Download PLATO: The Philosopher-King

PLATO: The Philosopher-King
27 November 2012
Chad Asindraza
casindra.yolasite.com
In 427 BCE, the birth of a world-changing philosopher took place. Aristocles, or as he
was better known, Plato, was bound to change the philosophical world with an everlasting
impact. According to a biographer of Greek philosophers, Diogenes Laërtius, the philosopher
was named Aristocles after his grandfather, but his wrestling coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed
him Platon, meaning "broad," on account of his robust figure. Without much debate by any
student of philosophy, Plato can easily be considered one of the most dazzling and influential
writers of all time. Many scholars of philosophy spend their entire academic lives – and
sometimes beyond – studying, translating, and defining the works of Plato.
Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens, Greece and was destined for
greatness in any endeavor he undertook. Beyond philosophy, Plato was remarkable in
mathematics, music, gymnastics, Greco-Roman wrestling, and nearly every other facet of life he
was involved in. Throughout his philosophical life, Plato was known to be the number one
student, secretary, and scribe of Socrates. When Socrates was sentenced to death, however,
Plato’s disgust with the Athenian government had reached its peak, as well his philosophies
regarding this concern. This time period, beginning shortly after the death of Socrates, marked
the point where Plato began writing frequently. His writing style, compared to other
philosophers of that time, was something to be noted. Plato ‘displays in his works his
absorption in the political events and intellectual movements of his time, but the questions he
raises are so profound and the strategies he uses for tackling them so richly suggestive and
provocative that educated readers of nearly every period have in some way been influenced by
him, and in practically every age there have been philosophers who count themselves
Platonists in some important respects (Stanford).’ The main of these strategies that Plato is
well-known for is dialogue.
Before entering into the political philosophy of Plato, it is important to make note of the
primary method he used to manifest his ideas. Most associated with drama, Plato utilized
dialogue to convey the majority of his ideas. Where his dialogue differed from drama was the
driving force behind it. Most dialogue in drama is intended for telling stories by means of
invoking mythical realms. This was not the case for Plato. These dialogues also differ from the
writings of Plato because they tend to have many speakers, whereas Plato typically appoints
one narrator throughout the whole dialogue. These dialogues had a format which Plato
followed regularly. First, a setting was presented to the reader - a visit to a prison, a wealthy
man's house, a celebration over drinks, a religious festival, a visit to the gymnasium, a stroll
outside the city's wall, or a long walk on a hot day. These settings were intended to display vivid
portraits of differing social worlds. The second entity of the dialogues of Plato is the list of
characters. These characters would have philosophical discussions and debates that would then
be transcribed by the single narrator of the dialogue. In these dialogues, it is easy for a student
of philosophy to notice the respect that Plato carried for Socrates, as Socrates is a reoccurring,
prominent character in the dialogues of Plato. With the understanding of the form in which
Plato wrote, it is necessary to comprehend the content of these dialogues. To begin, we look at
the ontology of Plato.
Plato believed that reality consists of two levels, or realms: the realm of Becoming and
the realm of Being. The characteristics that create the realm of Becoming are described as:
material, natural, content, temporary, changeable, in space and time, modern, emotional,
immoral, and ugly. Oppositely, Plato associated the following characteristics with the realm of
Being: spiritual, intellectual, form, eternal, unchangeable, out of space and time, traditional,
logical, moral, and beautiful. It is easy to tell which of the two realms Plato held in higher
regard. The realm of Being and the realm of Becoming were structured very differently. The
realm of Becoming was comprised of physical objects such as cats, trees, and rocks. Also
included in the realm of Becoming were fake images, night dreams, and illusions. It is safe to
say, from these examples that Plato did not think highly of creativity. The epistemology, or
theory of knowledge with special regards to its methods, most closely associated with the
realm of Becoming include practical common sense and wild imaginations. On the other hand,
Plato structured the level of Being quite differently. In this realm, there existed eidoses. An
eidos is the eternal, spiritual form, blueprint, shape, mold, or essence of an object. For example,
we know, there are millions of pens to write with around the world. These pens come in all
different shapes, sizes, colors and materials. Despite the variety of pens there are, there is one
perfect pen in the sky, which in essence, represents all pens in the world. Plato believed that
everything had an eidos, but still, there were different levels of eidoses. The lower eidoses built
what Plato described as the realm of Becoming. When entering the realm of Being, there are
two levels of eidoses. Professionals make up the lower eidoses. Traits that are included with
the lower eidoses are professional reason and the gift of being analytical. The second, or higher,
of the two does not relate to mental capacity or a physical trait, but to pure ideas. These ideas
include love and justice. In order to reach these higher eidoses, one must attain the intellectual
intuition of a genius. This, according to Plato, is nearly impossible to reach and requires that
practical common sense is “killed.”
