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The Complete Plato
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that we should care much about the opinions of men? PHAEDRUS: Your question needs no answer; but I wish that you would tell me what you say that you have heard. SOCRATES: At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was Theuth; the bird which is called the Ibis is sacred to him, and he was the inventor of many arts, such as arithmetic and calculation and geometry and astronomy and draughts and dice, but his great discovery was the use of letters. Now in those days the god Thamus was the king of the whole country of Egypt; and he dwelt in that great city of Upper Egypt which the Hellenes call Egyptian Thebes, and the god himself is called by them Ammon. To him came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them; he enumerated them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. It would take a long time to repeat all that Thamus said to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts. But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality. PHAEDRUS: Yes, Socrates, you can easily invent tales of Egypt, or of any other country. SOCRATES: There was a tradition in the temple of Dodona that oaks first gave prophetic utterances. The men of old, unlike in their simplicity to young philosophy, deemed that if they heard the truth even from ‘oak or rock,’ it was enough for them; whereas you seem to consider not whether a thing is or is not true, but who the speaker is and from what country the tale comes. PHAEDRUS: I acknowledge the justice of your rebuke; and I think that the Theban is right in his view about letters. 542
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The Complete Plato
Title
The Complete Plato
Author
Plato
Date
~347 B.C.
Language
English
License
PD
Size
21.0 x 29.7 cm
Pages
1612
Keywords
Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
Categories
Geisteswissenschaften
International

Table of contents

  1. Part 1 - Early Dialogues 3
    1. The Apology 4
    2. Charmides 37
    3. Laches 64
    4. Lysis 88
    5. Euthyphro 113
    6. Menexenus 131
    7. Ion 144
    8. Gorgias 157
    9. Protagoras 246
    10. Meno 296
  2. Part 2 - Middle Dialogues 332
    1. Euthydemus 333
    2. Craytlus 375
    3. Phaedo 436
    4. Phaedrus 498
    5. The Symposium 548
    6. Theaetetus 590
    7. Parmenides 670
  3. Part 3 - Late Dialogues 733
    1. Sophist 734
    2. Statesman 803
    3. Philebus 867
    4. Timaeus 937
    5. Critias 997
  4. Part 4 - The Republic 1010
    1. Book I 1011
    2. Book II 1044
    3. Book III 1072
    4. Book IV 1108
    5. Book V 1139
    6. Book VI 1176
    7. Book VII 1207
    8. Book VIII 1236
    9. Book IX 1267
    10. Book X 1292
  5. Part 5 - The Laws 1320
    1. Book I 1321
    2. Book II 1346
    3. Book III 1368
    4. Book IV 1394
    5. Book V 1413
    6. Book VI 1430
    7. Book VII 1459
    8. Book VIII 1493
    9. Book IX 1513
    10. Book X 1539
    11. Book XI 1565
    12. Book XII 1587
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The Complete Plato