Plato's
Republic begins in
Book I, which tries to answer the question, “What is justice?”.
This is an interesting question, that despite the groups best
efforts, is still left unanswered going into Book II. The characters
in The Republic traverse
through many possible definitions of justice, ultimately not reaching
a single conclusion. Author William Bennett states that the meaning
of Plato's “Justice” would come closer to our modern notion of
“Integrity” (Book of Virtues, 657). In recognizing this, it can
be seen and better understood as to why a definition of justice could
not be reached. As in modern times, though on paper it may be claimed
that the definition of integrity is known, in practice and reality,
integrity is a myth. The leaders of the state, the ones who are
supposed to hold the most integrity in fact hold the least, and let
go of the little they have by performing acts of infidelity, theft,
bribery, gambling, etc. This to is seen in the individual, this lack
of integrity, this confusion as to what justice actually is.
As
the dialogue moves into Book II, the question, “What is justice?”
is still left widely unanswered. Socrates moves from, “What is
justice in the individual” to “What is justice in the state.”
As it is, justice, he argued, is to be seen more easily in the state
than in the individual. It was hoped that they would find justice by
looking at it from a different, larger, angle. In this, they began to
try to construct a utopian state and tried to calculate everything
such a state would require.
In
the beginnings of the construct of the state it was stated that 'A
state arises out of the want of men.' It is said that when 'these
partners and helpers are gathered together in one habitation the body
of inhabitants is termed a State. So, minimally, a State is a small
group of people of whom one provides food while the other provides
shelter. A state then, begins as a place without business or
government. A state starts free of power and thus free of any form of
corruption. People in this stage of State want sustenance, not yet is
power or money or more of anything desired or required.
The
true creator of the State is necessity. It is seen here that it is
not in human nature, and may not be within the power of human beings,
to exist wholly by themselves, as individuals, but instead require
other human beings to help provide for them what they cannot provide
for themselves as they focus on providing one product or service. It
is in this that we can see the beginnings of the corruption that is
human nature, and the choices driven by free will, where one will
give as little for as much as they can. Whether it be a basic
bartering system or an advanced monetary system, person A will always
give person B one loaf of bread for three dozen tomatoes, if person A
feels that they can get away with it. It's not a matter of what's
fair or what's good, it's a matter of how much you can accumulate for
you and your own, despite what others do or do not have.
It
is said, in The Republic,
that those participating in the thought experiment are trying to
establish a luxurious state, though it seemed at first that they were
attempting to form a state that would help them see the definition of
justice. Luxury takes away from justice, as it offers comfort and
contentment and these things give way to boredom, and the bored are
less likely to be just, because being just is less dramatic or
interesting. People want some kind of amusement. They will sell the
soul of the person they love to achieve a quick high, a cheap shot of
adrenaline that will leave them alone and thirsty for more.
It
is said in The Republic that
'the territory of our State must be enlarged; and hence will arise
war between us and our neighbors.' As is well known, Karl Popper
asserted in his book The Open Society and Its Enemies
(1943) that Plato advocates in The Republic
a dangerous kind of political extremism characterized by a
totalitarian conception of justice (Society, 195). This political
extremism is seen in his acceptance of the 'necessity' of a luxurious
state and in his saying that war is necessary. According to Plato,
there is no justice in murder, but there is justice in the death of
both citizens of Plato's state and that of the opposing state in the
name of land so that a State may be 'luxurious.' Karl Popper's
analysis of The Republic as
extremism is most correct, and it can also be seen that Plato's
extremism is dangerous, as it would justify people's murderous
actions.
There
is yet neither a definition for justice nor a utopian state and
already Socrates and company have allowed for a corrupt and ever
fragile economic system to be established and have also called for
war, the extension of land and of luxury. It is stated in Book IV
that the State must be judged as a whole. Under this credo, it is not
about the individual, but about the State. Countless numbers of
individuals can starve in the back streets of a State, according to
this theory, just as long as over all the State has the ability to
look beautiful, to look good. The book has moved from searching for
what definition of justice is in the individual to what justice is in
the State to now being to the point that the conversation is not
about either the just individual nor the just state, but instead, it
is about the State that has to look good as a whole, instead of
having all the individuals that came together to make up the State
looking good.
