November 24, 2024 | Written by Marie Sassine
As students of philosophy, and that is what we all are and must remain, it is good to reflect occasionally on what brought us to study this particular discipline. What was the original impetus? What were we trying to solve? No doubt, the response is likely to be somewhat different for each one of us. Yet, if we look closely we might find a common thread that inspires and nourishes our enterprise. Plato, the originator of the Western tradition of philosophy as a systematic and rigorous discipline, offers two significant points of departure that actually also end up guiding our philosophical path. The first is wonder and the second is unity underlying contradictory perceptions.
Most of us are familiar with the first element: wonder is the beginning of wisdom, of sophia. We may not, however, fully appreciate that wonder can only be the child of true and full presence. Normally we see the world and ourselves through a set of seemingly solid ideas and history. But when Plato says ϑαυμα αρχη της σοϕιας, wonder is the beginning of wisdom, he is talking about the radical shift that occurs when we see the world and our place in it as if for the first time. Wonder only arises when we are fully in the present- mysterious, open, and the only source of answers and questions. In this situation, the possibility of choice dimly arises, as an intimation of liberty. And the question of what is true is in this open present no longer turned toward the past or anywhere outside the self.
In turning to the present, however, and suspending ready-made explanations, we cannot help but notice that appearance does not present itself under the same and constant guise. The world remains recognizable as a world in its totality, but the appearance gives itself over to us in many and often contradictory modalities. Plato tells us in The Republic that it is precisely these contrary perceptions that truly awaken reflection. Contradictory perceptions stimulate the soul toward enquiry, toward dialogue with itself — for reflection is essentially dialogic work. The need for interpretation, and for a resolution, is what moves the dialogue forward. The contrary nature of perception calls for an explication. Why? Because the very structure of the appearance of things in their multiplicity, mutability and ambiguity contains at the same time a perception of unity, of identity. Indeed, this is what the discovery and mathematics teach us, that there is essentially a harmony in the cosmos, a fundamental unity. That is why Plato insisted that philosophers study mathematics and music. But the harmony in the cosmos could only be consciously translated into human ideas and action through disciplined enquiry: philosophy fuelled by the practice dialectic. To attain a measure of the unity seen in the cosmos, the soul must also turn this dialogic examination upon itself. This is the work of philosophy and Plato gives us two starting points to which we must always return. Firstly, to return afresh to the wonder that arises when we are fully present and that inspires us to seek what is true. Secondly, to ask what it is that allows us to perceive contradictory perceptions, what is constant and true and how can we know it.
About the Author
Marie Sassine is a current senior student with The School of Practical Philosophy for over 30 years.
