Blog Post #4 - Noah Weinstein

Hi everyone,

For this week’s post, I will be discussing the ancient Greeks’ concerns regarding the written word, particularly those of Plato and Socrates. In Platos’ Phaedrus, Socrates and Phaedrus engage in a long discussion during which they weigh the advantages and disadvantages of writing. They compare it to dialogue, which Socrates clearly much prefers. He explains that writing does not have a soul, meaning it cannot defend itself nor explain itself to readers. Furthermore, he believes that it enables forgetfulness as readers become reliant on information being written down rather than remembering it. Plato and Socrates lived in a society dominated by the spoken word which raises the question; given their views on written text, what would they think of the world we live in today? Today, society would not function without written text. It is how we spread and preserve all information and communicate with each other. Instant messaging and email are some of the most common and important methods of communication, Google is the most popular way to find information about virtually anything, and neither would be possible without the written word. The list of its uses is endless. I personally believe that despite Plato and Socrates’ concerns, they would be impressed with the way writing has become an important medium within society. They would likely be appreciative of how its use has advanced the way we communicate. Their concerns would almost all still be valid even today, but I believe that they would be impressed with how society has adapted to overcome these drawbacks and function incredibly efficiently despite them, given our reliance on writing.