The
discussion then moves into why a state needs to be neither too
wealthy, nor suffering of poverty. An analogy that is used is that of
an artist. They say that if an artist is too wealthy he will become
careless and that if he is too poor he won't be able to afford the
tools that he needs. It is said in The Republic,
“Wealth, and poverty; one is the parent of luxury and indolence,,
and the other of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent.”
The economic philosophy of The Republic at
this point says that a state and an individual need to find a
balance. That wealth breeds indifference and indifference can lead to
the downfall of both the state and the individual; while a person who
is poverty stricken will find themselves out of luck and will blame
it on other people. This will lead to them being mean and vicious to
people whom do not deserve it. Whether discussing the State or the
Individual, it is good to practice moderation as wealth is a
corrupting force.
The
next topic of the discussion moves back to the individual. More so,
the individual's affect on the State. It says that the power of each
individual in the state to do his own work competes with other
political virtues, wisdom, temperance, and courage. The virtue, the
necessity of competition, is justice. This builds off the prior point
of a balance between wealth and poverty. No person should lie, cheat,
steal or monopolize. In this theoretical utopia of Plato's, people do
not act for more money than they need. This means that the husbandman
does not attempt to be a shoemaker, and the shoemaker does not care
to be a husbandman. Yet, in the reality of human nature, it can be
seen that a husbandman will make shoes if it benefits him and allows
him to afford some kind of luxury, such as a bigger house. It is also
seen in the reality of human nature that the politician will lie and
cheat so that he may be a politician, so that he may make the pay of
a politician, regardless of what is good or important to or for his
constituents.
Rather
than extending the parallel between the city and the individual soul
that takes center stage throughout the preceding material, Socrates
turns to consider exclusively the city-state in Books V-VII (“The
Transformation of Plato's Republic,” 293). In Book V Plato begins
to discuss the family. It may be in the institutions of the family
that Plato had the best philosophies. He is also able to use the
organization of the family to help establish the state. It is said in
The Republic that
convention should not be permitted to stand in the way of a higher
good. This is a good philosophy on all levels. This is a good
philosophy for the State, the Individual and for the family.
Convention leads too often to complacency and complacency in an
institution is not a good philosophy, as the world is ever-changing,
the individual and the state that they inhabit must always be willing
to change, grow and adapt.
To
end Book V the dialogue asks the question, “Who then are the true
philosophers?” The answer given is, “Those who are lovers of the
vision of truth.” If, however, philosophy is in the business of
Truth and the art of Freedom, and truth trumps freedom as Plato
claims, then clearly the famed 'quarrel' between them must lead to a
divorce (Classical bulletin, 64). The true philosophers are lovers of
the vision of truth. The true artists are lovers of freedom. By
juxtaposing these two things you can see that an artist can be a
philosopher and vice versa as it is possible to go beyond the vision
of truth and, through the freedom that an artist seeks, actually
experience freedom and truth. In fact, it seems dangerous to be a
philosopher and only seek the vision of truth, and never actually
pursue truth, because then it is left that an individual lives in a
hypothetical world, where on paper everything works., where as the
artist expresses a desire for freedom and this is freedom in the real
world, in a realm of reality. It seems the only way for the
individual to exist and obtain true justice is to be a philosopher
and an artist.
