Colleagues
whenever I read debates about the value (virtue?) of "e-learning" and
"online pedagogies", I am reminded of the view of Socrates (according to
Plato) on writing. In the Phaedrus, Socrates tells the story of the
inventor-god Theuth showing the god Thamus his discovery of letter.
Theuth replies
"And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a
paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a
quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create
forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their
memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not
remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid
not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not
truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many
things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient
and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having
the show of wisdom without the reality."
(find it at http://books.mirror.org/plato/phaedrus/)
Hmm.
regards
Len
--
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Dr Leonard Holmes
Principal Lecturer in Human Resource Management
Luton Business School University of Luton
tel. +44(0)158 734111 ext 5014
email: [log in to unmask]
websites: www.re-skill.org.uk
www.graduate-employability.org.uk
www.odysseygroup.org.uk
