Socrates on video games
From “Breeding evil?” in the Aug 4th 2005 edition of The Economist:
“Scepticism of new media is a tradition with deep roots, going back at least as far as Socrates’ objections to written texts, outlined in Plato’s Phaedrus. Socrates worried that relying on written texts, rather than the oral tradition, would “create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.” (He also objected that a written version of a speech was no substitute for the ability to interrogate the speaker, since, when questioned, the text “always gives one unvarying answer”. His objection, in short, was that books were not interactive. Perhaps Socrates would have thought more highly of video games.)”
September 18th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
Heh… that’s hilarious.
I don’t think Socrates would be down with the vids. Most video games are interactive only on a very basic motor/sensory level. Not much “speech” or “interrogation” going on.
It’s fun to imagine Socratic video games.
- Aporia Challenge 2005
- Rhetoric 3: Revenge of the Sophist