When serious thoughts come in easy language
Subrata Kumar Das appreciates a translation on Greek philosophy
30 November 2007, 18:00 PM
Greek Dorshoner Ruporekha
Prof Mozaffar Hossain
Agami Prokashoni
Philosophy, in our country, has always meant something of accessibility either only to the intellectual class or to people who study it as a course subject. We never thought that it should be studied in class, or be mandatory. Yet it has always been an inseparable part of our life. Prof Mozaffar Hossain has done a creditable job in encouraging us to read something on philosophy at a leisurely pace. More credit goes to him as he has done that difficult job particularly on the school of Greek philosophy.
It is not only that. Books, quality books, on philosophy written in Bangla are very rare. Of course one can cite the huge production of such books in the book bazaars even of Dhaka, not to mention those of Kolkata. But the point that always draws one's attention relates to their readability. Almost all those books, written and published on philosophy in Bangla, are very tough nuts to crack. Indeed, they actually keep readers away from readings on philosophies by diverting their attention to other, easier to read subjects. In the present circumstances, it is clear that owing to his forty years of experience in teaching philosophy at different colleges, Prof Mozaffar Hossain has felt the craving in him to write a book that could generate interest among students and teachers in this outwardly difficult subject.
The book opens with an introduction that clearly focuses on the different facets of Greek philosophy. The writer begins with a definition of philosophy and gradually has pointed out how this branch of knowledge emerged in Greece and flourished so encouragingly. In this small chapter, he has shown the timeline. The phases are: Pre- Socratic Age (600 BC 430 BC), Socratic Age (430 BC 320 BC), Age of Decadence (320 BC AD 529). Moreover, the writer has pointed out how mythology developed in that earlier society and where the similarities between the gods and goddesses of their myths and that of ours lie.
To speak the truth, the book does not have chapters as we generally notice in books of this genre. It has rather been written as a compilation of entries. The major entry, though given with a very short and simple note, in the book is 'Ionic school of philosophers'. After this gradually come Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Eleatic Philosophy, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno, Gorgias, Heraclitus, Empidocles, Anaxagoras, Leucipus, Democritus, Protagorus and Socrates. After looking into the less significant ones, when Socrates appears, the reader feels a jerk and to satiate the reader's thirst the writer has rightly made the entry much bigger so that it can provide essential information on the wisest philosophers of all ages.
Then comes a long entry under 'Plato'. It is worth noticing that the subsequent eight entries, to a great extent, contribute to the entry on Plato, the great philosopher who is remembered even after twenty two hundred years of his death. The main entry on Plato provides biographical information on the great philosopher who wrote about thirty six books in the form of dialogues among which the Republic is the most widely read. The other entries which, this way or that, help one know more about Plato include Theory of Knowledge, Ideas, Classification of Ideas and its Hierarchy, Evaluation, the society in which Plato lived and his political theories, Philosophy of Education, Immortality of the Soul, the Mystery of Creation, et cetera.
A similar major entry is on Aristotle, the great disciple of Plato. To illustrate Aristotle's thoughts and ideas, the writer has included some more entries like 'Logic', 'Metaphysics', et al, for the readers.
The post-Aristotle philosophers have been packed in afterwards: Epicurus, Lucretius, Arcesilaus, Pyrrho, Aenesidemus, Agrippa, Cicero, Seneca, etc. The last entry tells us about the fall of the worldwide acclaimed philosophical trend of the world.
Greek Dorshoner Ruporekha can easily function as a very helpful handbook to people who wish to have a very clear conception about this particular area of philosophical thinking. The Bangla language readership of philosophy will surely be grateful to the writer of the book for presenting the most difficult thoughts of the world in easily readable language.
We must thank the publishing house for taking necessary initiatives to invest in such a book, one that does not belong to the popular genre. And yet more care could have been given to it in certain areas.
Subrata Kumar Das, a teacher, is the author of the website on Bangladeshi Literature www.bangladeshinovels.com
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