Writing and _The Phaedrus_

Hello all, at the risk of seeming overly pretentious I thought some of you might be interested in reading the section from Plato that Ong refers to. I think it fits nicely into a discussion about orality and writing.

-Dave

Socrates: Well, then, I heard that at Naucratis in Egypt there lived on of the ancient gods of that region, the one whose sacred bird they called Ibis. The name of the divine being himself is Theuth. He was the first to invent mathematics, geometry, and astronomy, as well as backgammon and dice, and moreover, written letters. At that time Thamus was king of all of Egypt around the great city of the upper region that the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes. They call the god Ammon. Theuth came to Thamus and demonstrated his arts, saying that they ought to be passed on to the rest of the Egyptians. Thamus asked about the usefulness of each and, as Theuth went through them, condemned some and praised others, depending on whether Theuth's claims seemed well-taken or not. It's said that Thamus presented many points both for and against each art, which would take a long speech to report, but when it came to letters, Theuth said, "This branch of learning, your majesty, will make the Egyptians wiser and improve their memories, for I've discovered a magic potion for memory and wisdom." But Thamus replied, "Most artful Theuth, while one person is able to create the products of art, another is able to judge what harms or benefits they hold for those who intend to use them. Now you, the father of letters, as a result of your affection for them, are stating the opposite of what their effect will be. Of people learn them it will make their souls forget through the lack of exercising their memory. They'll put trust in the external marks of writing instead of using their own internal capacity for remembering on their own. You've discovered a magic potion not for memory, but for reminding, and you offer you pupils apparent, not true, wisdom. After they have heard many things from you, but without instruction, they will seem to be very knowledgeable when they are for the most part ignorant, and they will be hard to get along with, since they will have only the appearance of wisdom instead of really being wise.

...

In a way, Phaedrus, writing has a strange character, which is similar to that of painting, actually. Painting's creations stand there as though they were alive, but if you ask them anything, they maintain a quite solemn silence. Speeches are the same way. You might expect them to speak like intelligent beings, but if you question them with the intention of learning something about what they're saying, they always just continue saying the same thing. Every speech, once it's in writing, is bandied about everywhere equally among those who understand and those who have no business having it. It doesn't know to whom it ought to speak and to who not. When it's ill-treated and unfairly abused, it always needs its father to help it, since it isn't able to help or defend itself by itself (The Phaedrus, 132-133)