You know what shape means, but you can not describe what actually it is by using a singe word.
You can not find all in the same.
Defination for sight:some of the effluences fit into the passage, some are too coarse and some are too fine.
Socrates always want to put everything has the same standard, which should not be true.
Just like the standard of beauty, every one has his or her own standard according to hi or hers judgement.
a man cannot know what he knows and what he does not know
Socrates make a short cut on the virtue and advantage. Personally, I don't think virtue is advantage. I mean they are not equal. There is no specific explainations in dictionaries point out that virtue is advantage. So I assume the topic about virtue and advantages is not completly logic.
Courage can be good or bad, it depend on different conditions. Learning and descipline, however, benifit all the time.
I do not agree that virtue is wisdom. Virtue is action process, and wisdom belons to ones mind thinking process.
Socrates无所畏惧,心情高尚快乐地等死;Cebes提起诗人Evenus问到从不作诗的Socrates为何在监狱里把伊索寓言译成了诗。Socrates解释说,总有梦提示其培育技艺,而Socrates向来理解为实践哲学的技艺(to practice the art of philosophy),但现在想想那梦也可能是指示写诗。Socrates又让Cebes转告Evenus要学习欢然盼死。这说法让人惊讶。
Socrates解释说哲学家应当是视死如归,却又不该自杀,“我们有天神守护,天神是我们的主子。…一个人不该自杀,该等天神的命令。”【柏拉图:《斐多》,杨绛译,三联书店2012年版,第12页,下同】而之所以欢然赴死,是因为会有一个更美好的未来:会到另一些聪明善良的天神那里去,还有更好的已死的人作伴。Socrates说,“许多人不懂哲学。真正的追求哲学,无非是学习死,学习处于死的状态(I am afraid that other people do not realize that the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death)。…我们认为死就是灵魂和肉体的分离;处于死的状态就是肉体离开了灵魂而独自存在,灵魂离开了肉体而独自存在(Is it anything else than the separation of the soul from the body? Do we believe that death is this, namely, that the body comes to be separated by itself apart from the soul, and the soul comes to be separated by itself apart from the body?)。”【14】
哲学家不挂念肉体的享乐,也不在意性爱(Pleasure of sex),尽可能躲开肉体,只关心自己的灵魂,“使灵魂超脱肉体”【16】;而在追求真纯的知识过程中,肉体是阻碍:仅仅为了需要营养,就产生了很多烦恼,“再加肉体使我们充满了热情、欲望、惧怕,各种胡思乱想和蒙昧,较我们连思想的功夫都没有了。”因而,“一个人观察事物的时候,应该单凭理智,思想里不掺合任何感觉,只运用单纯的、绝对的理智,从每件事物寻找单纯、绝对的实质,尽量撇开视觉、听觉——一句话,撇开整个肉身。”【18】Socrates建议,要尽量避免和肉体交往,保持灵魂的纯洁,直等到神解脱我们(not infected with its nature but purify ourselves from it until the god himself frees us)。因此,“真正的哲学家,经常是最急切地要解脱灵魂。…在一切世人中间,惟独他们最不怕死。”【20】
哲学家追求智慧,而美德通过智慧得到,“不论是勇敢或节制或公正,反正一切真正的美德都是由智慧得到的。…没有智慧,这种那种交易的美德只是假冒的,底子里是奴性,不健全,也不真实。真实是清除了这种虚假而得到的净化。自制呀,公正呀,勇敢呀,包括智慧本身都是一种净化(With this we have real courage and moderation and justice and, in a word, true virtue, with wisdom…Exchanged for one another without wisdom such virtue is only an illusory appearance of virtue; it is in fact fit for slaves, without soundness or truth, whereas, in truth, moderation and courage and justice are a purging away of all such things, and wisdom itself is a kind of cleansing or purification.)。”【22】“神秘主义者(Bacchant,酒神祭司)只是少数。照我的解释,神秘主义者就是指真正的哲学家。”【23】
一方面,Socrates诉诸古老的转世回生学说,即Orphic教义:诞生在这个世界上的灵魂,是从人死时去的另一世界返回来的灵魂。并且用一切事物都是相反相生(all things come to be in this way, opposites from opposites)的原理来证成。“生和死既是相反的两件事,生和死之间的变化,也无非是变过来又变过去呀!生和死不就是相反相生的吗?”【26】如果不是这样,则世上一切岂不叫死吞没了?
