But Thamus replied that, as the “father of writing,” Theuth's affection for writing had kept him from acknowledging the truth about writing.
In fact, Thamus asserted, writing increases forgetfulness rather than memory.
Instead of internalizing and understanding things, students will rely on writing as a potion for reminding.
Moreover, students will be exposed to many ideas without properly thinking about them.
Thus, they will have an “appearance of wisdom” while “for the most part they will know nothing” (Phaedrus, 275a-b).
...
Socrates used the illustration to point out that writing alone has no understanding of itself and “continues to signify just the same thing forever” (Phaedrus, 275d-e).
Nor does it discern its audience nor offer self explanation. Socrates instead favoured conversation, “the living, breathing discourse of a man who knows, of which the written one can be fairly called an image” (Phaedrus, 276a)
Credit: The Myth of Thamus and Theuth
Think again - what a fascinating view point of Socrates :-)
