Comedy, Tragedy, and the Truth1
To indicate why this element of comedy is of crucial importance in Plato I read to you a few lines from the only Platonist I know of who had an appreciation of this element, Sir Thomas More. I quote: ‘For to prove that this life is no laughing time, but rather the time of weeping, we find that our s...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2003
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| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2003, Volume: 54, Issue: 2, Pages: 601-613 |
| Further subjects: | B
Book review
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | To indicate why this element of comedy is of crucial importance in Plato I read to you a few lines from the only Platonist I know of who had an appreciation of this element, Sir Thomas More. I quote: ‘For to prove that this life is no laughing time, but rather the time of weeping, we find that our saviour himself wept twice or thrice, but never find that he laughed as much as once…’ (Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, chap. 13). If we compare what More said about Jesus with what Plato tells us about Socrates, we find that ‘Socrates laughed twice or thrice, but never find that he wept as much as once.’ A slight bias in favor of laughing and against weeping seems to be essential to philosophy., Leo Strauss |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/54.2.601 |