Nature's own good

"Man selects only for his own good; Nature only for that of the being which she tends." (P. 177)


I found this quotation interesting because in today's world, scientists perceive nature as being its own mega organism and we are the smaller organisms living on it. Also, the entire idea of global warming is based on humans using excess amounts of natural resources that is causing the Earth to be polluted and eventually cause some kind of self destruction. In the world of big cars and factories, which cause mass amounts of pollution man is clearly not selecting for their own good, proving this quote to be false.

How long can the soul live?

"The image illustrates, I think, the relationship of the soul to the body, and anyone who says the same thing about them would appear to me to be talking sense, that the soul lasts a long time while the body is weaker and more short lived." (p.38)


Yes, the body is short lived and they are not certain if the soul is immortal. But, can it be true that the soul can live through the ideas of the person deceased? Meaning through their life-long journey of living and teaching, their soul lives on as their ideas are being thought about by the public. Because the concepts that are mentioned in the book are invisible, just as they describe soul.

jury's decision

Entire paragraph (bottom 41-top 42) "let us reflect in this way..."


Even at this point, after being sentenced to death Socrates still uses rhetoric to convince himself that death really is not such a bad thing after all. However, if a believer in the god would be having the same discussion their reaction to there being just a deep sleep would most likely frighten them. As opposed to Socrates, who sees it as a win win situation.

Plato??

"it is not being seen becauseit is a thing seen but on the contrary..."


I really was confused with the passage. I was interested in the back and forth notion of cause and effect. But overall I no idea how the context fit in the play.

Plato??

"it is not being seen because it is a thing seen but on the contrary it is a thing seen...." (p.11).

I have no idea what this writing signifies. It is very confusing to me.

Hoja and Narrator

"We heard she died of plague. Why haven't croaked as well? Without saying a word Hoja went down the stairs and left the house. As I followed him I heard the child shouting behind me and a women answering him: 'The lions were here, Mother!' 'No child, your uncle and his brother!'... p. 129


The quotation makes the situation in determining if Hoja and the narrator are in fact separate or the same person more difficult. The lion imagery is also another new motif that is brought up in this quote. It suggests that they are related by blood, however the narrator does not know the supposed family that they are interrupting for no apparent reason.

weapon

"Even four years later, when the little stain had been transformed into a bizarre creature as tall as a grande mosque, a terrifying apparition which all Istanbul talked about and Hoja called a real machine of war, amd while everyone likened it to one thing or another, I was still lost in the details of what Hoja had told me in the past about how the weapon would triumph in the future." p. 120

The quote reminded me of how many viewed the making of the atomic bomb during WW2. Both in the novel and during the making of the a bomb there seemed to an aura of divinity or something sacred towards machine thats goal is to destroy life. The connection is that people try to glorify times of suffering such as in the situations of war, in order to feel less responsible for their actions.