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7.2: Two Kinds of Confusion

  • Page ID
    94545
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    See 517c-518b. Socrates has us consider what it would be like for an enlightened person to be “compelled, either in the courts or elsewhere, to compete about the shadows of justice, or about the statues of which they are the shadows, and to dispute the way these things are understood by people who have never seen justice itself.” Such a person would be confused, at least at first, blinded as if suddenly having stepped from sunlight into a dark room. Socrates contrasts this with the sort of confusion caused by stepping from darkness into the light.

    • What is it to be confused?

    • How might turning one’s attention from forms to particular things and images of particular things be confusing? Would the difficulty be in recognizing the particulars, in communicating to others the inadequacy of the particulars, or in something else?

    • How might turning one’s attention to forms for the first time beconfusing?

    • Is it bad to be confused?


    This page titled 7.2: Two Kinds of Confusion is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Douglas Drabkin.

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