As I already have mentioned here, some day I wake up and a word swirls in my head. Today it was Sophrosyne. A Greek lady perhaps ? A goddess, sylph, tragical sister of someone ? Sophrosyne is badly missed these days, that’s for sure.
Trusted old Gemoll (third lemma from down upwards) (Ger.) translates it first as “vernünftige Besonnenheit”, and secondly with what the wiki article (Eng.) gives. The German article appears under the lemma “Besonnenheit”. Platon counts it under the four cardinal virtues (Ger., Eng.).
But who needs that Platon gay any way ? Surely not Texas ! Platon is not “censored”, as it reads here. It is just so that a course about that bloody pederast Platon does not get the student the points they need. The news’ authors of course grabbed “Platon” for their headlines, for maximal attention – but affected are more than 200 courses ! Read this.
What the Texan professor is averted to teach is the speech of Aristophanes (Ger., Eng.) in Platon’s Symposion (Ger., Eng.), where they get hammered in the most civilised way, and discuss among other things, eros, identity, simply what does it mean to be human. Aristophanes – cured from his hiccup – says that humans came originally in the form of balls (“Kugeln” – see this), they consisted of two human beings. This could be a female-male combination, or a female-female, or a male-male one. The “ball” or bubble, I think he says Sphaira, symbolises the wholeness of these first human beings. But sadly they did not fear Zeus enough, they even tried to fight the supreme leader of the Olymp. So he himself cut them apart – the first cut is the deepest (I could not resist, sorry). What leaves us with men and women in their actual form. But in Man’s memory the longing for the former harmony & wholeness survives, and in order to re-create this, we embrace each other, and make love : Men & women, men and men, women with women. Asking questions like “why” is nonsense, it is nature, and that’s it.
Of course Texan students may not be exposed to this Greek perversity. But again, do not call it censorship. And do not forget the other 200 courses !
This may look like a “woke” academic problem. It is not. The tyrant of Trumpistan follows a textbook, and minorities are right to fear for the worst. Meanwhile Minneapolis teaches you what to expect. Maybe some hope is possible too.
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63 mago