Plato On The Toilet

Plato (428-348 BCE) is giant of Western Philosophy, whose words cast a long shadow to the present day, where the study of ethics, ontology, justice, metaphysics and many more fields begin with a chapter on him. His work has shaped the mind of many generations of great thinkers who, in turn, either built upon or criticised his words, but never ignored him. However, these great thinkers have typically fallen into very narrow categories of people, making the study of Plato almost exclusively a pastime for the privileged. This has changed with the invention of the internet, which allows me, some random guy, to read Plato on the toilet, on my phone, when I am meant to be doing my job.

And that is a good thing.

Ancient literature has a way of painting a world that consists primarily of people like the intended audience, relegating the rest of the population to a silent, hazy mass. To read Plato is to see an Athens populated primarily by wealthy men with time to philosophise. Slaves, women and the poor exist on the side-lines because they are not the intended audience, too busy, as they were, performing the cheap or free labour that facilitated the these lives of leisure. As antiquity rolled into the Middle Ages this pattern continued. Widespread illiteracy compounded with the astronomical labour cost of reproducing manuscripts to limit the reading of Plato to the Clergy and narrow academic elite. The invention of the printing press (~1440) alleviated these issues to a degree, helping to usher in the Enlightenment, when a new age of philosophy bloomed in Europe. However, the old patterns continued, and this wave philosophers were overwhelmingly white, male and wealthy. Even in modern times, Plato’s work has often been expensive and hard to find for everyone except those privileged enough to attend university. Throughout most of its history, the reading of Plato’s brilliant work has excluded the common person.

But not anymore.

The internet has been the great leveller of human access to knowledge, rectifying the unjust distribution which has endured throughout most of history. Now, I can read Plato whenever I want, for free, on my phone, mostly on the toilet, if I’m being honest with you. Those same words that have been read for thousands of years, by thousands of eyes, are now read by me. The scenes of Socrates standing in the torch-lit Athens night were once the purview of the wealthy. They alone watched as Socrates was tried before the Peoples Court, then died drinking hemlock after being found guilty, philosophising even on his deathbed. But now I am there too. I am free to learn what so many people lived and died, never even knowing they lacked access to, never even knowing their loss, and all from the accessibility of my phone.

It is a privilege I will not take for granted.

But many people do. We live in an age of science fiction wonders that many use every day without a second thought. In our pockets, on our phones, is the entire sum of human thought, it allows you to talk to people across the globe, you can see real-time video of other places and learn anything at the touch of a button or screen. And most people fucking waste it all. The gods have given us magic and we have squandered their blessing. We have more privilege than any of those historical philosophers and their wealthy readers, and we do not even value it. Those billions of poor and illiterate masses never even once had the opportunities you have every time you open your phone, then proceed to just scroll reels. Seriously, who in human history could image that you can just Google “Plato PDF” and download his entire works in like two seconds? (Or Lao Tzu’s or Aristotle’s or Avicenna’s) But statistically the majority of people will never bother, too busy as they are, by cat videos and political ragebait. A world of knowledge so many could never dream of is waiting, untapped by those with the privilege to access it.

And, sadly, I believe they are the worse off for it.

For me, reading Plato has largely taken the place of scrolling social media. I still log in to post my own work, but the never-ending stream of memes and jokes and genocides I saw online every day were wearing me down. My mind was foggy, thoughts molasses. My heart was numbing to the never ending injustice I saw, ready to just scroll it by: The perfect consumer for that endless tailored stream of reels that is waiting for us all. Now, I read Plato instead, or some other worthwhile author whose work builds me up, and adds something to my life. Doing this has helped de-stimulate my mind, centering me and giving me the clarity to live the life I want to live. No more losing 15-minute chunks as I get snared on reels every time I open my phone for something else. It is such a freeing feeling to be in control of your time and your mind.

I am finding ways to live more intentionally, and this is one of them.

You don’t have to read Plato, I won’t be mad. I know it's not for everyone, but I beg you to consider the privilege that every internet user has. We can learn things unknowable until now, and learn them in a moment. Generations of humans just like us have lived and died without the opportunity you have, this second, as you read these words.

Don’t waste it.