Book
VII is the famous simile of the cave. In this book it can be quoted,
“To them [The people in the Cave], I said, the truth would be
literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” this quote speaks
a lot of the modern human, and of the lack of human progress, if
humans are comparable to their 2000 year old counterparts. But
especially in a media culture, humans are susceptible to getting
something watered down, incorrect, or fake. Humans are usually stuck
in a reality that has city limits, a reality that their parents and
teachers set for them. A reality that only has one truth, and all
other truths are falsehoods, even if they seem more logical to a
different human being, stuck in a different reality. The cave in
Plato's Republic can
be compared to almost any small town in the world. Parents, teachers
and preachers are all the fire that produces the shadows of the
images. People do not question or wonder or even care to leave their
cave, for they were raised and taught that this was foolish, and
anyone who does want to leave, or asks funny questions is eccentric
and should be closely observed. Plato, in Book VII of The
Republic begs and pleads with
each and every individual to exit the cave and to enter the world of
intellect. For the only way to see and know the truth, and not to
live a bland, boring existence of ignorance is to enter into the
higher ways of thinking. “Yet he also ends up showing them that
politics is less important than the wise governance of one's own soul
(See the end of Book IX) and that there is a goal higher than both a
just city and a just soul: the investigation and contemplation of the
cosmos and the forms (“City and Soul in Plato's Republic”
262).”
In
Book IX Plato comes to observe the individual's soul. He says, “And
the fifth is the image of the human soul consisting of a little human
being (reason), a lion (spirit), and a many – headed beast
(appetite).” He says that the human being and the lion must not be
sacrificed to the beast. He compares the effects of appetite on the
tyrant and the philosopher. “The tyrant is enslaved because he is
ruled by an utterly unlimited appetite, which prompts in him
appetitive desire whenever any chance object of appetite presents
itself to his consideration.” This states that the individual with
no self control, that hungers ever for more and more, and usually
thus hungering for the most is to become a tyrant because they will
always crave power and money and obedience. Inversely, Plato says
this about the philosopher, “The philosopher, by contrast, is most
able to do what she wants to do, for she wants to do what is best and
as long as one has agency, there would seem to be a doable best.”
The philosopher has restraint, purpose and objectives. The appetite
of a philosopher is to do the best for the individual and the State.
The
dialogue began with the questions, “What is justice?” and “How
do you obtain a utopia?”. This was explored by looking at justice,
integrity, morality, ethics, arts, philosophy, music and the
Individual and the State, to name a few things. A utopia, if ever
reached, was only reached in theory and justice was never defined,
but it was stated in Book IX that, “Justice begins with the
individual, his first aim not health but harmony of soul.” It is
seen then why a definition of justice was never reached and why no
example of justice exists. It is because humans are stuck either in
one of two situations. They are too simple and content to ever think
about leaving the cave, or they are ruled by the many – headed
beast (appetite). In seeing why there is no definition or example of
justice it is seen why there is no utopia in reality, and it is
because there is no pure example of justice in reality. It may be, in
the end that Plato gave us a starting line on the road to a utopia,
but two thousand years after he wrote The Republic all
human-kind has done is feed the many – headed beast.
Work
Cited
Bennett, William J.
“The Book of Virtues”. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. 1993.
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. 08 February 2010.
Dorter, Kenneth. “The
Transformation of Plato's Republic.”
History Reference Center Classical Bulletin. 2007. Vol. 83, Issue 2
p293.
Feeney, Joseph J. “Is
Literature Still Human? Beyond Politics and Theory.” America Nov.
18, 1995: 26-27. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 08 February 2010.
Ferrari, G.R.F. History
Reference Center Classical Bulletin, 2006, Vol. 82 Issue 2, p262.
Griffin, Jasper.
“Plato's Grand Design.” New York Review of Books. 06 May 1999:
41+ SIRS Renaissance. Web. 08 February 2010.
Grippe, Edward J.
“Socrates, Plato and the Tao.” Philosophy in the Contemporary
World. Spring/Summer 2002: 61-70. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 08 February
2010.
Gocer, Asli. “Exiling
the Poets: The Production of Censorship in Plato's Republic.”
History Reference Center Classical Bulletin, 2004, Vol. 80 Issue 1,
p64.
Rosen, Stanley. Plato's
Republic: A Study. Howland, Jacob Society; March 2009, Vol. 46 Issue
2, p195-198, 4p.
Unknown. “Political
Theory”. The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ideas 2004; n.p. SIRS
Renaissance. Web. 08 February 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment