Preview — Plato’s Shining Side (aka Caved-in Critical Cares)

Plato's Shining Side (aka Caved-in Critical Cares)

-      Why do you think humour is like maths, Plato?

-      And art.

-      What?

-      Like art and maths.

-      Alright. Why?

-      Because either you get it or you don’t.

-      And so?

-      So, when one gets the fact that he or she doesn’t get it, then he or she gets... annoyed.

-      “Annoyed?”

-      Yeah: More stupid than those who get it, less capable, and missing out on something.

-      “Something?”

-      “Something,” indeed: Fun, in the case of humour; culture, in that of art; knowledge or insight in that of maths.

-      Which means that… that person will study harder, work on his or her sense of humour, or…

-      No, no: That’s a rather exceptional reaction!

-      “Exceptional?”

-      Yes, extra-ordinary: Not ordinary. Uncommon. Uncustomary, in truth.

-      Like… Dreamscopes?

-      Pretty much. Or soulscapes, if you prefer. 

-      What is the “ordinary” reaction; the one that is not “exceptional?”

-      Resentment.

-      Oh?

-      Tacit, rationalised, so that themes turn into targets, ideas into injuries, mentions into meanness, words into wounds, boutades into bayonets, and—

-      Sorry, what… “Rationalised?”

-      A derivation, yes.

-      Upon a… residue?

-      Yes!

-      Hm.

-      What?

-      In all three cases?

-      Which “three?”

-      Humour, art, and maths.

-      Not exactly.

-      How come?

-      Humour is typically rejected on moral, or better, moralistic grounds: It’s "uncouth," "rude," "indecent," "aggressive," "offensive," "xenophobic," "xenophilic," "misandrist," "machoistic," etc.

-      And art?

-      In the case of art, an inverted snobbism of sorts applies, more often than not: “That’s arty-farty,” “verbiage,” “affectation,” etc., etc.: Some of the many ways in which the generally incompetent can hide their general incompetence. Generic, but effective.

-      And maths?

-      “I’m not good at numbers,” they say: Trivialisation; superficiality. A debacle!  

-      I see… Yeah… Think of someone who’d say: “Sorry mates, but I can’t reason!”

P.S. A pedant's pedantic note for all the geniuses out there: This one here is not a genuine Platonic dialogue, nor is it very Socratic either.

Picture: Detail from Raphael's School of Athens (1511), Vatican Museums. Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons).