Tuesday, October 30, 2012
I guess Socrates didn't have a girlfriend...
I know I'm going to get a lot of backlash for this but if you don't agree with me on this, don't freak out. I accept the fact that my opinion wont necessarily be accepted by all.
First of all, I'm a little freaked out that in book 5, Socrates talks about mating festivals and that kids won't even know who their parents are. Does Socrates think that humans are animals when it comes to sex? I guess he never had sex before because obviously he doesn't know what it means. If so, then I can't believe he would approach it so callously. Sure, there wouldn't be any divided loyalties, but there's something special about having a family and a home. I wonder if Hitler got his inspiration for his baby camps from this. It's crazy how I find that so many people have taken Socrates' ideas to extremes, like Nazism. Where the good of the state overode the good of the individual. I wonder if you can have justice without love. Socrates talks about treating everyone as equals, but I wonder if anyone even loves anyone. Apparently not if people can have multiple partners in the mating festival. The whole thing makes me sick. Glad we don't do mating festivals today. Awkward....
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Actually, Socrates was married and had a couple children. And yet you're right that in the Republic he treats sex as a merely animal act that doesn't necessarily involve the kinds of emotional attachments that we know it does.
ReplyDeleteDo you recall Socrates also saying that, in the just city, they would have to make procreation holy? That implies a lot about how the ancient Athenians (the men, at least) viewed sex and marriage.
-Dr. Schuler
Sorry I forgot Socrates was married with a couple of kids....I think that it's cool that he wants to make sex a holy act. I wish it was viewed as a holy act by everyone these days, but I guess we have to go back in the cave and show others the light. May the quest continue!
DeleteI was shocked by this when I first read it too, but after I thought about it more I almost found myself agreeing with Socrates. If we purely define love as sex then how deep can that love really be. Socrates found a way where sex is not the ultimate display of love but the ultimate love is living in a world where you truly care for everyone as our own family. That way you wouldn't hold favor toward certain people because you are related to them but that you would be more open and free to love everyone as family. Now I am not saying we should have mating festivals, but the purpose behind it is very intelligent. And like he says actually making this happen would be nearly impossible.
ReplyDeleteLove your point!!!
DeleteI guess I like the idea of an immediate family more than an extended family. To me, there's something special about that, but what do I know? Maybe an extended family is better than an immediate one. I guess that's what the Body of Christ should be - an extended family.
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