Returning to the discussion of the True vs. the Good: One way of looking at it could be be through the lens of two maxims, "Know Thyself" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Self-knowledge without love is sterile, love without self-knowledge is blind. We can all point to people who, through lack of wisdom, harm with their love; this is often the criticism of the golden rule as a moral mandate. Therefore, love requires knowledge, and I would venture to say that it requires us to know ourselves well so as to properly relate to others. At the same time, Socrates could not accomplish his task of finding self-knowledge without a partner, and often a relatively inconsequential one according to matters of wisdom and virtue. From this one can see how love and humility are essential for the quest of knowledge.
2 comments:
This sounds like a great book or dissertation topic! Or at least a published article! :)
Really? I was just spouting off a random thought that had come into my head. Though I guess, come to think about it, that there may be a little bit in the Bible and Platonic dialogues concerning the relation between wisdom and love.
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