Yet Another Song about Stillness

Peace and quiet seem to be very valuable to Plato.  Epictetus will similarly value calm and stillness.  In fact, Epictetus will say that the goal in life is to be calm and serene.  In this song, the narrator talks about her efforts to bring herself that quietude and peace.  Unfortunately, her efforts to understand the world in a logical way are unsuccessful.  The song text, originally in German, is translated (by me) below:

Prologue: "Daily I talk to myself about my life as if it were a subway system map.  Out of above without no floor, without silence, restless, never without advice, never speechless.  I only lack the words...

"I try to explain to myself the world as if it were between two points on a line, as if words divided the world into stripes.  I grasp but I do not apprehend.   What use are my hands to me when what they touch disappears just as things become mute and silence is wrested from them when words are found? 

I am no stiller.  I only fail to have the words.  I am no stiller, only the words fail to reach their goal.  I am no stiller.  I would enjoy so much to be silent, and still, so much stiller and only to show things and to be shown, still and dazzling.

I try to explain to myself the world as if it were between two cable lines, as if the words could only be stripes according to which I grasp and yet cannot apprehend. 

What use are beautiful thoughts which sink between everything else?  Because the heart is the sinker of all thoughts.  Because everything that you find is gone."    

Whereas the narrator in this song is unable to find an underlying logical structure in her world, Epictetus is able to find his peace and quiet because he believes that the world is ordered in a just way.  The narrator expresses a desire for "stripes according to which I grasp and yet cannot apprehend".  When reading Epictetus, consider how he might use a simile like this to explain the universe.  Does he think that the world is divided up into neat little stripes which although we may grasp, we do not apprehend?

Rhymesayers on Romance and Serenity

If you like good rap and hip hop (and I mean, like, actually good), or if you just like good music in general, I highly recommend artists from
Rhymesayers Entertainment.  As it turns out, many tracks of these socially and self-aware artists relate to themes, questions and issues from the class.

In this track, "551", modern rapper, writer and philosopher Dessa (of the Doomtree collective) contemplates the ways we try to bring ourselves calm and quiet.  Two themes emerge in this track: love and drugs.

How would Socrates respond to a song like this?  Would he think that the kind of peace that people gain from romantic relationships or martinis is valuable?

To help think of reasons why one should perhaps not depend on a romantic relationship to bring serenity, check out this track from Grieves, another artist on the Rhymesayers label.  In this track, called, "Scar Gardens", the narrator warns a romantic partner, 'I am not your paradise'.

I Know it's not Christmas Time, But...

Many of us will recognize the classic Christmas song "Silent Night" (originally written in German).  This song seems to celebrate some of the same values that Plato finds important: being still, silent and peaceful.  Plato praises sleep for being a time of quiet and peace.  Unlike waking hours, which can be full of hazards and harms, dreamless sleep in particular is completely void of any upset, dismay, pain or discomfort.

Recall how Crito seems envious of Socrates' peaceful sleep.  Also recall that Socrates thinks that a dreamless sleep may be very similar to death insofar as both are a total lack of perception.

Give me Free Food or Give me Death

In these two posts, I discuss Socrates counter-assessment of an appropriate punishment and his thoughts on death. 

Apology Day 1

In this post, I outline Socrates' general strategy at his trial.  In short, he gives a very defiant defense of his life. 

Euthyphro Day 2

Here is a blog post where I explain the various different definitions of 'pious' in Euthyphro.

In this one, I explain the consequences of either solution to Euthyphro's dilemma.

In class today, I talked about the importance of conditional statements, such as "If P, then Q", or "If something is pious, then it is loved by the gods".  Conditional statements can be used to express causal relationships (e.g., If it rains, then the sidewalk gets wet).  We can also use conditional statements to express the relationship between genus and species: all poodles are dogs, all squares are rectangles and all OC citizens are CA citizens.  Conditional statements are important in philosophy.  Consider this argument:

If you are in Irvine, you are in CA.

Las Vegas is not in CA.

Therefore, Las Vegas is not in Irvine

The first premise of this argument is a conditional statement.  Many arguments include conditional statements.  

Consider now the logical form called 'introduction of a biconditional':  

If P, then Q.  

If Q, then P.  

Therefore, P if and only if Q.  

This is a valid logical form that can be used to express a vicious circle.  The problem with a vicious circle is not that it is illogical.  Rather, vicious circles fail to provide any new information.

Euthyphro, Day 1

Hello! For previous blog posts about Euthyphro, please follow this link or this other link.

Plato's Euthyphro is all about piety.  Socrates asks Euthyphro (the title character) what it means to be pious.  In general, to be pious means to be respectful and reverent towards divinity.  Socrates rejects the first three definitions provided for various reasons (see blog posts above).  


During discussion we considered whether we might avoid these kinds of criticisms by defining what is pious in terms of either 1) the intention of the person performing a pious act or 2) conditions for piety relative to a specific god.  In the case of 2, then we reject Socrates' desire for a single form or single conceptual definition for piety.  In the case of 1, then it seems like we avoid contradictions unless the person performing the action has contradictory intentions (e.g., slaughtering an animal is meant to appease one god while simultaneously defying another.  However, if we join both of these conditions together, we can avoid contradiction.  However, Socrates is likely to reject this notion because it does not provide a single unified definition of piety.

At this point, we might consider whether all definitions need to be unified in such a manner...