"[T]here is in every soul an organ or instrument of knowledge that is purified and kindled afresh by such studies when it has been destroyed and blinded by our ordinary pursuits, a faculty whose preservation outweighs ten thousand eyes, for by it only is reality beheld."
— Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)
Author
Work Title
Date
380-360 B.C.
Metaphor
"[T]here is in every soul an organ or instrument of knowledge that is purified and kindled afresh by such studies when it has been destroyed and blinded by our ordinary pursuits, a faculty whose preservation outweighs ten thousand eyes, for by it only is reality beheld."
Metaphor in Context
I am amused, said I, at your apparent fear lest the multitude may suppose you to be recommending useless studies. It is indeed no trifling task, but very difficult to realize that there is in every soul an organ or instrument of knowledge that is purified and kindled afresh by such studies when it has been destroyed and blinded by our ordinary pursuits, a faculty whose preservation outweighs ten thousand eyes, for by it only is reality beheld. Those who share this faith will think your words superlatively true. But those who have and have had no inkling of it will naturally think them all moonshine. For they can see no other benefit from such pursuits worth mentioning. Decide, then, on the spot, to which party you address yourself. Or are you speaking to neither, but chiefly carrying on the discussion for your own sake, without however grudging any other who may be able to profit by it?
Provenance
Reading Alwin Thaler's "In My Mind's Eye, Horatio." Shakespeare Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 4 (Autumn, 1965): 353.
Citation
Plato. The Republic of Plato. Second Edition. Trans. Allan Bloom. Basic Books, 1991.
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
04/18/2006
