Part 1 - students will perform the following assignment(appx XXXXXXXXXXwords):
Murray’s passage contrasts what he calls “the main web of life” (permanent life)with “the historical evolution of life” (progressive life). And similarly, in my lecture script, I contrast the Greek wordskairos(timeless moments in time) withchronos(clock-time). Now, using the language of Murray’s passage,tell me two of the examples Murray gives to characterizepermanent life(the opposite of progressive life).
Part 2: students will perform the following assignment(appx. XXXXXXXXXXwords):
Keeping Murray's contrast between permanent life and progressive life in mindthink of and write about two comparable experiences from either your own life or from anyone else’s life that you know of (or have heard of) which you believe fit with Murray’s characterization of permanent life, i.e., “the main web of life.”
Part 3 -Students will perform the following assignment(appx XXXXXXXXXXwords):
* Students need not read the whole of Plato's playIonbut only the passages before and after the passage on page 6 which involves the allegory (myth, parable) of the "HerecleanStone")
At around page 6 (of 16) of Plato's play called Ion -- which is a play about a man named Ion, a man who happened to be the most renowned rhapsode (poetry performer) of ancient Greece -- Ion asks Socrates, who happened to be the most renowned philosopher of ancient Greece, why it is that when he (Ion) publicly performs the renowned poet Homer "I do speak better [of Homer] and have more to say about Homer than any other man." Ion, in other words, is utterly perplexed over the fact that he cannot perform and cannot "speak equally well about other" poets. And then Ion cries out to Socrates to please please please "tell me the reason of this"! Socrates then proceeds to explain that the reason why Ion performs Homer better than he performs other poets has to do with (1) the utter superiority of Homer's inspiration over the inspiration of other poets, and (2) has to do with the fact that Ion relies not on "art" (by which Socrates means "technique" or "learning") amid the act of performing Homer but rather relies on "ecstatic inspiration," what the ancient Greeks knew as "enthousiazein," being possessed by God or the Muse.
My question is this: How does Socrates' allegory (i.e., his story, parable, myth) about "the Hereclean Stone" communicate the lesson that Socrates wishes to communicate to Ion about the utter superiority of "inspiration" (enthousiazein) over "art" (technique, learning)?