ndrosen

My broker, Mr. H, called Monday morning about a minor business matter; he was my parents’ broker until my father and then my mother died. After we had taken care of the business, he spoke a bit about my father, who had taught him a bit about philosophy, and said that he was lucky to have known and learned from such a distinguished professor of philosophy. I reminisced about how, when I had mentioned that my father was eighty-four years old and forgetful, someone else (a receptionist at the retirement community where I had come for a visit to my parents) had said, “But when you ask him about Plato’s view of justice, he remembers it all and can explain it.” (Not an exact quote, but something like what he said.)

It seems that people who aren’t professional intellectuals can be interested in philosophy, presented right, and that my father, on this and other evidence, was a talented teacher. I told Mr. H that my father and I had had our conflicts, and he had probably been disappointed that, although bright, I hadn’t had his interests. Still, he was glad to see me reading his copy of Plato’s Symposium on one of my visits when he was an old man.