I think I've posted on my fondness for Plato previously, but some other discussions I've had lately have me thinking of him again. I think the genius of his philosophy is how the good, the beautiful and the true all coincide. I doubt there has been another philosophy as elegant nor as fitting to the human situation as his. I think the human heart is fatally divided if it cannot orient itself toward these three things all together. For example, if the true is ugly, how can I freely choose it? I don't think truth alone suffices.

Now, it is conceivable that the truth is ugly, and it is possible one could make a moral argument that the truth ought to be pursued regardless -- that honesty with oneself is a chief virtue. But I hold that such a situation inevitably yields a divided heart. And Plato's philosophy is extraordinary because it allowed an undivided heart. For a great philosopher does not simply tell us what is true, but how to live the good life. And I think one of the reasons for the fragmentation in our society is that no one can articulate a conception of the good life that transcends all of our attempts to secure the good life through inadequate means -- selfishness, addiction, political power, religious authoritarianism, etc. We desperately need someone who can articulate a vision that frees us from our local gods and tribalisms.