PLATO'S TEACHER
SOCRATES WAS FOREVER
ASKING REALLY FOR THE
ESSENCE OF THINGS.
WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES
THE BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL?
WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES A
HUMAN BEING A HUMAN BEING?
WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF VIRTUE,
OR GOODNESS, OR NUMBER,
OR WHATEVER?
AND THAT BIT OF METHOD,
ASKING THAT QUESTION,
HAS BEEN CENTRAL TO
PHILOSOPHY EVER SINCE.
IT WAS PICKED UP BY PLATO
IN THE THEORY OF FORMS
AND BY ARISTOTLE WITH HIS
MUCH BETTER IDEA OF ESSENCES.
AND CONTINUES AS A VERY
POWERFUL INTUITION TODAY,
EVEN THOUGH AFTER DARWIN AND
IN THE WAKE OF MODERN SCIENCE
IN GENERAL, THE VERY
IDEA OF AN ESSENCE
BEGINS TO LOOK LIKE THE
ARTIFACT THAT I THINK IT IS.
IT'S AN ARTIFACT OF
PERSISTENT QUESTIONING
RATHER THAN SOMETHING THAT
WE REALLY FIND IN THE WORLD.