Politics is the subject that Plato seemed to be most passionate about. After being
charged with ‘corrupting the minds of the youth,’ Plato’s teacher, Socrates, was sentenced to
death. Plato pleaded to Socrates that he escapes jail, promising to take care of him for the
remainder of his life. Socrates appreciated Plato’s offer but instead insisted that he stayed in
prison to accept his fate. After being found guilty, Socrates drank a toxic elixir and died, literally,
in the hands of Plato. This entire sequence of events led Plato to have strong, harsh feelings
towards the government of Athens. Plato then began to write about the flaws of Athenian
government. Facing trial for his criticisms of the government, Plato decided to flee Athens and
began living his life from one place to another. For the twelve years he was gone, he went to
visit Theodorus in Cyrene, moved on to study with the Pythagoreans in Italy, and finally to
Egypt. During this period he studied the philosophy of his contemporaries, geometry, geology,
astronomy and religion. Growing older, Plato began to tire from travelling place to place and
asked if he could come back to Athens. He was told that he would be welcome back to Athens,
as long as he did not pursue a career in politics. In a society that valued democracy, it was very
wise to keep a powerful and rich man like Plato away from politics.
Plato understood that Athenians celebrated democracy, and also acknowledged that the
citizens loved it. Plato did, however note that there were three glaring flaws with democracy.
The first issue Plato had with democracy was that equal political rights were given across the
board – to all people. The reason this was a problem for Plato is because many of the people
who had power in a democracy were uneducated. In the opinion of Plato, uneducated people
did not have enough knowledge to make proper choices for a state. The second problem with a
democracy was the populistic promises of politicians. Politicians knew that they require support
from the denizens of Athens to attain their votes. This train of thought led politicians to make
promises to the people even if these promises were not in the best interest of the state. This
problem with democracy, as Plato noted thousands of years ago, is a problem that is occurring
until today. Finally, Plato believed that a democracy provided far too many freedoms for the
people living in it. The lack of some kind of control on a society can lead to, in Plato’s opinion,
anarchy. As a solution to democracy, Plato suggested an aristocratic republic. In this scenario, a
handful of rich, powerful, and well educated people would run the state.
In terms of morals, Plato had four major values: discipline, social order, loyalty, and
obedience. These four values would define the perfect person and society according to Plato.
On the other hand, beyond these values Plato created a social idea that we find common in
India. This system is called a caste system. According to Plato, there were different levels
involved with each caste. In terms of social needs, there were people who cherished
nourishment. These people were at the bottom of the social needs pyramid. Slightly above
those people, we see those who value protection. Near the top of the list we can note the
people of a society who cherish the idea of order. No social need, however, is more important
to Plato than social harmony. Parts of the human soul had levels of importance as well. There
were people whose physical appetites were most important to them. These people, according
to Plato, thought only of themselves and not beyond that. Then, on the next level higher on the
ladder, were the people who placed their will as the most important facet of their soul. For a
philosopher who adored reason, one would feel safe to assume that reason would be the
highest on this particular list. This isn’t the case, however, because Plato places Eros as the
highest level of a human, in terms of their soul. Eros is the irresistible striving of a soul to reach
spiritual perfection. In terms of virtues, we see temperance at the bottom of the list. Courage is
next, and those who virtue courage are typically warriors, as we see later in the social class
hierarchy that Plato devised. Second to last on the level of virtues, we can note wisdom. People
who valued wisdom were themselves considered wise, but there was still one level higher than
wisdom. Finally, in terms of virtue, were the people who regarded justice the highest.
According to Plato, there was no virtue higher and more pure than justice. Many believe that
his idea of justice stemmed from Socrates’ beliefs, but were expanded on when Plato saw that
Socrates was killed unjustly, in his opinion. The final category of Plato’s caste system was social
classes. In this system, we see the biggest societal discrepancy. At the bottom of this system
were the workers. Laborers who worked for low wages were considered nearly insignificant.
One level above the workers, we can find the warriors. Although they were slightly more
respected than workers, warriors were still low on the social scale. On the second to highest
level of the social class ladder, we see half of Platos social make-up. This level belongs to the
philosopher-kings. Finally, at the top of the social class order, we see aristocracy. This caste
system does not come as a surprise to many scholars because the political belief of Plato
unveils this idea.
We have looked at the moral, political, beliefs of Plato as well as his ontology. It is no
surprise to students of philosophy that Plato opened The Academy – a school for the most
gifted children in the region. The prestige and social status of this school is a clear reflection of
the accomplishments of Plato. From physical activities, to music, to math, and finally to
philosophy, it is no wonder that Plato is deemed ‘The Philosopher King.’