Alright, time for a brief introduction to one of the most influential thinkers of Western Political Thought.
Bear with me, I am by no means an expert and all of what I have to say comes from individual learning as opposed to being taught in a formal setting. Teachers and philosophers out there, please offer your insight!
That said, Plato comes to us from Ancient Athens, around the years 427 to 347 B.C. He was a devout student of Socrates, who, unfortunately, never wrote anything down. Thus, Plato’s lessons and the wisdom handed down from Socrates are written in the form of a dialogue, imitating the dialogues that Socrates used to help individuals arrive at Truth. I’m sure you all have heard of the Socratic method, which is how Plato wrote the dialogues. In essence, the ‘wise’ figure (most often Socrates) would pose a question, such as, What is Justice? By asking repeated questions with regards to whatever answer the student gave, Socrates would eventually lead the student to the foundations for why they gave the definition as such. If, at that point, this foundation didn’t make sense, surely something was wrong and Socrates would have the student try again to arrive at Truth through his answers to questions. It was meant to be a learning process, and not a display to embarass whomever was caught in the contradictions of their definitions. If and when we hopefully get to Wittgenstein and his influences on Bertrand Russell, we’ll look more into the ideas behind a reality based in having concrete and accurate definitions such as those Socrates aimed to elicit.
Plato, like Socrates and later his student Aristotle, represent the beginnings of thinkers attempting to make sense of the world through the use of Reason. Reason’s a very abstract concept difficult to define, but in relation to Athens at the time, it’s basically a reliance on logic, particularly math, and analysis through the senses to cast off irrational notions about the world such as the polytheistic beliefs about the world that were prevalent at the time. This reliance on Reason, among other things, eventually leads to the Trial of Socrates where he is accused of rejecting the accepted deities, ‘corrupting the youth’ (I know…) and winning arguments essentially. (At its root, Athenian officials did not like being made to look like fools and assualted Socrates’ way of life basically, tragic.) Socrates lost the case, and was made to commit suicide by consuming poison hemlock. He could have run away to safety, but that’s a subject for another time.
Back to Plato.
Plato’s metaphysics (basic views about the nature of the world around them in terms of physicalness) are aptly described by a narrative Socrates describes commonly referred to as the Allegory of the Cave. For Plato, society at large is composed of individuals who, for basically their whole lives, live in a sort of shroud. A dark cave in this instance where light cannot reach. They are chained to a wall, and cannot move their hands or legs or turn their heads for that matter. All their lives they face a wall and watch as shadows formed from people carrying objects this wall move across (there’s a large fire in the back of the cave casting the shadows). Because they know nothing else, the individuals can only assume the shadows they see form the basis for reality. A select few, throug the strength of their intellect, are able to break free of their bonds, escape from the cave, and reach the outside world where the brightness of the sun is at first blinding until they can reach an enlightened state and now truly understand the world and reality, since they have been exposed to the real objects and not just their shadows. For Plato, Reason is supreme.
This theory of the essence of objects being something far beyond the tangible ones we are exposed to everyday corresponds to Plato’s Theory of Forms, which I won’t get into right now.
Plato’s division between the enlightened and the not-enlightened is paralleled by divisions that Plato sees within man. Appetite, spirit, and reason. Appetite forms our needs like food. Spirit is our physical vitality, so how we move and defend our well being essentially. And reason is of course the human mind that guides actions. Plato goes on also (Socrates that is) into discussing the human soul as an immortal quality, but that’s something I can tackle later. Socrates argues the immortal quality of the soul requires that we take care in life to be good and just, because while our bodies may get sick and die, our soul never will, so it’s our priority not to corrupt it.
This tripartite sould continues on to create a tripartite society. There are those who supply the reason aspect, namely scholars and philosophers. The spirit is composed of the guardians and the army essentially. The appetite corresponds to the producers like farmers and merchants who supply society, and later the ’state’. (Not the U.S. state…) If you can’t already tell, Plato really likes the ‘Reason’ class of society. These divisions sort of form the basis for the ideal society. For Plato, the ideal society is one that secures and promotes justice. In its most basic, simplistic form, this equates to giving each his own due. (Polemarchues, in the Republic, offers this definition and Socrates shoots it down, but Plato argues the same thing sort of in just a different way, so be careful when you say ‘each his own due’) This means that everyone should fulfill the roles for which they are best suited. The rulers must be those strong in Reason, these are the ‘Philosopher-Kings.’ The army must be people who are strong in spirit, and everyone else basically the ‘providers’. The Philosopher-Kings are the ruling elite, but they are reluctant to rule and rule through wisdom and virtue alone. So while it seems Aristocratic, they’re not in it for power, one question we’ll pose on Wednesday.
When society fulfill’s this basic structure, and acts justly, then we have acheived the just society and everyone should be happy. Right? We’ll see what you all think on Wednesday.
So that’s a basic overview, a lot more coming up on some other ideas of his, followed by Aristotle, his student. I leave you with this quote from The Republic (Plato’s most well known work outlining the ideal society and the basic question, What is Justice?)
Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,… nor, I think, will the human race. (Republic 473c-d)
MP
