Notes and Comments on Phaedo -- 23.1

12 August 2023

Notes and Comments on Phaedo – 23.1

The Visible and The Invisible

This is an addition to the post I did on August 9^th.  I wanted to have a section on the discussion Socrates has about the visible and the invisible, but it got too long and I decided to make it a separate post.

“’Now,’ said he (Socrates – my addition), ‘shall we assume two kinds of existences, one visible, the other invisible?’

“’Let us assume them,’ said Cebes.

“’And that the invisible is always the same and the visible constantly changing?’

1.  Socrates divides existence into that which is ‘visible’ and constantly changing, and the ‘invisible’ which is always the same.  I understand what Socrates means and how is using these categories at this point in the discussion; but I think it is more complex than how it has been presented here.

2.  For the purposes of this discussion I am interpreting ‘visible’ as ‘sensory’; that is to say that the division Socrates proposes is by suggestion a division between that which is sensory and that which is non-sensory.  I mean that the logic of this division would apply equally to sonic objects, as one example, as it does to visual objects.

3.  There are many invisible things that constantly change in the same way that visual and sonic objects constantly change.  The first level of such objects are sensory objects that are beyond the range of the physiology of a particular species’ senses.  For example, some animals see colors beyond the range that humans can perceive.  And some animals hear sounds beyond the range that humans can perceive.  This is well known and studied.  These sights and sounds are ‘invisible’ to human sense perception, but they are not ‘always the same.’  This is because they are physical objects, or physical occasions, that do not register on the sensory apparatuses of human beings.  But because they are still physical objects; that is to say that they are material objects and dependent upon material causes and conditions, and that they belong to the same class as the sensory objects human beings are physiologically equipped to perceive.

4.  A second level of invisible objects that constantly change are objects that take form in the material world, but lie altogether outside the structure of human senses.  I mean that unlike the first level, these material objects are not, for example, visual but in a region of the spectrum of light outside of human perception.  Rather these material objects dwell in completely other sensory realms, or regions.  For example, a sensory object manifesting as a magnetic field would not be perceptible to human beings because human beings do not have the capacity to detect magnetic fields; magnetic fields themselves are the kind of object that is invisible but constantly changing.

5.  A third level would be sentient beings who live their lives in realms outside of, or beyond, that of human perception.  My view is that this is where the gods reside; they are sentient beings and material realities and in that sense they are like the living beings that we are and that we can perceive through our sensory apparatuses.  We don’t perceive the gods because they are like magnetic fields; we simply do not have the sensory equipment to perceive them.

This means that the gods are born and die (as is explicitly stated in popular literature about the gods), that they are a part of becoming and begoning.  This is the result of the gods dwelling in the third hypostasis, just as we do.  The gods are not higher realities, or transcendental realities.  I think humans have tended to view them that way because they are mysterious and feel remote, just like magnetic fields and other similar things. 

The gods are non-sensory invisible realities and that are constantly changing.

6.  From this perspective the third hypostasis consists of both visible and invisible realities, but whether or not they are visible or invisible, all things, or occasions, that reside in the third hypostasis, in material reality, are subject to generation and decay.

7.  Above the things or occasions of the material realm are the realities of the noetic realm consisting of forms, numbers, and the primary noetic realities of Being, Life, and Intellect (or intelligence).  It is here that we encounter that which is invisible and always the same.  The noetic realities are always the same because they are metaphysically next to the unity of the One.  This unity of noetic realities distinguishes them from material realities, whether they are visible or invisible. 

Noetic realities are invisible because they have no features that could stimulate a sensory apparatus.  They do not have color, they make no sound, etc.  How, then, do we experience them?  From the Platonic perspective this happens when we separate our soul from our body, a process that requires the practice of contemplation.  As Plotinus says, ‘Take away everything.’  I take that to mean, remove yourself from sensory stimulation and when that is done the soul, due to its kinship with noetic realities, will show us these noetic truths.  Socrates refers to this as ‘wisdom’ and in a sense you can analogically think of wisdom as a kind of sensory organ designed to perceive noetic objects; but don’t take this literally.  As I said, it’s an analogy.

8.  Beyond the noetic there is the One (there is nothing between the noetic and the One).  The One is the ultimate source of all things.  Because it is the source of all things, it is invisible to all created things both material and noetic.  It is like a piece from an anonymous author. 

The One is invisible because it is beyond predication of any kind, both affirmation and negation.  Since the One is beyond all predication, it is beyond all concepts.  Since it is beyond all concepts it is beyond analysis.  It is neither light nor darkness.  It is both light and darkness.  It is the realm of true peace.