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PARTISAN REVIEW
had spoken persuasively and eloquently, it was the Greeks who developed
and taught the art of rhetoric, which is arguably their most lasting legacy
to Western civilizations. They gave names to the figures of speech and
oratorical techniques that are still in use today .
[f the discussion is framed in this way, so as to focus on analyzing
and defining the nature of European civilization, it will be clear why the
Greeks are included in the curriculum and why they ought to stay there.
[t probably is also necessary to add that one does not come to under–
stand European cultural values simply by being European, but rather that
one needs to assess the virtues and limitations of the European heritage
by subjecting it to extensive study and criticism. [n the process, it would
be fair to ask whether the present debate about the meaning of multicul–
turalism could ever have taken place without the ancient Greeks and
their legacy of inquiry and discussion. We could also learn from them
that the ultimate value of the inquiry is the discussion, not anyone par–
ticular answer to a particular question.
"[ know," says Glaucon in Plato's
Republic,
"that [this ideal repub–
lic] exists in words, but [ do not think it will ever be found on earth."
"No," replies Socrates, "but it exists as a model in the sky for anyone
who wants to see it and after seeing it to found one himself. [t doesn 't
matter whether or not it ever existed or will exist." Clearly Plato ex–
pects his audience to have learned something fi'om the exercise of imag–
ining it (though it is fortunate that it has never actually come into exis–
tence, at least from the point of view of women and people in the
lower strata of Plato's imaginary society). But we might never have been
able so clearly to recognize and articulate its limitations if Plato had not
devised his methods of inquiry. Anticulturalists try to make creations like
Plato's
Republic
seem intentionally destructive, and uniculturalists would
not approve of Plato's reluctance to describe and enforce the values of
his ideal system. But real multiculturalism encourages the kind of debate
Plato sought to foster, by promoting inquiry and discussion, and not
permitting any particular point of view to prevail for very long. That's
why I'm not opposed to real multiculturalism, and why I think real
multiculturalism would always have a place for the Greeks.
