Love and the Reasons Why

“The clever and suspicious person… appears clever when he associates with those like himself…but when he meets with good people who are older, he is seen to be stupid, distrustful at the wrong time, and ignorant of what a healthy character is…” (409c)             In Plato’s Republic , Socrates and his companions attempt to define justice, goodness, and the proper way to handle oneself by using the example of a good, well-governed city. At one point, the group is discussing the makings of a judge, and as they are discussing a bad judge, they find themselves on the topic of deceptive injustice. As referenced in the quote above, the deceptively unjust person is found to be well-liked in his own social group, but when he associates with older, wiser people, these elders see through his façade. Perhaps we will be able to take this point, explain it, and apply it to modern situations.         ...

Darkness and thick smoke surrounded Jacob Muller as he stood in the deep wreckage. He didn't have time to think. It didn't necessarily come down to the fact that this was his job. It surely didn't come down to the idea that he would be considered a hero after this. It most certainly didn't come down to him having a huge desire to run further into a burning skyscraper. It came down to that one faint word that he heard coming from the caved ceiling above him.  "Help." Jacob ran up the stairs; the hollow concrete column survived the impact much more easily than the rest of the building. Even past all his fire gear, he was having trouble breathing. That made him more concerned than he probably should have allowed himself to be. He remembered the television being on in the fire station when the North Tower was hit. He was in the break room, chatting with Nick Wells, when he heard the crash coming through the TV speakers.  People jumped up, staring. No one shouted. ...

 For the sake of clarity, I'd like to note that this is not an assignment.  Physical science is giving me no small amount of trouble right now, and to be honest, I can't get the matter between my ears to focus on anything other than the topic I'm about to discuss. We've been reading Plato's Republic in Great Books for the past week or so, and one of the topics that Socrates speaks on is the topic of warriors, or, in his words, "guardians." He and his companions are developing a hypothetical city, and they need to decide how they want their guardians to live and act. One topic they discuss is what kind of music will be learned by their guardians. This is likely both a literal topic and a metaphor, but we won't go into that here. Suffice it to quote the passage in question: "leave me that harmony that would appropriately imitate the vocal sounds and tones of a courageous person engaged in battle or in other work that he is forced to do" (Plato...

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a very complicated book. It is dated within the text as being written during the reign of Augustus Caesar (15.1095-1098), whose reign began in 27 BC. This would have been post-Roman Republic, which does explain most of the worldview in the text. Historical timing aside, however, Metamorphoses focuses on the consequences of evil actions and the rewarding of good ones. Some stories stand out from the rest. One particularly interesting story is the account of Proserpina, her mother Ceres, and her whole family. Its focus is not evil actions or good actions, although they are both present. The focus is the love between a mother and her daughter, which then creates meaningful change for them, their family, and two very different worlds. Proserpina’s story begins with Venus speaking to her son, Cupid. “You govern the gods and their ruler; you rule the defeated / gods of the ocean and govern the one who rules them, too” (5.536-537). She then expresses a desire to take o...

  It's been an incredibly long time since I last wrote on this blog.  Hello again! For those of you who did not scroll back to the beginning of the blog (I don't blame you at all), my name is Erica, and I'm a student in a class where we sit around a table and try to use the matter between our ears in a way that is productive to society. I must honestly say that I... lost this page, there for a little while. I just couldn't find my way back to it! Apparently I was typing the wrong URL when I tried to view it as a reader, and I couldn't remember which email the account was stored under, so I wasn't able to get back in for quite some time. I put in a renewed effort recently with the start of my first official semester in Great Books, and here I am, so apparently I figured it out at some point. What I was doing wrong before still escapes me. Anyhow, I am now a year older and perhaps a year wiser, although most of my old introduction still stands. I just wanted to re...