Eyeore and the Platonic Forms
These examples do not exhaust the Platonic allusions in
this chapter alone. Eeyore too has something valuable to say. We may note in
passing that his ability to contribute shows what progress he has made since
Chapter One: a tribute to Winnie-the-Pooh's tact and skill as a teacher as well
as a philosopher.
Being Eeyore, he naturally wraps up his Platonic allusion in a
complaint. As the explorers for the North Pole are lining up to start their
march, Eeyore says, 'If lam the end of the Expo – what we're talking about -
then let me be the end.' He complains that he keeps finding 'half a dozen
of Rabbit's smaller friends-and-relations' behind him, so that 'this isn't an
Expo - whatever it is - at all, it's simply a Con-fused Noise.' In this short
passage, Eeyore refers to 'end', 'Expo - whatever it is', and 'Confused Noise'.
He clearly takes it for granted that each of these expressions – 'end',
'Expotition', 'Confused Noise' – has a fight and proper meaning, and he is
complaining that the reality does not fit them.
Platonism is being carried a stage further, or perhaps we
should say that our understanding of it is being widened. We have already seen
Platonism applied to mathematics. Now we see an example of Plato's most
characteristic doctrine; the very heart of Platonism: his doctrine that all
earthly things are; mere copies of eternal Forms or Ideas. Eeyore's complaint
implies that there is a true Platonic Form or Idea of an 'end', and we have no
right to apply this name to something that in no way conforms to that Idea; that
is not even a poor copy, but simply no copy at all.
Allowing for some subtle differences, the same applies to the
other phrases. The first difference to strike us is Eeyore's repeated inability
to complete the word 'Expotition'. Various interpretations may come to our
minds.
We may suppose that Eeyore, still at a very early stage of his
philosophic development, cannot fully grasp either the word or the concept, or
both, though he is certain neither is a Confused Noise.
Or we may suppose that he is aware that 'Expotition' is not
the normal form, and doubted whether an abnormal word-form could relate to a
Platonic Form.
We must admit that 'Confused Noise' presents a different
picture altogether, and one that introduces another aspect of Plato: his theory
of how the universe began. For what is Eeyore's 'Confused Noise' but the
primitive chaos that Plato's Timaeus describes as existing before the
world came into existence?
In his own characteristic way, Eeyore is expressing the same
horror of this primeval anarchy that we meet in Othello's 'Chaos is come again',
in Milton's 'realm of Chaos and Old Night§ and, perhaps less familiarly but
with equal power, at the end of Pope's Dunciad:
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is
restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word;
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall,
And universal Darkness buries All.
As Eeyore is the principal exponent of Plato in this
section of the chapter, and as his tail is a recurrent theme in the whole work1~we
are not surprised to find him alluding to the Platonic Form of the tail.
The allusion is somewhat oblique, so we shall point it out.
When little Roo fell into the river, Eeyore tried to rescue him by letting his
own tail dangle in the river for Roo to catch hold of. He left his tail in the
water long after – unknown to him – Roo had been rescued.
When at last he took his tail out, it was thoroughly numb, and
he grumbled about the widespread lack of; understanding of tails and their
dependent problems. 3 'A tail isn't a tail to them1 it's just
a Little Bit Extra at the back.' In other words, he is accusing the others of
ignoring the Ideal Form of the Tail, and all that -if we dare say so - entails.
If anyone objects that this suggests Eeyore was getting
obsessed with the Forms, the simple answer is that new students in any subject
are .often led to a somewhat excessive enthusiasm for some great genius in their
field of study.
To Eeyore, whose world had hitherto been exceptionally narrow
and earthbound, the discovery of the world of Ideal Forms must have been
immensely exciting and liberating. If he became a little intoxicated, that is
surely some-thing for sympathetic understanding rather than criticism.
Pooh and the North Pole
Before we leave this chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, we
must return to our main hero. It was, after all, Pooh Bear himself who found the
North Pole (that is, the ultimate constitution of the universe)- That was only I
to be expected, but see how subtly Milne presents it.
While
the others, like Eeyore (above), were making well-meant but futile attempts to
rescue Roo, 'Pooh was getting something'. That something was a long pole,
which he, helped by Kanga1 used to get Roo out of the river.
What follows?
Christopher Robin … was looking at
Pooh
'Pooh,' he said, 'where did you find that pole?'
Pooh looked at
the pole in his hands.
'I just found it,' he said. 'I thought it ought to be useful. I just picked it
up.'
'Pooh,' said Christopher Robin solemnly, 'the
Expedition is over, You have found the North Pole!'
This passage is so rich in meanings that we must select
only the most important.
First, consider how we meet the pole- Not as the object of the
quest, but as a means of rescuing Roo. A superb, and all too rare, example of
the combination of the philosophico-scientific search for truth with the ethical
practice of caring for others.
Secondly, and closely linked with this, note the author's
exquisite tact in making Kanga Pooh's part-net in the rescue of her child.
