Out of the Cave

It had been raining all night, so I didn’t get to go on the trails, but was stuck on the greenbelt sidewalk. Listening to Crosby, Stills, and Nash, on Pandora, I thought about Plato’s Cave Allegory. (If you’re a visual type, I’ve included links to two illustrations of the cave.) 

https://tamayaosbc.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/platocave.jpg

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Basically, the cave sets up an understandably unreal situation in which a group chained in a cave is deceived into thinking the shadows of puppets created by a fire are real men. One escapes and sees the sun and real humans. When he returned to the cave to try to tell the others that everything they know is false, they won’t believe him. In fact, they become downright belligerent.  

I was always critical of this story for two reasons because , 1) of the elitist position that it was trying to establish—that Socrates alone knew the truth and 2) that the escapee didn’t return to lead those who in the cave out, but to convince them while they were in the cave that he knew better than they. Now, I realize that’s a harsh reading of the Allegory of the Cave. I didn’t realize how hard I was being on Plato until I started running. 

I’m sure you have had a similar experience to mine. Tell someone about endurance running. I’m not trying to convert them or convince them that they should take up running. But, before I’ve gotten very far they start to give me all the reasons they don’t take up running: a bum knee, sciatica, they can’t get up that early, they’ve heard weight lighting is better (even though they don’t have a gym membership.)

Me, I’m just trying to tell them about the experience. That’s something we’ve all felt too. I won’t try to describe it because I know I can't do it justice. I just know when I’m out trail running, I’m out of the cave. I’m in the real.

Listening instead of Reading Plato

At a conference I attended this winter at Quinnipiac University, I was discussing favorite philosophers with a colleague at the bar. (Yeah, that’s what we do at academic conferences.) He favored Derrida, but had a soft spot for Kant; a strange combination. I was reading William James and Charles Sanders Peirce at the time. I mentioned that I was listening to the Socratic Dialogues on tape while running. I’d listened to all of them by then, at least the ones I could find recording of. He asked me what I had learned so far. Had to think about that for a while.

Here’s a brief list of what you get when you listen to the dialogues rather than read them, when you approach them orally rather than textually.  

1. Plato was a funny guy; some passages of the dialogues are roll-on-the-ground funny. Most are obviously satirical. (Notable exception: The Laws, which are also quite boring.)
2. Plato may have had a love/hate relationship with Socrates; such tension is common in mentor relationships; he sometimes depicts Socrates as senile.  
3. Plato was as sophistic as they come; Though he (Often I'm not sure if I'm hearing Plato or Socrates) insisted on the truth from others, he wasn’t above lying to them himself, as long as it was for their own good;
4. Plato/Socrates wasn’t a philosopher. His main goal was improving the virtue of Athens. His philosophy is actually a theory of education. Read the dialogues that way and the inconsistencies disappear.
5. Socrates, as depicted by Plato, was passionate about one thing, Athens; that’s why . . .
6. In Plato’s version of The Apology, Socrates wanted to die for Athens; He intentionally threw the trial. The only fate for a virtuous man in Athens was death.

Perspective

From The Apology of Socrates:

“O my friend, why do you who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? Are you not ashamed of this?

“I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue come money and every other good of man, public as well as private.”

From Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall: “There are two goddesses in your heart,” he (Dr. Joe Vigil) told them (young ultra runners when the sport was starting to attract sponsors and money.) “The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you.” 

Plato recognized that there were things more important than money. So did Joe Vigil. Even after all this good advice, we still have problems putting our priorities in perspective. What does this have to do with philosophy and running? Aren’t both about putting your life in perspective, finding some balance, setting priorities?

The Comic Plato; or, why I have to sometimes stop running because I'm laughing so hard.

If you want an idea of how wickedly funny Plato could be, listen to the first few minutes of the LibriVox recording of Charmides as performed by Geoffrey Edwards. https://librivox.org/search?q=Charmides&search_form=advanced. Legend has it that Plato wanted to be a playwright; but Socrates refused to be his teacher unless Plato gave up on that ambition. Edwards's reading of Charmides suggests that Plato might have been a talented playwright, especially a comic playwright--and that he wasn't above poking a little fun at his erstwhile teacher.

Mission Nature Trail in Spring

Experts? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Experts!

Socrates argued that when you wanted to learn something you went to an expert. If you wanted to become a boxer, you went to a trainer. If you wanted to become healthy, you went to a doctor. He was sold on experts. Of course, one thing he didn’t come up against is the plethora of experts we have to deal with today. If I want to become a better running, I can go to the local running gear store. The people who work there are experts. I can subscribe to several magazines. There are dozens of websites. I can even hire a coach. You don’t have to read the magazines and websites very long to realize that there’s a basic problem with all that expertise: everyone disagrees with each other. One tells you that zero rise shoes that mimic bare feet is best to avoid knee injuries; then someone else writes about a study that showed an increase in foot injuries with zero rise shoes. The advice is out there; the experts are speaking. And is a cacophony of nonsense. 

Now, that doesn’t mean you should be ignorant. Read, listen, talk to the experts—then decide for yourself. You are the best expert for you own body. Test the newest trend. See what works for you. Zero rise tightens my hamstrings until I can’t walk; a friend gets shooting pains in his knees from anything but Mismo five fingers. 

Listen to the experts; but trust yourself.

The Three Sisters Trail at Hill Country State Natural Area

No Pain, No Gain

In Gorgias, Socrates argues with Calicles about which is better, pain or pleasure. (I always mispronounce Calicles’s name, calling him Caligula, the infamous Roman emperor, perhaps because Caligula lived out the life Calicles argued in favor of.) Calicles argues that pleasure is the most desirable state, and that we spend all our energy trying to get out of pain of any kind and have a life of complete pleasure. He is so convinced of this that he insists that Socrates is simply lying, and would seek pleasure if he only had the courage.

You’ve probably seen the Calicles type. He’s the one in the line at the all-you-can-eat buffet with two plates, each piled so high that those around him watch warily. 

We all know the adage, “No pain, no gain.” Along with Socrates, we know that avoiding pain has consequences. 

Those consequences can have to do with running, for instance when preparing for a race. Put in enough miles in the weeks leading up to the race and you may find yourself waking up sore and stiff every morning. Don’t put in enough miles and you might “hit the wall,” and not finish the race. Those consequences can have to do with school or life: We all know how painful reading a boring textbook can be. Yet, don’t read it and experience another pain, the pain of a grade you didn’t want to see.