The subject of the book is at least more useful than some of Plato's other dialogues. It talks about the origins and evolution of languages.
Translator B. Jowett felt that Plato and Bacon are the only two philosophers who ever achieved any high degree of literary excellence. He adds however that Plato was not free from tautology and Plato was not aware of certain subtleties about language.
I disagree with some of the statements made by Jowett.
Jowett states:
"Language cannot be explained by metaphysics, for it is prior to them and much more nearly aligned to sense."
There was I believe a time on planet Earth when people, or at least some people, were able to communicate non verbally using a type of radiation. The vast majority of people lost the ability to understand this radiation at the time of the Tower Of Babel event in the bible. However the plants and animals can still understand it.
There's an episode in the bible where Peter is talking to people from many different countries but they all heard what Peter said 'in their own language'. This may not have been any language but rather this radiation.
Mythology uses allegories and metaphors to explain spiritual truths in a symbolic rather than a literal way. In many cases those spiritual truths could not be explained easily if at all using language in a literal way.
The creation account in the Book Of Genesis is mythological. What exactly happened when God created the universe is probably something no mortal mind would ever be able to comprehend.
The limitations of language was a favorite subject of Egyptologist R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz. Schwaller felt that once we reduce metaphysical concepts into something we can describe literally using language we have already lost much of the original meaning.
Schwaller felt that the world took a wrong turning around the time of the ancient Greek 'arguers' when people tried to use logic to explain things which are not logical such as the mystery of life itself.
Jowett had an almost scientific understanding of the evolution of languages or comparative philology as he called it. However trying to view the evolution of languages scientifically may not be a great idea.
This is one of those Plato books where about half of the book is the translator's introductory commentary.
The introduction was informative but there were places where I had a hard time determining if Jowett had started writing the actual dialogue due to the length of the dialogue sections embedded in the introduction.
This book looks like a no frills reprint of an E book. I use reading glasses for reading but for some books I can still read them OK without the glasses.
However in this case the print is small so I needed my glasses.
Edgar Cayce's Story of the Origin and Destiny of Man
The Temple in Man: Sacred Architecture and the Perfect Man
Hesiod's Theogony (Focus Classical Library)
The Iliad
Initiation
Fulcanelli: Master Alchemist: Le Mystere des Cathedrales, Esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work
The First Circle
The Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection
The Egyptian Heritage Based on Edgar Cayce Readings
Ufo...Contact from Planet Iarga
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