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This is a midwit-level take on Plato. Arguments: Plato is responsible for a dualistic model of mind and matter that hampers our thinking today. Plato had an
by speak_plainly 1y ago
This is a midwit-level take on Plato.
Arguments:
Plato is responsible for a dualistic model of mind and matter that hampers our thinking today.
Plato had an unrealistic ideal of what knowledge is.
Plato had weird methodological assumptions.
There are real criticisms you could make about Plato and his work, but this misses the mark by miles.
- michaelsbradley 1y agoAfter reading it, the feeling I had: I was hungry for lunch but all that was on hand was 3½ oreo cookies and half a small bottle of soda that's losing its fizz.
- pcthrowaway 1y agoI suspect someone prompted an LLM: write an article that makes an unconventional argument about a philosopher.
- MangoToupe 1y agoUnconventional would be Bataille.
- danielbln 1y agoIn 2018? That's pretty impressive.
- 0xbadcafebee 1y agoWe need to coin a phrase for this constant accusal of "being written by LLM". LLM-ophobia?
- readthenotes1 1y agoLlamanoia
- pfdietz 1y agoIn 2018? Interesting argument.
- daseiner1 1y agoHardly unconventional, a significant amount of the past 150 years of continental philosophy has involved critiques of Plato along the same lines as expressed here.
- MangoToupe 1y ago> This is a midwit-level take on Plato. Is this intended as a pejorative? Why not just say "dimwitted"? It would communicate your semantics much clearer.
- reedf1 1y agoHopefully you wrote this ironically otherwise... QED?
- MangoToupe 1y agoI'm legitimately confused what was confusing about my comment. Are we supposed to presume that the author thinks themselves better or not?
- pc86 1y agoTypically when someone encounters a word they're unfamiliar with they'll do at least a cursory search of it[0] to see if it's a real word, the context, etc., rather than assuming the author made it up or intended to use some other word. Dimwit and midwit mean two different things. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=midwit https://www.google.com/search?q=midwit
- MangoToupe 1y ago> Dimwit and midwit mean two different things. > Midwit is an internet slang term, often used pejoratively, to describe a person with average or slightly above-average intelligence who believes they are exceptionally intelligent or insightful. Does this not describe most of the people on this forum? Why would you invite such comparisons if you aren't confident you're better or "more correct" in some way? It seems they intended to use "dimwit", as that would result in comment making more sense overall by drawing a clear contrast with the speaker.
- Veen 1y agoOne commonly observed midwit behaviour is to make arguments based on the dictionary definition of a word, having failed to understand that there is a complex set of cultural and social connotations implied by its use. In the case of the midwit, the implication is that intelligent people understand, stupid people understand, but the half-smart get completely the wrong end of the stick.
- SantalBlush 1y agoMy understanding is that Plato's major contribution to philosophy was his method of analysis, and not his specific ideas. Is that on the right track?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- keiferski 1y agoNot really. Both his ideas and his method (dialogues) have been very influential. These days, you could probably say that his ideas are more influential than his method: not many academic philosophers write in dialogue form, but his ideas are still referenced constantly.
- SantalBlush 1y agoThank you. I guess by 'method of analysis', I meant the way he refined definitions in an attempt to make them logically consistent, not his use of dialogue necessarily. I'm just a layman, but it seemed to me like that was what distinguished him from his contemporaries.
- keiferski 1y agoI think you might be thinking of Socrates, who is indeed mostly known for his Socratic method. But it’s a bit complicated, as we mostly know of Socrates from Plato’s writings, in which he is usually the main character. Socrates didn’t write anything down himself. In any case, both Socrates and Plato have been immensely influential on Western thought, probably more than anyone else.
- SantalBlush 1y agoThanks again. I do know all of this, and I've read quite a few of his works. I was hoping someone who has formally studied philosophy or the history of philosophy could give an in-depth take.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]