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They really did. And through great irony, such objections are preserved. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439 https://www.historyofinformati

They really did. And through great irony, such objections are preserved. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439 https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439 "For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem [275b] to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise."

card_zero 5d ago
That is a fictional objection raised by the Egyptian god Amun to the Egyptian god Thoth, who was supposed by the Egyptians to have invented music and writing, and was supposed by the Greeks to have invented absolutely everything else too, including botany, surveying, and government. It's also a critique of writing, written by Plato, to impress on us that Socrates was great orator (or arguer) and was better that way. But it's not somebody's reaction to the invention of writing. It's an imagined reaction to the invention of writing.
- breezybottom 5d ago
  Wait, you're saying that writing wasn't invented by a guy with an ibis head?
shakna 5d ago
Be wonderful if you approached a translated piece, by first considering the time and culture that produced it. Understanding the intent, rather than quoting it out of place. This is a political critique, on the rule of law (writing) over attempting to treat things on a case by case basis (philosophy). Quoting it, without understanding it, is part of that author's complaint.
deleted 5d ago
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card_zero 5d ago

That is a fictional objection raised by the Egyptian god Amun to the Egyptian god Thoth, who was supposed by the Egyptians to have invented music and writing, and was supposed by the Greeks to have invented absolutely everything else too, including botany, surveying, and government. It's also a critique of writing, written by Plato, to impress on us that Socrates was great orator (or arguer) and was better that way. But it's not somebody's reaction to the invention of writing. It's an imagined reaction to the invention of writing.

breezybottom 5d ago
Wait, you're saying that writing wasn't invented by a guy with an ibis head?

shakna 5d ago

Be wonderful if you approached a translated piece, by first considering the time and culture that produced it. Understanding the intent, rather than quoting it out of place. This is a political critique, on the rule of law (writing) over attempting to treat things on a case by case basis (philosophy). Quoting it, without understanding it, is part of that author's complaint.

deleted 5d ago

[deleted]