Issue ·22 Airport, Reflection on Plato
Some keys are missing on my laptop keyboard I guess. I don't really have a purpose for today's journal, other than to remind myself to keep up with the habit of writing and clarifying my thoughts. Every form of success that I aspire towards or desire will be unequivocably improved by simply attempting to write and clarify my thoughts. Thoughts, whether I am aware of them or not, underlie my entire human experience. Therefore, taking time to "clean", or atleast ensure the security of, that filter of which there is no other, can pay off.
I recently finished reading Plato's "The Republic", and I really liked the format of abstract argument. I still do feel that there was many aspects that were taken for granted, either owing to a preference in brevity (the book was already more than 300 pages), or a simple limitation in logic or knowledge expressed in the book. For example, the cosmological and numerological elements near the end seemed kind of weird. I also enjoyed the first part of the book that was bsaed more in refutation and conversation, whereas the second part was filled with pages upon pages "Yup." "I agree." "So it must be so." "Clearly." etc. That feels a bit silly to me, but I appreciate the value 1) in reading books of that sort of difficulty, because, it remains difficult for me to focus on a more demanding text for extended periods of time and 2) the actual content of the text was worthy of contemplation.
I feel that The Republic's highest importance is in its success in defining what philosophy is and isn't, using the city-state and the psychological systems are analogies and real life analoges to other forms of "governance", control, or etiquette.
Maybe I'll record a video of me walking around and discussing The Republic. Or just start "Vlogging" in general while I live in Illinois. I think that my ability to speak clearly will probably be tied to my "success" in life, and also I think that might just be a nice way to clear my mind every once in a while. I like the idea, I'll continue thinking about it.