Praise For Author So, this is one of Plato's previous dialogues and records a discussion that Socrates has with an improvisation. Now, whenever we are discussing rhapsodies, we aren't debating one from Bohemia, but instead a class of poets in Old Greece who just about only ever centered on the works of Homer. You could say they are an expert poet. Still, I'm not entirely sure quickly can call them a poet either because, in my mind, poets are in the least creative, the impression I get is these guys simply see that Homer is the pinnacle of everything poetical. Since it is impossible to surpass him, they simply spend their lives reciting him to crowds of adoring fans - yeah, if anything, they may be performers, but way more, they may be performers who perform somebody else's work. A far more modern example would be, well, a Beatles cover band who only ever plays Beatles songs because, so now as they are worried, there is nothing at all much better than the Beatles, and nobody can ever surpass them.
So, that probably sets the picture, and because the other participant in the conversation is Socrates, you often will expect that Socrates will destroy him. Actually, Ion does rock and roll up and mostly talk about how exactly he won the grand award for reciting Homer at a festival, which means you often will see that man was probably relatively filled with himself in any case. However, it type of goes relatively more profound than that because Homer isn't merely a pretty good writer of some excellent stories; his works were was also seen by the Greeks as a textbook on life. This goes way beyond only enjoying the task, and it is kind of like keeping a duplicate of Lord of the Rings with you and talking to it for, well, for anything.
Okay, you could easily say that individuals use the Bible by doing so as well. Wish to know about cosmology - yeah, the Bible can let you know. What to find out about differential calculus - well, the Bible doesn't say anything about any of it. Therefore I guess it isn't essential. I wish to know how to get rid of somebody of cancer - yeah, the Bible can tell you that as well (and I will point out which I am ridiculing extreme interpretations of the Bible, rather than the Bible itself, least I get burnt at stake for heresy).
Anyway, the thing is Socrates is effectively destroying man. Fundamentally, the crux of his debate is that Ion is not merely useless, he's beyond useless. For example, he completely ignores everything that had not been compiled by Homer. Then he promises to be a specialist on just about everything because, well, he's a specialist on Homer. Yeah, Socrates obviously thinks in any other case, as he highlights - who's a specialist on chariot race: the chariot racer, or the man that reads Homer since there is chariot race in Homer? Who's a specialist on sailing: the sailor, or the man that reads Homer since there is sailing in Homer? Yeah, the answer is quite clear, and it isn't the man that reads Homer.
Socrates may have virtually destroyed he in our eye; however, I don't think he thoroughly convinced Ion a change in the profession might be considered a good thing. The thing is, this issue of the dialogue then involves generalship, namely who's the better General. Well, Ion appears to believe that it is he because he reads Homer, and it doesn't matter what Socrates says, he just cannot appear to destroy that discussion. You observe, the response simply comes will to 'well, I possibly could be an excellent general, but, well, I haven't been given a chance to be an excellent general because I'm not Athenian.'
Yeah, I possibly could be considered an excellent President, but, well, I'm not American.
