Friday, January 30, 2009

Conference proposal

So, my school is holding an undergraduate humanities conference where little know-it-alls get to present their thoughts, and I'm hoping to be on of them!
Without further adieu, here is an abstract for my paper

The explicit theme of Plato’s Symposium is a dialogue in praise of and on the nature of Eros, the god of love and desire, however, the implicit theme that Plato hides is his love for philosophy and The Philosopher: Socrates. In Plato’s dialogues there is little left to coincidence, so with this in mind we can see his underlying attempts to argue for the cause of philosophy, defend Socrates, and present a challenge to pretenders of loving wisdom: the poets.

Feeling the after-effects of Socrates’ trial, Plato saw the dangers that philosophy presented to himself and his like-minded friends. Instead of open ended discussion in the agora, Plato moved his philosophy to a school where he undertook the manifestation of Socrates’ dialogues in written form. At the Academy Plato was able to create a barrier from the masses, the likes of which prosecuted Socrates. Furthermore, by using the medium of written work, Plato was able to be selective about who took part in his ‘dialogues,’ and just in case, it afforded him the leisure of being ironic. In using irony, Plato was able to say what he wanted to without actually saying it. In the written format, Philosophy became safe. Protected from potential accusers, Plato went to work on his legacy of Socrates’ life compiling western philosophy’s most important texts. In the Symposium dealing with Eros we find what is probably Plato’s most personal effort, implicitly showing his love for philosophy and Socrates while aggrandizing them over poetry.

Now, I just have to go about proving my statements!
wish me luck ;)


Friday, January 9, 2009

The new year

Well, I apologize for my prolonged absence. I suppose life has been busy lately.
It's a new year, but you knew that already, right? Not that the changing of the calendar matters to me, I suppose its a nice thing to do, so without further adieu, happy new year!
So, with the festive cheer out of the way, its back to the old grind.
School has opened her sweet arms to embrace me this year, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself this semester. Philosophy of Buddhism, love and sex, and ethics, coupled with an old passion of mine - the roman empire are going to keep me busy with a lifted heart. Have I ever mentioned that I love knowledge? It's a shame its hard for me to go about collecting that treasure on my own. It's hard to convince myself in retrospect, but I do love knowledge and learning - epiphanies instigate goosebumps and a racing heart like no other experience I've had. The sudden burst of knowledge is so exhilarating - why its not my kind of drug is beyond me. On the depressing side, lethargy is my drug, and video games are my dealers. Speaking of which, the frequency of which I have been playing has increased since the winter break. I guess I got a bit of time granted to me, and I filled it up with living in a post-apocalyptic world in Fallout 3, flooding underground tunnels in gears of war 2, and buying downloadable content in littlebigplanet. Ah, what more can be said, I just hope a balance can be found between what I ought to spend my time doing and what I actually spend my time doing. This is my ongoing struggle - its a shame to know your struggle, but I suppose all hope is contained in that knowledge.

In any event, I think I've complained enough for today - my written thoughts only want to come out as negative reflections of myself today, so I won't burden you with my weight.

'til next time I blog, which may not be so seperated form this one, take it easy