introducing new concepts and helping to establish culture. Ancient Greece is one of the most fundamentally important cultures in the history of Western society as the Greeks found a great source of identity in philosophy, religion, politics, and art. Indeed Philosophy is considered to have begun with Thales who famously embodied the notion of human wonder and curiosity by extending his gaze up to the heavens; and of course, Thales fell into a well as he was gazing upward as he had fully extended himself beyond himself: he had become caught up within this extension, and instead of trying to bring the heavens to bear upon his humanity he forgot his humanity and that he was necessarily earthbound. Even though much of science, mathematics, drama, sculpture, politics, and ethics are attributed to Ancient Greek culture, it is the mythology of the Greeks that supplies a rich, imaginative outlet for human wonder. This supplying is also a replying: the mythological tradition of the Greeks is the foundation of their culture as it can be found in all facets of Greek life and heritage.
Even though Thales, the first Greek philosopher, attempted to transcend explanations of nature and life qua mythology, the philosophical tradition never strays far from the mythological, whether it be through allusion, metaphor, or allegory . When a religion is as fundamental and explanatory as that of the Ancient Greeks then the beliefs of that religion become enmeshed in the culture, in society, to the point that the difference between religious practice and religious influence become obfuscated. So, when Greek philosophy is under scrutiny there is a double-enmeshment: an intersection of philosophy and mythology, and mythology and culture. This chiasma becomes extremely important when considering the works of Plato as his work is considered the first complete Greek philosophical system; but also, by writing in the form of the dialogue Plato was able to keep many elements in dialogue with each other.
Plato’s work is perhaps one of the greatest examples for illuminating the effects of mythology in philosophy, and subsequently on culture, on the polis. Socrates as Plato’s philosopher par excellence is himself represented as imbued and inspired by Apollo, and thus Socrates becomes an improvised prophet – literally (and literarily as Socrates the character) he embodies the meaning of the Greek pro and phētēs: Socrates speaks for Plato; and, in living out the pronouncement of the Delphic oracle, Socrates disseminates the teachings and prophecy of Apollo. It is also in this way that Socrates takes on a double role in regards to the gods: he invokes them through speech – his logos – and by action – his ergon. This double role also helps to build on the role of the Philosopher as epitomized by Socrates.
So through the writings of Plato, as voiced by Socrates and his various interlocutors, at the culmination of Western philosophy (up to that point), the role of the divine, of the gods, of mythology in Platonic dialogues takes on new life, on new meaning. Plato never wasted words, and so the arrival by invocation of various deities and myths in his works deserves some amount of scrutiny. The current investigation will show both philosophical and literary usage by Plato of Greek mythos in his Theaetetus and Apology. This will further uncover what roles such invocations bring to bear in these dialogues, and finally, illuminate this interweaving of philosophy, mythology and culture.


I also finished my other term paper, which ended up being entitled: "The Ethical Imagination: Cain's Mark on Mankind." Seeing as how I offered to email that in a prior post, I won't do so again here.

I know that it has been awhile since I have written one of these, but I have been busy, and I am sure that you have been busy as well. My Thanksgiving went well, it was good to see my extended family and spend time with my older brother for several days. Though, the drive back from Va was terrible: it took me 13.5 hours to make an 8.5 hour drive. While I knew full well that a lot more people would be on the road the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I never expected such a vehicular clusterfuck. I mean, it did rain the entirety of the drive up the East Coast, but since when is that license to drive like an idiot, or at 20 miles under the speed limit? I think that I counted 10 accidents, but only 2 appeared to be actual collisions, which means that the rest were people who either a) weren't paying attention b) don't know how to drive on the highway in the rain, and therefore c) shouldn't be driving! At least, not when I have to deal with them. So I made it home at 3:30 early Monday morning and fully zombified by the ordeal: I still haven't recovered nor fully woken up, which of course has been brilliant for my last week of academia this semester.

I'm not sure how many more posts I will make before I come home for the holidays as I will be busy working as much as possible, and so, there probably won't be much for me to write about. So, yeah, I know that breaks your heart.

don't tread on me when you're floating downstream on a moonbeam,

philip