Being and Becoming. What do these terms even mean for Plato? This was probably one of the most difficult ideas to wrap my mind around freshman year. I heard professors talking about it all the time, but I never could figure out what it meant. After thinking about it for a semester, I was finally able to figure it out.
Plato explains his system of existence in Timaeus. He breaks existence down into three categories: Being, becoming, and space. Continue reading
What is virtue? How does one practice it? Does virtue measure actions or a person?
One of the primary authorities in Torrey on virtue is Aristotle who examines virtue in Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle, a student of Plato, thought differently about virtues than Plato. Where Plato believed in forms of virtue, Aristotle believed in moderation.
Aristotle describes virtue as “a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency” (II.9). This is a sort of moderation or temperance, where one aims at the middle to achieve the goal. Aristotle applies to all virtues such as courage, generosity, and magnanimity. If courage is the median, then a deficiency of it is called cowardliness and an excess of it is rashness (Book III). For generosity, the deficiency is stinginess and the excess is wastefulness (Book IV). For magnanimity (essentially the virtue of knowing your place in society in relation to honor, or greatness of soul) the deficiency is smallness of soul while the excess is vanity.
Magnanimity is Continue reading
Friendship. Everyone needs it, but not everyone has it, much less good friendship. Why is friendship so important? What makes us friends with some people and not others? What is friendship anyways, much less good friendship? I don’t claim to be an expert in friendship, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. But two much smarter men have thought about it before me: Aristotle followed by Cicero.
Aristotle defines friendship as two people wishing for the goodwill of the other with them both being aware of it. If only one wishes goodwill towards the other without reciprocation it is not friendship. Similarly if only one wishes goodwill for the other and the other does not know it, there is no friendship. Of those relationships that constitute friendship, there are three categories: utility, pleasure, and virtue. Utility and pleasure friendships are very similar. Aristotle writes, “Those who love for utility or pleasure, then, are fond of a friend because of what is good or pleasant for themselves, not insofar as the beloved is who he is, but insofar as he is useful or pleasant” (Nichomachean Ethics, VIII.3). These friends are only friends because they have something external to them that fulfills the needs of the other. A rich man is a utility friend to a poor one, a witty friend gives pleasure to one who enjoys wit. These friendships do not enjoy the person in and of themselves, but only so far as they bring good to the lover. The youth tend to make pleasure friends because they are driven by their (erotic) passions, while the elder tend to make utility friends as they seek their own advantage in friendship.
The third type of friendship is for Continue reading
No blog on the Torrey curriculum would be complete without a look at Plato. While I don’t claim to be an expert (except maybe in puns), I have been taught and trained to both understand and explain Plato. It is possible, however, to read Plato and miss what is happening in the big picture. We read Plato in our first semester and I’m sure I missed most of it. This series of posts will serve as a guide to some of the basic elements of Plato. I believe these ideas are important for everyone to understand, even if they don’t agree with them, for they appear throughout much of Western thought. Having clear definitions of these terms and ideas will hopefully help you read and understand Plato and other books better.
One thing I must say is that this is not a post to replace reading Plato. Reading the primary text is the most important thing for Continue reading
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