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chief author of their changes and transpositions. And if this is true, and if the
soul is older than the body, must not the things which are of the soul’s kindred
be of necessity prior to those which appertain to the body?
Cleinias. Certainly.
Athenian. Then thought and attention and mind and art and law will be
prior to that which is hard and soft and heavy and light; and the great and
primitive works and actions will be works of art; they will be the first, and
after them will come nature and works of nature, which however is a wrong
term for men to apply to them; these will follow, and will be under the
government of art and mind.
Cleinias. But why is the word “nature” wrong?
Athenian. Because those who use the term mean to say that nature is the
first creative power; but if the soul turn out to be the primeval element, and
not fire or air, then in the truest sense and beyond other things the soul may be
said to exist by nature; and this would be true if you proved that the soul is
older than the body, but not otherwise.
Cleinias. You are quite right.
Athenian. Shall we, then, take this as the next point to which our attention
should be directed?
Cleinias. By all means.
Athenian. Let us be on our guard lest this most deceptive argument with its
youthful looks, beguiling us old men, give us the slip and make a laughing–
stock of us. Who knows but we may be aiming at the greater, and fail of
attaining the lesser? Suppose that we three have to pass a rapid river, and I,
being the youngest of the three and experienced in rivers, take upon me the
duty of making the attempt first by myself; leaving you in safety on the bank,
I am to examine whether the river is passable by older men like yourselves,
and if such appears to be the case then I shall invite you to follow, and my
experience will help to convey you across; but if the river is impassable by
you, then there will have been no danger to anybody but myself—would not
that seem to be a very fair proposal? I mean to say that the argument in
prospect is likely to be too much for you, out of your depth and beyond your
strength, and I should be afraid that the stream of my questions might create
in you who are not in the habit of answering, giddiness and confusion of
mind, and hence a feeling of unpleasantness and unsuitableness might arise. I
think therefore that I had better first ask the questions and then answer them
myself while you listen in safety; in that way I can carry on the argument until
I have completed the proof that the soul is prior to the body.
1546
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book The Complete Plato"
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