Build Your Own Philosophy, Period 2, 1/11/10

[tyler_gone]

The quote on the board today says:

"If that which knows and that which is known always exist, and the beautiful and the good and every other thing also exist, then I do not think that they can resemble a process of flux, as we were just now supposing." - Plato

Tyler barely glanced at it; he was preoccupied tossing a small red rubber ball at each student as they took a seat. "There. Now everyone has a ball," he said. "The question we're looking at today is if it's really a ball. We're talking about Plato's theory of forms. Plato was Greek and worked during the fourth and fifth centuries BC, and some people will tell you he pretty much came up with Western thought."

"What Plato believed, and I'm simplifying like crazy, is that nothing that we see is really real. Things that are really real are perfect, and permanent, and can never be touched. That's the world of Forms, capital F. What we live in is the world of mimes, which is kind of a Xerox of the world of Forms. The things we see, smell, touch -- they look kind of like the real things, but they can't be perfect, because they change. Look at your toys; they all came out of the same factory, all cost the same amount, but no two are exactly alike. The rubber's a little different, the ink smudged, there's a scratch ... something. But we all know what a ball is because we carry around this ideal image of the Form of a ball in our heads. Not one of you could draw a perfect circle or a perfect straight line if I asked -- no one can -- but we all know what they are."

"What you're doing today is trying to describe something the way it might exist in the World of Forms. The perfect, eternal version. Pair up and pick something off the list. Don't be surprised if one person's perfection doesn't wow someone else."

"I'm here if you need me."

Comments

Sign In [1/11]

[tyler_gone]

Like you are perfection.

Re: Sign In [1/11]

[not_tylerdurden]

Calvin

General Class Stuff [1/11]

[tyler_gone]

Listen. Play with your balls. Giggle at that last sentence.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Joan bounced her ball a little as she listened to Tyler's lecture.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[trigons_child]

Raven was in a good mood this morning as she idly rolled her ball around on the top of her desk.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

Hayley may have let out a gasp at the thought of a 'world of mimes' before Tyler actually explained what it meant.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Boingy. Boingy. boingy. boingy boing...

The perfect anything couldn't exist. Weeeird.

boingy.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

Marco was having a lot of fun just bouncing his ball up and down. It was a bit hypnotic.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[intraspective]

Ino's head kinda hurt at this whole idea. Ow. Thinking. If reality wasn't reality then what did that even mean when you added illusions onto something that wasn't real in the first place?

Ow.

Ino fiddled with the ball he'd thrown at her and looked thoughtful.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir listened to the lecture and considered his ball. He also considered Forms and what this Plato man was saying about reality.

And utterly disagreed, down to the last cell of his being.

It was an idea, though, and one he could understand exactly because he disagreed with it.

...he was suddenly very glad he'd signed up for this class.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[not_tylerdurden]

Spaceman Spiff frowned as he examined the famed Orb of Narf, high holy relic of the Gundi. His eyes widened as he noticed the colour of the Mark of Vus.

The Orb of Narf was a fake.

If the Gundi found out, it would lead to insterstellar war.

Giving Calvin something to play with in class mightn't have been the best strategy for retaining his attention.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[lovemykilt]

Priestly had totally heard the whole cave analogy before, and hadn't bought it then, either. He spun his ball around in circles and tried to work out how to state his point without just saying "the perfection is in the imperfection!"

Re: General Class Stuff [1/11]

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

Mulan listened to the lecture as she idly bounced her ball.

Activity [1/11]

[tyler_gone]

Pair up and try to describe the perfect Form of one of the following:

- A slice of pizza
- A chair
- A car
- A painting
- A dress
- A fistfight
- A shoe
- A doll

Re: Activity [1/11]

[trigons_child]

Raven tilted her head and stared at the list. She had no idea what a perfect form would be for half of those items. Especially a fight.

Re: Activity [1/11]

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak's dubious face was once again dubious as he messed around with the ball. These philosophers really needed something better to do with their time.

Re: Activity [1/11]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"The perfect shoe?" Dinah said aloud, wondering. "Mahnolo Blanik boots, maybe..."

She'd also noticed that yay, Jak was back. In one piece. Playing with a little red ball. Safe 'til next time.

Re: Activity [1/11]

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

"Pepperoni, cheese in the crust, no real tomatoes in the tomato sauce and no fancy spices anywhere." Marco very quickly said, reading over the list.

Re: Activity [1/11]

[intraspective]

It was... really no surprise that Ino's attention had mostly been drawn to the whole 'fight' option, right?

And she was just going to mull over that one on her own until someone joined her. Mmmmm.

Re: Activity [1/11]

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

Mulan glanced at the list, unsure of what a few of those things were. She considered the things she did know, deciding how she could describe any of them as perfect.

Talk to the TAs [1/11]

[tyler_gone]

Of course they are perfect.

Re: Talk to the TAs [1/11]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Totally perfect, yes.

And here. If anyone wanted her for anything.

Re: Talk to the TAs [1/11]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir was, in fact, a perfect form of imperfection.

He was also around.

Talk to Tyler [1/11]

[tyler_gone]

Who doesn't really believe in perfection, but who can bounce a ball pretty high.

Re: Talk to Tyler [1/11]

[intraspective]

"Flying cars, Tyl--Mr. Durden?" Ino inquired archly after class.

OOC [1/11]

[tyler_gone]

Will pick up pings in the a.m.!