You're welcome.

Rod Welch wrote...

Plato's attitude toward poets, and especially Homer, is a tricky subject. To understand it, one must first get to know how poets, and primarily Homer, was used in education in Greek cities such as Athens at the time. Kids would learn to read with his works and memorize huge parts of his works. He was kind of the "Bible" works od a poet as primary source of all sorts of knowledge, whereas the poet himself lignt not have been knowledgeable on what he was talking about, but mostly trying to move the feelings of his readers. A good reading about this topic is a short dialogue called Ion. You may also want to read the Hippias Minor for a comparison between Achilles and Ulysses. And obviously parts of the Republic (end of book II, beginning of book III, and beginning of book X).

Plato's criticism has to be understood in relation with his whole philosophy and his high care for education and the truth.

Rod Welch wrote...

It is about the exact opposite of what you suggest. Read the section of the Phaedrus on the myth of Teuth; It tells all the evils that might result from too much reliance on writing. See

http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/phaedrus14.htm

...for this story.

Plato wrote dialogues and not treatises, never providing ready-made answers, to stick closer to live conversation and require active participation from his reader, with the intent, not to provide him with answers, but to teach him to think by himself...

Yet he did write one of the greatest masterpieces of all times!

Sincerely,

Bernard F. SUZANNE
bfsuzan@attglobal.net
Plato and his dialogues : Plato and his dialogues : http://phd.evansville.edu/plato.htm
See also intro to Plato at: See also intro to Plato at: http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/suzanne.htm