I barely recalled this, but came across the quote again tonight: “When it comes to atoms, language can only be used as poetry.” (Neils Bohr referring to the absurd behavior of elementary particles.) I wonder what a conversation between Socrates and Neils would be like...with Ion listening. 🤔😊
When Ion says, essentially, that his performance may be worthy of a crown, it is then that Socrates turns his reply, “Yes, indeed;” and that maybe one day he will listen. Is Socrates patronizing him, or encouraging him to go further in his learning of the meaning in poetry? Socrates believes there can be no rhapsodes without full understanding of the poetry. And though it may be worthy of a crown, it isn’t worth Socrates’ time to attend until he knows Ion has mastered the philosophy inherent, or the ethics, in the poetry. In some ways, isn’t this like when you ask someone to join you in an activity, somewhat new to them, but knowledgeable by you, but you respectfully decline? In so many words, isn’t Socrates saying he has better things to do with his time? Is this condescending of Socrates? I can parallel this dialogue with calls from friends or colleagues around the world, to assess if it’s worth my time to join them. In fact, in smaller ways, aren’t we doing this everyday? 😊
I barely recalled this, but came across the quote again tonight: “When it comes to atoms, language can only be used as poetry.” (Neils Bohr referring to the absurd behavior of elementary particles.) I wonder what a conversation between Socrates and Neils would be like...with Ion listening. 🤔😊
I laughed out loud at the ‘close’ “...and one day I’ll find myself time to listen to you”.
When Ion says, essentially, that his performance may be worthy of a crown, it is then that Socrates turns his reply, “Yes, indeed;” and that maybe one day he will listen. Is Socrates patronizing him, or encouraging him to go further in his learning of the meaning in poetry? Socrates believes there can be no rhapsodes without full understanding of the poetry. And though it may be worthy of a crown, it isn’t worth Socrates’ time to attend until he knows Ion has mastered the philosophy inherent, or the ethics, in the poetry. In some ways, isn’t this like when you ask someone to join you in an activity, somewhat new to them, but knowledgeable by you, but you respectfully decline? In so many words, isn’t Socrates saying he has better things to do with his time? Is this condescending of Socrates? I can parallel this dialogue with calls from friends or colleagues around the world, to assess if it’s worth my time to join them. In fact, in smaller ways, aren’t we doing this everyday? 😊