Finally, observe the double meaning in Pooh's statement
that he had 'lust found' the P/pole. It alludes to the element of luck, of sheer
serendipity, that has played a large part in many scientific discoveries.
More importantly for Platonic implications, Pooh, like Plato, does not
reveal his profoundest teachings to all and sundry. By now; surely all readers
will recognize that his ignorance of the true nature of the pole is only
apparent. But this time it is no mere assumption of Socratic ignorance. It is a
cautious guarding of secrets too profound for those who have only started on the
way.
Pooh and Plato's Banquet (the Symposium)
Many readers have commented on the emphasis on food in
the World of Pooh; and not merely on food but on feasting. To Pooh and his
friends, food is not just nutrition, not mere physical sustenance it is, even on
the superficial level1 a giver of joy and on some key occasions, of
social warmth.
Once we are alerted to the Platonic riches of our text, we
cannot fail to connect this aspect with Plato's Symposium. Christopher
Robin's party at the end of Winnie-the-Pooh is the clearest parallel;
Just as the drinking party Plato describes was given in honour of Agathon,
because he had won the great drama competition, so our party was given in honour
of Pooh Bear, because his courage and ingenuity had rescued Piglet from the
flood.
The narrator's statement that 'they had all nearly eaten
enough' echoes - more temperately - Plato's 'each man shall drink as much as he
chooses'.
Love was the subject discussed at the Symposium.
Winnie-the-Pooh was the subject discussed at Christopher Robin's party. We may
notice right away that Socrates tells us that 'love has no parents', and we may
remember that Pooh Bear seems equally to be parentless.
Thus prepared, we shall, as so often, look for many levels of
meaning in Mime's multifaceted masterpiece. And this is all the more
appropriate, as Plato, through the mouth of Socrates, emphasized many levels of
love.
At the literal level, Pooh's rescue of Piglet showed love in a
practical sense. But, just as Socrates showed love rising till it was refined
into the rapt contemplation of abstract truth and beauty, so, we may be sure,
the Great Bear's love of honey and 'little cake things with pink icing sugar'
symbolizes his love of philosophic truth
Pooh and Aristotle
We have said enough to indicate the depth and breadth
of Platonic scholarship in the Pooh texts, Now we turn to its equally
rich treasures of Aristotelian philosophy.
Aristotle himself regarded logic as an essential philosopher's
tool, and his own development of logic held the field for over two thousand
years, until the birth of modern symbolic logic in the nineteenth century.
Naturally, then, we expect to find reference to Aristotelian logic in Milne's
masterpiece. And we are not disappointed. Look at the last paragraph of the
following quotation.
Visiting Eeyore one day (WP, Ch. 4) Pooh notices something is
missing.
'why,
what's happened to your tail?' he said in surprise.
'What has happened to it?' said Eeyore
'It isn't there!'
'Are you sure?'
'Well, either a tail is there or it isn't there. You
can't make a mistake about it.'
Now when Pooh Bear tells us that it is necessarily the
case that Eeyore's tail is either there or not there and that there is no middle
way, he is proclaiming one of the basic axioms of Aristotelian logic, the Law or
Principle of the Excluded Middle.-.
We dealt with Aristotle's logic before touching on any other
part of his philosophy because most philosophers, including Aristotle himself,
regard logic as a necessary preliminary to philosophy. We now turn back to an
earlier passage, which encapsulates two other key elements in Aristotelian
philosophy. It all arises from Pooh's hearing some buzzing.
'If there's a buzzing-noise,
somebody's making
a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making
a buzzing-noise that r know of is because you're
a bee.'
The first thing we notice is that Pooh assumes that the
effect -~buzzing. - has a cause, something that makes it happen. This is
precisely what Aristotle called an Efficient Cause ('efficient' here meaning
'having an effect'). Secondly, he concludes that in this instance, bees are the
Efficient Cause of buzzing, because the buzzing is the effect of their action.
In passing, we note that he draws this conclusion from
his knowledge of bees. This knowledge of the natural world, occurring at this
particular moment, reminds us that Aristotle was a major biologist, as well as a
major philosopher. We may point out too that when Aristotle erred in biology it
was because he allowed abstract theory to take the place of concrete
observation. An error that Pooh Bear never committed.
After further meditation on the buzzing, Pool adds, 'And the
only reason for being a bee that know of is making honey ... And the only reason
for making honey is so as I can eat it.' In both these statements, Pooh assumes
a reason, and reason here clearly means purpose. And the idea of purpose is
fundamental to Aristotle's philosophy. In technical language, it was deeply
teleological, and the purpose of an action was what he called its Final Cause
(referring to the end or purpose for which it was done). Here Pooh gives us two
examples of a Final Cause the Final Cause of bees is to make honey; the Final
Cause of honey is to feed Pooh.
So in a few short, clear and entertaining paragraphs, Winnie-the-Pooh
gives us Aristotle's logic, two' of his four Causes, and his basically
teleological approach.
From: John Tyerman Williams: Pooh and the Philosophers;
London: Methuen, 1995: 27-38