'when but a finger of one of us is hurt'
And is not that the best-ordered State in which the greatest number of persons apply the terms 'mine' and 'not mine' in the same way to the same thing?
Quite true.
Or that again which most nearly approaches to the condition of the individual—as in the body, when but a finger of one of us is hurt, the whole frame, drawn towards the soul as a centre and forming one kingdom under the ruling power therein, feels the hurt and sympathizes all together with the part affected, and we say that the man has a pain in his finger; and the same expression is used about any other part of the body, which has a sensation of pain at suffering or of pleasure at the alleviation of suffering.
Very true, he replied; and I agree with you that in the best-ordered State there is the nearest approach to this common feeling which you describe.
Then when any one of the citizens experiences any good or evil, the whole State will make his case their own, and will either rejoice or sorrow with him?
Yes, he said, that is what will happen in a well-ordered State.
—
Plato, The Republic
, Book V (360 B.C.E.; trans. B. Jowett 1894)
Our favorite subjects; fingers/hands is in good company.
ReplyDelete1. humanity 36
2. nature 23
3. love 20
4. beauty 17
5. God 15
modern man 15
war 15
6. art 13
artist's craft 13
human nature 13
7. death 12
8. fingers/hands 11
thought 11
time 11
9. language 10
memory 10
Well, fingers/hands was after all the inspiration for this blog.
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