Pardon me, my excellent friend. I’m in love with learning. Country places and trees do not wish to teach me anything, but human beings in the city do. But you seem to have discovered a drug to entice me to walk outside the city (Socrates, in Phaedrus, 7).
Introduction
The divide of a man from the nature represents lots of amenities of city life. On the other hand, get involved with business of city life a man loses connection with the roots of essence, namely countryside. This dichotomy is emphasized by the eminent statement of Socrates in Phaedrus and ideas of H. G. Wells in The Island of Dr. Moreau. This dilemma concerns the issue of man and nature, business of city and relief of country. In fact, the idea stated by Socrates thousands years ago and repeated by Agamben and Wells deserves to be evaluated in detail.
Socrates Idea
First of all, Socrates directly outlines the benefits which an individual can achieve living in the city and in the country. Knowledge and harmony are two alternatives which are related to the city and to nature outside it respectively. The philosophical position of one of the greatest luminary of all times corresponds to the significance of the city. It is the place where culture, science, and education on the whole find their beginning. It is the centre for social, economical, and political relations. The growth of the nation stands on the activity of its cities. In ancient times Socrates did not hesitate to mention this very feature.
Herbert Wells View
Herbert Wells provides the significance of country for the protagonist of his book. Dr. Moreau loses inner balance when being outside the country, regardless the fact of his cruel experiments: “The doctor was simply howled out of the country” (Wells 29). He seems to lose his ability to create out of the place where the nature subtly touches upon the fibres of creative mind. This philosophical assumption represents a background for the significance to make no divides with nature. The example of Dr. Moreau emphasizes the role of the country, as the source for inspiration.
Differences between Socrates’ and Wells’ points
On the other hand, such point of view contradicts the position of Socrates. This philosopher believed that the divide between a man and the nature lies in the rejection to follow the way of a civilized world. However, he cannot but agree that there is an invisible thread between a human being and the wilds. It is seen at the place where Socrates compares the nature and the atmosphere of the country with a drug. Humans are separated from animals because of their more active way of development at least in three directions: social, cultural, political. This makes the distance between creatures of instincts (animals) and creatures of Reason (human beings).
Conclusion
All in all, the antinomy between humanity and the world of the nature and animals, particularly, represents the discussion about universal truths. The significance of city life becomes prior when looking at the perspectives of progress. On the other hand, people need to have inner relation to the nature. There should be an awareness of how to make a supposed divide reduced. Unfortunately, it is a matter of long discussion. People are more apt at complicating life than at improving it. Hence, the separation between men and animals seems to be constant in the contemporary world.
Works cited
Plato. Phaedrus. London: Forgotten Books, 1972.
Wells, Herbert George. The Island of Dr. Moreau. London: 1st World Publishing, 2004.