Kevin O'Neal and the Classics

   Last week we were visited by Kevin O'Neal, a scholar in greek antiquity, and he spoke on Aristotle and the art of persuasion. Much of it was utterly fascinating, including the idea of Aristotle as a fiction himself, only known to us in secondhand notes compounded by his students, and also the idea that he never spoke of *how to teach people - all learning comes from context, which is why the symposium is so important, which perhaps renders any idea of Teaching (presumably in a vacuum) as moot.
   The greek hierarchy of life consists of labor, work, and speech/action, the highest of which is speech/action because it conceives of something that wasn't here before and yet modifies only oneself as opposed to 'work' which employs external substance. Speech and action that aren't necessary are considered most highly, because then man is existing of and for himself rather than as a vessel towards a different end. The memorable deed done or story told excites the imagination of the republic and strengthens resolve (if not principle itself.)
   Also fascinating to me was the idea of community and that it essentially arrises out of communication. The city only exists if we discuss it at length, which is is why the greek polis is considered 'a city made in speech.' It seems to me that our civilization doesn't discuss itself as transparently as the polis; there is a conversation happening, but it's all on the books. The idea of a total government outruns our ability to speak it. We are taught to appreciate what we have rather than to constantly reaffirm or to make something new. If we were to return to the roots of our country, it would be bloodshed and rebellion, and so we've learned to discuss politely. We may speak, but the context is often considered beyond us, curiously like the God-Approved Cities of old. Also, the public life is only so important to us - we also are expected to fulfill certain roles, but we can easily shake them in our private solitudes (that define American experience even more than the political forum.) "Here is my piece of silence, here are the things that have been offered to fill it, it all is rightly mine by the doctrines that promise it, may you find your own silence and fill it however you may (as long as it doesn't fracture mine.")