Plato’s best (and worst) ideas - Wisecrack

Translator: Sune Vilsted Østergaard Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Few individuals have influenced the world and many of today's thinkers like Plato.

Få individer har påvirket verden og mange af dens nutidige tænkere ligesom Platon.

One 20th century philosopher even went so far

En filosof fra det 20. århundrede gik så langt til

as to describe all of Western philosophy as a series of footnotes to Plato.

til at beskrive alt vestlig filosofi, som en serie af fodnoter til Platon.

He created the first Western university

Han skabte det første vestlige universitet,

and was teacher to Ancient Greece's greatest minds,

og underviste det antikke Grækenlands største begavelser

including Aristotle.

inklusiv Aristoteles.

But even one of the founders of philosophy wasn't perfect.

Men selv en af grundlæggerne af filosofi var ikke perfekt.

Along with his great ideas,

Sammen med hans store idéer

Plato had a few that haven't exactly stood the test of time.

havde Platon nogle stykker, der ikke har stået tidens tand.

So here are brief rundowns of a few of his best and worst ideas.

Så her en kort gennemgang af nogle af hans bedste og værste idéer.

Plato argued that beyond our imperfect world

Platon sagde at udover vores uperfekte verden

was a perfect unchanging world of Forms.

var der en perfekt og uforanderlig verden af former,

Forms are the ideal versions of the things and concepts we see around us.

Former er den ideelle version af de ting og koncepter, vi ser omkring os.

They serve as a sort of instruction manual to our own world.

De fungerer som en slags brugsanvisning til vores egen verden.

Floating around the world of Forms is the ideal tree,

Svævende rundt om formerne er det ideelle træ,

and the ideal YouTube channel,

og den ideelle YouTube-kanal,

and even the ideal justice,

og endda den ideelle retfærdighed

or ideal love.

eller ideelle kærlighed.

Our own reality is comprised of imperfect copies of ideal Forms.

Vores egen virkelighed består af uperfekte kopier af ideelle former.

Plato argued that philosophers should strive to contemplate

Platon sagde, at filosoffer burde bestræbe sig på at overveje

and understand these perfect Forms

og forstå disse perfekte former,

so that they may better navigate our misleading reality.

så de bedre kunne navigere i vores misledende virkelighed.

While it may seem silly,

Selvom det måske virker fjollet,

the disconnect between the world as it appears

så er adskillelsen mellem verden, som den fremstår,

and the greater truth behind it

og den større sandhed bag den,

is one of philosophy's most vexing problems.

et af filosofiens største spørgsmål.

It's been the subject of thousands of pages by theologians,

Det har været emne for tusindvis af sider af teologer,

philosophers,

filosoffer

and screenwriters alike.

og manuskriptforfattere ligeså.

It raises questions like should we trust our senses to come to the truth

Den stiller spørgsmål ved, hvorvidt vi burde stole på vores sanser for sandheden

or our own reason?

eller på vores egen fornuft?

For Plato, the answer is reason.

For Platon var svaret enkelt.

It alone provides us with at least the potential to contemplate the Forms.

Kun dét kan i det mindste give os mulighed for at overveje formerne.

But reason didn't always pan out for Plato himself.

Men fornuft har ikke altid båret sig ad for Platon selv.

When he sought to situate humankind amongst the animals,

Da han forsøgte, at placere menneskeheden blandt dyr,

he lumped us in with birds.

så grupperede han os sammen med fugle.

"Featherless bipeds" was his official designation.

"Fjerløse tobenede" var hans officielle betegnelse.

Diogenes the Cynic, annoyed by this definition,

Kynikeren Diogenes, der var irriteret af denne definition,

stormed into Plato's class with a plucked chicken,

stormede ind i Platons klasse med en plukket høne,

announcing, "Behold. Plato's man."

og påberåbte, "Se, Platons menneske."

But back to a few good ideas.

Men tilbage til nogle gode idéer.

Plato is one of the earliest political theorists on record,

Platon er en af de tidligste politiske teoretikere til dato,

and with Aristotle, is seen as one of the founders of political science.

og sammen med Aristoteles, anset for en af grundlæggerne af politisk videnskab.

He reasoned that being a ruler was no different than any other craft,

Han bebudede, at det at være hersker ikke var anerledes end andre håndværk,

whether a potter or doctor,

om det så var pottermager eller læge,

and that only those who had mastered the craft were fit to lead.

og at kun dem, der havde mestret håndværket var egnede til at regere.

Ruling was the craft of contemplating the Forms.

At regere handlede om at kunne reflektere over formerne.

In his Republic, Plato imagined a utopia where justice is the ultimate goal.

I 'Staten' forestillede Platon sig et utopi, hvor retfærdighed var det ultimative mål.

Plato's ideal city seeks a harmonious balance between its individual parts

Platons ideal stat søger en harmonisk balance mellem dens individuelle dele,

and should be lead by a philosopher king.

og skulle ledes af en filosof-konge.

Millennia before his time,

Årtusinder før hans tid

Plato also reasoned that women were equally able to rule in this model city.

mente Platon også, at kvinder var lige så egnede til at regere i hans stat.

Unfortunately, Plato was inconsistent with women,

Desværre var Platon inkonsekvent, når det handlede om kvinder,

elsewhere likening them to children.

og sammenlignede dem med børn.

He also believed that a woman's womb was a live animal

Han mente også, at en kvindes livmoder var et levende dyr,

that could wander around in her body and cause illness.

der kunne vandre rundt i hendes krop og gøre hende syg.

This bad idea, also espoused by other contemporaries of Plato,

Denne dårlige idé, som andre af Platons samtidige også var fortalere for,

was sadly influential for hundreds of years in European medicine.

var desværre indflydelsesrig i hundredvis af år i europæisk medicin.

Furthermore, he thought that society should be divided into three groups:

Han mente endviddere, at samfundet skulle inddeles i tre grupper:

producers,

producenter,

the military,

militæret

and the rulers,

og herskerne,

and that a great noble lie should convince everyone to follow this structure.

og at en stor, nobel løgn ville overbevise alle om at følge denne struktur.

The noble lie he proposed

Den noble løgn, han foreslog,

was that we're all born with gold, silver, or a mixture of brass and iron

var at vi alle er født med guld, sølv eller en blanding af messing og metal

in our souls,

i vores sjæle,

which determine our roles in life.

som bestemmer vores roller i livet.

Some thinkers have gone on to credit the idea of the noble lie

Nogle tænkere er gået så langt til at kreditere idéen om den noble løgn

as a prototype for 20th century propaganda,

som en protoype for propaganda i det 20. århundrede,

and the philosopher king as inspiration for the dictators that used them.

og filosof-kongen som en inspiration for diktatorne, der bruger dem.

Should a few bad ideas

Skal nogle dårlige idéer

tarnish Plato's status as one of the greatest philosophers in history?

ødelægge Platons status som en af de største filosoffer i historien?

No!

Nej!

Plato gave the leaders and thinkers who came after him a place to start.

Platon gav ledere og tænkere, som kom efter ham et sted at starte.

Through the centuries,

Gennem århundrederne

we've had the chance to test those ideas through writing and experience,

har vi haft chancen for at teste disse idéer gennem skrivning og erfaring,

and have accepted some while rejecting others.

og har accepteret nogle, mens man har afslået andre.

We are continuing to refine, amend, and edit his ideas

Vi fortsætter med at raffinere, rette og redigere hans idéer,

which have become foundations of the modern world.

som er blevet grundlag for den moderne verden.