INTERVIEWER: It was a matter of
disconnecting and then reconnecting?
PROFESSOR: That is a beautiful
way of thinking about it,
because disconnection isn't permanent.
It's reconnection that's permanent.
What does the story
really tell that's so
powerful about the
ancient idea of a hero?
There is often a surface meaning and
then a meaning underneath the surface.
So it's a colorful
interpretation, it's a challenge.
In ancient Greek song culture,
the word that means meaning
is also the word that
means tomb of the hero.
And the meanings all seem to
concentrate on the death of a hero,
and what happens after the death.
And after Socrates is
long dead, his mind
is still wandering and seeking
the ultimate contemplation.
A wandering for what?
To achieve a privileged vantage
point, a special vision.
And that process is dialogue.
If the word lives by being
constantly reengaged with,
then the vitality of these things
that mean more than anything
to humans, or should, can go on.
It's inter-generational, it's
intercultural, and, best of all,
it's potentially eternal.
