Saturday, November 13, 2010

Arete's Need for Unity

While I was plodding through part of my Greek bibliography reading today, I came across a quote that was truly beautiful. It succinctly expressed why I believe Plato was really on the something in his dialogues. I know he was far from perfect, but he made many true discoveries about the soul and the good life.

"I think it is very reasonable to impute to Plato the belief, in this sense, that the moral life is a unity, and that the point of entry into the understanding of it is a grasp of what things are truly rewarding to the man whose spiritual constitution approximates, as closely as that of an embodied soul can approximate, to the true nature of the soul. In that case it will be the pursuit of those things that will deserve the title 'living well', and no more concrete account of living well, can, in face of the variation and complexity of the human predicament, be given; that pursuit, and nothing but that pursuit will be arete."
~I. M. Crombie

2 comments:

  1. Are you Kiernan's sister? Thanks for the follow! I just finished reading up on your opinions about Harry Potter. I love that series so much I wish I could erase my memory and go back and read it over again. Obliviate, much? So it was delightful to see it through your eyes, and I'm looking forward to the final two -- my #1 is a toss-up between them, can't ever quite decide.

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  2. I am indeed Kiernan's sister. I found your wonderful blog from a link on hers. :-)

    I'm so glad an experienced Potter reader could enjoy my posts! I've read the last two (by far my favorites), but I'm giving the posts on them a lot of thought. I would hate to jip a book as wonderful as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

    Have you read The Tales of Beedle the Bard?

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