"Stumble"ing Upon Philosophy

"We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one."
-'The Cab Ride', Thylacine's Lair

I've been Stumbling from one internet sight to another for the past two hours in an effort to entertain myself on this cold January night. I had honestly forgotten about this writing assignment until I Stumbled upon this quote by an unknown author. The author is a former cab driver who twenty-two years ago was asked by an elderly woman to drive through out the city to places of her youth; she wanted to remember all the good times she had in her childhood and relive the most important experiences of her life- her time in this world was soon coming to an end. In this tale the narrator tells of the good-temperament of this woman and how she had excellent character for, despite her situation, she still managed to keep a smile on her face and enjoy her life at that moment.

The conversation which took place between the narrator and the elderly woman reminded me of the conversation Socrates had with Cephalus in book one of The Republic. Here Cephalus tells Socrates that old age has brought him, "[...] great peace and freedom [...]" and that old age is not what brings woe to individuals but rather woe is brought upon by their character. I agree with the words of Cephalus because I have seen many examples of this in life. Many people considered mean, grumpy, cantankerous, difficult, and so on and so forth act this way because of the fashion in which they interpret the events that take place in their lives. According to Martha Beck ,in her article for O Magainze, entitled Why Are People Mean?, people act the way they do in any situation because of the way they think that the world is viewing them. For example people become angry, because they believe that the world is 'out to get them' or that they simply have 'bad luck'. Martha also states that people's reactions should not be anchored to the words, actions, or looks they receive from others but to their own beliefs about the event. I agree with Martha when she says that "authorship is key to surviving these [ or any] experiences [...]" and that "[...] every living person has the power of authorship when it comes to composing our lives[...]." I use these terms grumpy, mean, etc because they are characteristics usually associated with the elderly but it is not just the elderly that misinterpret actions or words, the youth do it as well.

Alcibiades in the Alcibiades I foolishly believed that he knew how to run, or advice, a government even though he has not done so before or that was ever taught how to do so. This is because he misinterpreted his situation. Alcibiades is acting like an intelligent student coming straight out of medical, law, or graduate school that thinks that they know everything about their practice because they have read numerous books on the subject; what they don't know is that all the reading and book work they've done amounts to nothing in the real world- school work doesn't give you the practice that comes from experiences. It was Socrates who informed him of his faults and told him that there is no reason that he should believe he knows how to govern a state in the same way that he doesn't know building or sailing . Alcibiades, like the elderly woman, showed good character and in the end he was able to give up his ignorance to follow Socrates on the pursuit of excellence.

Alcibiades and America

Socrates spends pages outlining all of the activities at which Alcibiades would be useless. To paraphrase:

S: Do you know anything about shoes?

A: No, that’s why we have cobblers.

S: Do you know anything about horses?

A: No, that’s why we have equestrians.

Etc…….

Until finally Socrates is left to ask the final big question: well then Alcibiades, what are you good for? This is an excellent question and one that I don’t feel like we contemplate very often. Other than the occasional existential crises that come maybe after college or around your 50^th birthday, I wonder how much quality time the average person spend developing self- knowledge by questioning one’s strengths and weaknesses. AsI watched the news after reading Alcibiades, I began to think of all of the ways American devalue self- knowledge. I keep hearing politicians say, “the American people want…” as if unaware that they are but one individual. I started to ask the news pundits, “what is your purpose?”

I ask: “Do you gather the news?”

G. Beck: “No, that is why we have journalists.”

I ask: “Because you report on crime, are you an expert in criminal psychology?”

K. Olbermann: “No, that is why we have criminal investigators.”

I ask: “Because you report on war, are you an expert in field tactics?”

W. Blitzer: “No, that is why we have generals.”

Until finally I asked, what is your purpose? So much of my reality is determined by these people whose expertise are looking thin on camera and pronouncing difficult names correctly. Talking heads decide what news we hear, what questions are being asked, how topics are delivered, and in what light to process information, and yet they are experts on nothing of value. Unable to realize their own strengths, people like Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann “teach” others subjects about which they are uninformed. And then finally, America’s uproar over the innocent Representative from Arizona being shot I think really presents America’s lack of self- knowledge. Appalled by the internal violence that took place last weekend, we have poured over t.vs. and newspapers and yet I rarely see a tear dropped for the many victims of the decade long war America has been raging in Afghanistan and Iraq. Like Alcibiades, America has been long told how rich and noble and beautiful and free it is as a nation and now it seems unable to look within to determine its strengths and faults. This is why our culture cannot tolerate intellectualism; we cannot tolerate finding out what we don’t know.

As an individual it is important to self-question, to assess one’s own knowledge. Hubris, and maybe because it accompanies passion, is an affliction of the young. Maybe this is why America seems so struck with the kind of hubris that Alcibiades exhibits. We are a young nation and need a wise old philosopher to show us the way.

Alcibiades and Socrates Duke it Out... the Intellectual Way

After reading the dialogue between Socrates and Alcibiades, I have come to the belief that Socrates was challenging the origin of Alcibiades' knowledge in addition to the source and merit of his political power. Socrates seemed bothered by the fact that Alcibiades was living a life that, while it may have been full of material wealth, was lacking spiritual and emotional truths. Socrates challenged Alcibiades, throughout the dialogue, to think in ways other than he had been previously taught or conditioned to do so. In the very first pages, for example, Socrates inquires about Alcibiades' sources of knowledge, asking how Alcibiades had come to know certain truths or virtues. Furthermore, Socrates challenges Alcibiades on the issue of justice. He provokes Alcibiades to speak of how he came to know what is just and unjust, seeing as Alcibiades judges matters of war and peace on a daily basis as a higher member of the state. Additionally, Socrates and Alcibiades dialogue about cheating, the need for proofs in knowledge, the virtue of courage versus its adverse-cowardice, and spiritual matters such as heaven. Overall, however, I was under the impression that Socrates was basically challenging Alcibiades' political power, as previously mentioned. Although Socrates did not directly claim that Alcibiades was not worthy of the material wealth or power that he had acquired, I was under the impression that, as Socrates seems to do in most of his dialogues, he was attempting to provoke a higher level of thought within Alcibiades, ultimately requesting that he attempt to live a better, more virtuous life.

JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY… PLEASE HELP ME!!! I had difficulty understanding what Plato meant when he claimed something to be expedient. I did some research, but I have yet to come up with a definitive definition relevant to the dialogue between Socrates and Alcibiades.