Socrates说,这种沉迷肉体的灵魂来世大概会投生为骡子、狼或鹰鹫等畜生;那些不懂哲学或理性,凭习惯和平公正的人则可能变成蜜蜂、黄蜂、蚂蚁或人等;唯独爱好智慧的哲学家,“死后灵魂纯洁,才可以和天神交往(to the company of the gods…成为诸神的同伴)。”【45】
“热爱知识的人...看到自己的灵魂完全是焊接在肉体上。它要寻找真实,却不能自由观看,只能透过肉体来看,好比从监狱的栅栏里张望。他这个灵魂正沉溺在极端的愚昧里。哲学呢,让人明了,灵魂受监禁是为了肉欲,所以监禁它的主要帮手正是囚徒自己;这一点是最可怕的事(The lovers of learning know that when philosophy gets hold of their soul, it is imprisoned in and clinging to the body, and that it is forced to examine other things through it as through a cage and not by itself, and that it wallows in every kind of ignorance. Philosophy sees that the worst feature of this imprisonment is that it is, due to desires, so that the prisoner himself is contributing to his own incarceration most of all)。”【46】哲学教导处于这种境界的灵魂,温和地鼓励它,设法解放它,“尽量离弃感觉,凝静自守,一心依靠自己,只相信自己抽象思索里的那个抽象的实体。”【46】哲学家的灵魂“靠哲学解放了自己,获得了自由,就不肯再让自己承受欢乐和痛苦的束缚…哲学家的灵魂相信它应当摒绝欢乐和痛苦的情感,在平静中生存;应当追随理智,永远跟着理智走。它认识到什么是真实而神圣的,就单把这个作为自己的粮食。这是认识,不是什么意见或主张。”【47-48】这样受教养的灵魂不会被风吹灭。补充了天鹅颂。
接下来Socrates回应了Cebes的(机械论解释的)质疑。Socrates回忆了自己早年的思想经历:青年时热衷于研究自然科学,想要知道世间万物的原因。但结果导致怀疑一切,感到连最日常事件的道理都不能理解。后来读到Anaxagoras的书,讲到“世间万物都由智慧的心灵安排,也是由智慧的心灵发生的。…我想…智慧的心灵在安排世间万物时,准把每一件东西都安排和建立得各得其所、各尽其妙(it is Mind that directs and is the cause of everything. I thought that if this were so, the directing Mind would direct everything and arrange each thing in the way that was best)。”【66】Socrates服膺Anaxagoras的唯心论,却发现Anaxagoras并没有应用其心灵理论,而是把原因和原因所附带的必要条件混淆了。
Socrates开始了第二次求索,“我得依靠概念,从概念里面追究事物的真相。…反正我思想里的概念,是我用来追究一切事物本相的出发点。凡是我认为牢不可破的原则,我就根据这个原则来做种种假设。一切论证,不问是关于原因或别的东西,只要和我这个原则相符合,就是真实的;不符合就不真实(I thought I must take refuge in discussions and investigate the truth of things by means of words… I started in this manner: taking as my hypothesis in each case the theory that seemed to me the most compelling, I would consider as true, about cause and everything else, whatever agreed with this, and as untrue whatever did not so agree)。”【69】
