Thursday, May 10, 2007

Hope

"Hope is a waking dream." -Aristotle

3 comments:

Richard said...

While I love Plato/Socrates, I find Aristotle quite a bore. I never understood why he had such influence over Western thought.

But, yes, having hope can be like a waking dream, but this begs the questions, since dreams end and reality prevails, does this mean hope ends and reality prevails?

B said...

I too prefer Plato/Socrates to Aristotle. And believe me, as a student of Rhetoric, I've read plenty of their works. Plato/Socrates was far more compelling philosophically. Socrates was a considerable influence on Rhetoric but just not as interesting for me either.

Yet, this quote, in its utter simplicity, seemed very apt me. I view dream in this sense to go beyond just that of our sleep or unconscious/subconscious. I consider it to reflect the consciousness of a dream...but beyond just realizing we possess a specific goal...and more so the pinnacle of awareness for a dream/goal. In that awareness lies hope.

So, in that sense of dream, no it does not end and reality prevails. And as disgustingly optimistic as this may sound, I believe that dreams and reality can successfully co-exist.

Richard said...

I always loved the way Socrates was able to lead people to completely opposite conclusions from what they began with. I also loved his argument, when sentenced to death, that he was obligated to obey the state because it nurtured, educated and protected him. Not that I agreed with the argument.

The intro to the Republic is brilliant, the main text is pretty blah.

I love best the writings of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.