Why Very Few Understand Plato

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Here is an example of why reading Plato in translation is nearly impossible.

Let's take this sentence:

τὸ τὰ ὀφειλόμενα ἑκάστῳ ἀποδιδόναι δίκαιόν ἐστι:

This is the first definition of "justice" articulated in the Republic. It is often translated:

"It is just to give back what is owed to each".

or "It is just to render each his due."

Unfortunately, those particular translations are two ways of translating it. When that definition is articulated, Socrates himself doesn't know exactly what is meant. One could easily translate it as:

It is right to give back what belongs to each.

or

It is just to give to another what they deserve.

or

It is right to pay your bills.

or

It is just for each to pay the penalties.

The lack of clarity in the Greek is what gives rise to so many threads of conversation inside the entire text. It also demonstrates through the dialogue itself how the human mind, in the face of ambiguity, is able to extract a "single" interpretation or view. This is illustrated when Socrates, who doesn't know what it means, has one of the other interlocutors tell him the meaning, which he does and so generates the basis of the rest of the discussion. This is why it is absurd to say, "Plato believes this or Socrates believes that" and base it on something that is said in the dialogue.

In the same way, when a translator converts a sentence to English, it narrows the interpretation to his own view and so of the entire dialogue. The act of translation immediately distorts it in a way that does not serve the reader or the understanding of Plato

It is for this reason that Plato is one of the most misunderstood writers of our civilization.

#philosophy #Plato