接下来Socrates解释其原因理论:“如果你们也承认这点,认为这种种绝对的东西是存在的,我相信我能把我追究的原因向你们讲明,并且证明灵魂不朽(If you grant me these and agree that they exist, I hope to show you the cause as a result, and to find the soul to be immortal)。”【69】首先设定绝对的美、绝对的善、绝对的大等一类事物的存在。而“绝对的美之外的任何美的事物之所以是美的,那是因为它们分有绝对的美(if there is anything beautiful besides the Beautiful itself, it is beautiful for no other reason than that it shares in that Beautiful)。”【70】
在讲述中,Phaedo追忆说,“大家也都同意存在着做各种型(eidos),与这些型同名的其他事物之所以得名的原因在于分有型(it was agreed that each of the Forms existed, and that other things acquired their name by having a share in them)。”【72】型本身绝不变,也绝不会相反相生【74】;而某些事物的特征就是分有型,排斥型的反面【76】。身体因灵魂而有生命,生命是灵魂的必要伴随物,灵魂总是带着生命来到它存在的任何肉体。生命与死互相排斥,灵魂不会接纳死亡,灵魂是不朽的。【在这里灵魂被理解为型,而生命则是分有型(灵魂)的事物】“一个人死了,属于凡人的部分就死掉了,不朽的部分就完好无损地离开了死亡。”【80】
Simmias表示同意Socrates的结论,但仍有疑虑。“我们谈论的题目太大,我又很瞧不起世人的虚弱,所以我对刚才的议论,心眼儿里免不了还有点儿疑疑惑惑(in view of the importance of our subject and my low opinion of human weakness, I am bound still to have some private misgivings about what we have said)。”【81】Socrates补充说,原先的假设也应该细加考察。这预示着论证不是完整的【81,型式论、回忆说,转生传说等都是假设】。不过Socrates转入了一个实践的论述,“假如灵魂是不朽的,那么它要求我们不仅在被我们称作活着的这部分时间照料它,而且要在所有时间照料它。”【121】灵魂是不朽的,它不能逃避邪恶,也不能由其他任何方法得救,除非尽力改善自己,尽力寻求智慧。
最后Socrates讲了一个关于地球和灵魂的故事:地球是圆的,很大;有人生活在地球上面的世界,比我们生活的地方纯净优美,“他们也有神圣的林荫路和神庙。真有天神住在那庙里。他们能和天神交往,或是听到天神的语言,或是受到天神的启示,或是看见天神显形。”【86】最深处是地狱(Tartarus)。地下有四条大河:大洋河、苦河(连着苦湖)、火河和冥河(都连着地狱)。人死了,守护神就会把亡灵带去受审。没作过恶的渡过苦河在苦湖里洗练;作恶深重的投入地狱永不出来,也有较轻一点的被地狱抛出,从冥河回到苦湖;德行出众的,不到下界去,上升住到地球的表面上去了。那些经过哲学充分涤罪的人,将没有身体,住到更美好的地方去了。Socrates补充说,“当然,一个稍有头脑的人,决不会把我所形容的都当真。但是我的描述或其他类似的描述真的解释了我们的灵魂及其将来的居所。因为我们有清楚的证据表明灵魂是不朽的,我想这既是合理的意向,又是一种值得冒险的信仰,因为这种冒险是高尚的(No sensible man would insist that these things are as I have described them, but I think it is fitting for a man to risk the belief—for the risk is a noble one—that this, or something like this, is true about our souls and their dwelling places, since the soul is evidently immortal)。”【90】
关于死亡,也许对我们来说,很难做到像苏格拉底那样坦然地面对,也难将死亡作为幸福和快乐。但至少,他关于死亡以及轮回的描述,让我们从另一个视角了解了死亡,一个不同于唯物主义的视角。长久以来,接受唯物主义教育的我们,被称作没有信仰的民族。当结识的外国友人问我“Do you have faith?”时,我也不知究竟该如何作答。显然,我们不必把西方的信仰作为我们的信奉,只要加以了解,或许在思考很多问题时,我们就不会那么困惑。