NEVILLE Sheard used his Senior Moment (February 1) to form a brilliant collage of Plato. Mr Sheard was smart enough to exclude himself from the contempt of fools, whom Plato regarded as a source of sound “whenever they felt themselves compelled to utter something, rather than have something to say”.
A selection of his sayings relevant to contemporary issues, demonstrated how useful Plato would be as an influence today.
How sad that crystal-clear reasoning, galvanised to a wicked sense of humour, is of little interest once the flesh is decayed. The eloquent philosopher has given way to a dumb “TV celebrity” compelled to support a vocabulary of three hundred words with two crude expletives per sentence. Exalted by the masses for it, Plato will be smiling at the intelligentsia’s punishment for turning its back on entertainment and politics. It would be nice if the Examiner spilled over with the quality of contribution offered by Mr Sheard.
Dr M T Gray
C4J
