I'd appreciate it if you could help me
Today, we write letters on a daily basis, for example, to take notes or to write letters. However, in ancient times, there were some who thought that this act of writing, which we now take for granted, was a new culture and should be promoted, and others who thought that it should not be done! In ancient times, however, there were two opinions about this now-common act of writing: "It is a new culture, so let's promote it! There was a time when there were two opinions: "It's a new culture, so let's promote it! When writing began to spread widely in a culture where oral transmission was the norm, there were voices on both sides of the argument. For example, before the 12th century, the prevailing view in England was that "anything written on paper is unreliable. Even if it was a message, if it was deemed to be truly important, it was passed on orally. Here are the thoughts of Plato and Socrates on such values.
Socrates is one of the leading philosophers of ancient Greece.He is so well known that even people who are not familiar with philosophy know him.He was a philosopher of the oral tradition (teaching by speaking only) and wrote no books.Socrates is reported to have said, "If you acquire this means, you will be able to teach them.
If they acquire this means, amnesia will be implanted in their souls.They will cease to exercise their memory.They will rely on what is written, on what they write, because they will try to use external symbols instead of committing things to their own memory.What you have discovered is the secret to remembering instead of memorizing. What you are offering to your disciples is not true wisdom, but only a facade of it. You are trying to make them appear to know things by teaching them many things without educating them. Most of them are in fact ignorant.
-- The World History of Paper: Technology Driven by History
Next, let us look at the ideas of Plato, a disciple of Socrates. He, too, is famous as one of the leading philosophers of ancient Greece. Plato left a text called "Phaedrus" in the form of a dialogue between his master Socrates and a young man. In the "Phaedrus," he wrote, "Knowledge is acquired through memory, so if you leave sentences behind, your memory will not be used and will decline. He writes He also writes
When something is written, that is, when an essay is composed, whatever is written, it drifts from place to place, not only in the hands of those who understand it, but also in the hands of those who have nothing to do with it. Compositions do not know how to convey words to those to whom they should be conveyed and not to those to whom they should not be conveyed."
-- The World History of Paper: Technology Driven by History
Ironically, he left behind many of his written writings (including this one) while writing these texts. While he embraced the new technology of "writing down," he also rebelled against it.Above all, most of the writings he left behind were in the form of dialogues.He was clearly conscious of the oral tradition. In the midst of shifting values, we can see how Plato was caught between two sets of values.He may have been quite influenced by his teacher Socrates' commitment to the oral tradition.
His opinion that "what is written on paper cannot be trusted" and "you cannot get true knowledge from written texts on paper" is similar to our contemporary opinion that "what is written on the Internet cannot be trusted" and "you cannot get true knowledge from the Internet."Thinking about it, maybe the time will come when what is written on the Internet will be trusted?I think so. Maybe the time will come when people will no longer say, "I don't accept wikipedeia as a reference!" I think the time may come when people will no longer say, "wikipedeia is not acceptable as a reference!
