Comparison Of Lao Tzu And Plato's Five Dialogues

The genre of a text can make an immense impact on the way one reads and interprets a novel. I will be focusing on the text Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu and Plato’s Five Dialogues. Both of these readings are written quite differently. Tao Te Ching is written as a poem and has more of a self-interpretative aspect to it. On the other hand, Plato’s Five Dialogues is written in an essay format, using dialogue. I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these writing styles and the interpretive challenges they present.
To begin with, I will argue the strengths and weaknesses of philosophical ideas being presented in a poem. Many poems often rhyme and are the author writes it to be interpreted in a collection of ways. This can be both good and bad.
It’s nice because there is no right answer when trying to figure out what the poem is saying. It is written to have different meanings and ways to depict it. This can also be a negative side because sometimes we want to know exactly what the author is saying and it can be unclear to illustrate from a short and rhythmic poem. Philosophical ideas are hard to grasp and understanding of in the first place. I find it easier to follow along when reading it in a poem because of the way it is spaced. When each sentence is on a separate line, it’s easier not to miss a key concept. I enjoy analyzing poems in the margin and breaking down the text.
The positives of reading a philosophical poem outweigh the negatives.
Reading something that is evenly spaced apart can actually be quite pleasurable for the eyes. It can be dreadful reading a novel with philosophical ideas because of all the clutter of words. Poems are relaxing and enjoyable compared to reading paragraphs. Additionally, it’s easier to keep track of where you left off in a poem by marking the side of the paper. It’s more difficult to search for where you left off in a novel because of the way the paragraphs are laid out. Many people find poems to be intimidating because of the pressure of needing to focus on every word to follow the main point. Poems aren’t as straightforward as novels are and this requires a little more thinking. Although I still believe that there are a better ways to communicate philosophical ideas. The emotions packed in poems causes readers to be able to relate to the poem and get a better understanding of the
content.
Lao Tzu compares a virtuous person to water in his poem Tao Te Ching. The first time I read this poem, I didn’t understand the main concept. I had to read it over a few times to completely understand what he was trying to say. Breaking each sentence down in class really helped me comprehend the concept. Every time he mentioned the word “virtue” or “virtuous” I replaced it with “High moral standards.” This was my way of breaking down the text to help me grasp the main concepts. I had to think about the different forms of water and what it meant to me. I then came to the conclusion that if water can be frozen, this means that Tzu is saying that a virtuous person can adapt to many different environments. He talks about how water is always flowing and a sincere person is always sincere. Taking a step away from poetry, I will now talk about the benefits of novels written in a dialogue, which present philosophical ideas. Plato’s Five Dialogues is written in almost an essay like form. As I mentioned earlier, reading about philosophical concepts can be confusing enough. When it is poetically written you have to put much more thought into understanding what is being said. When reading an essay styled novel, it’s clear and to the point. Reading in general helps you improve your vocabulary and makes you a stronger thinker. It is easy to get less distracted when reading a dialogue. On the contrary, a weakness about reading is that it can be less engaging. After reading a lot of a philosophical text that is written in long paragraphs, it can get tiring for your eyes and can lead you to be less interested. Often times when reading a book, we tend to skim through the pages when we are tired. This can cause us to miss some of the valuable points. A weakness about reading something like Five Dialogues is that it can simply be hard. Sometimes we get frustrated when reading something we don’t understand and feel the need to give up. This happens a lot when reading a philosophical novel for the first time. It is something new that we are unfamiliar with. A trick that helps me understand what I’m reading is to just re-read it. The more you read the better you get at it. When you constantly repeat the same sentence, you are much more likely to understand compared to reading once and moving on. When reading Five Dialogues, I wasn’t as engaged as I should have been. I would generally read what was assigned but there were a few instances where I skimmed through the reading. When I came to class for the discussions, there were many points that were brought up that I didn’t even know about because of the way I skimmed through the book. I learned that skimming through pages isn’t beneficial and can lead you to being confused or behind in the reading.
Five Dialogues wasn’t too confusing as far as keeping up with what was going on in the text.
The letters on the left and right margin were very helpful when reading because I knew exactly which spot to go to when I paused. It was useful when reading as a class because we could all go to the exact sentence by looking up the number and letter in the margins of the page. I enjoyed the dialogue parts when Socrates would ask Crito questions. It was enjoyable because it was entertaining and easy to understand. Reading questions and answers keeps you more engaged because it’s difficult to get distracted or feel the need to skim through. The way dialogues are spaced apart are much more pleasant to read than clumped together in paragraphs.
When comparing Plato’s Five Dialogues to Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, I most definitely preferred reading Tao Te Ching. I like the meaning behind the poem and the way it makes you really think about what water and a virtuous person have in common. I came up with my own explanations and compared it to the one we came up with as a class and they were both mostly similar. Not only did I enjoy this poem because of the meaning it had behind it, but I also liked the fact that the sentences were short and to the point. Even though it requires thought, the sentences were short enough to easily
read.
Presenting philosophical ideas is actually quite difficult. There are many ways to go about it but not all of them are affective. Everyone has a genre they’d prefer. We’ve read philosophy in a few different types of genres this semester. Genres affect the way one sees and thinks about the reading. I personally get more out of the poetic genre compared to the rest.
The genre of a reading really does impact the way the reader interprets it and learns, especially philosophical readings. I am always more engaged when the writing style is short and concise. A short story or journals are other forms of writing styles that I’d enjoy. Reading dialogues can be fun and entertaining at first but always end up becoming boring after a while. I have come to the conclusion that the genre of a book really does affect the way one perceives it and understands it. Everyone has there own preference. When reading philosophy, I prefer poems rather than dialogues.