Denise Mangold

Platos Republic
Paper #1 PHL-1000 Spring 2013 DENISE MANGOLD Villanova University 2/11/2013

Denise Mangold In the book The Republic by Plato, he discusses his ideal regime. Plato attacks excessive individualism in the form of constructing the ideal society. Plato creates three cities: the first, city of pigs; the second, city of luxury; and the third, the city of justice. This ideal regime is based off Platos argument that the human soul is comprised of three parts, reason, spirit, and appetite. Plato shows us in the Republic that we cannot base truth on mere appearance. The reasoning soul is part of the soul that seeks knowledge and education, this part of the soul allows us to think and analyze things from a different perspective. Knowledge is one thing that cannot be taken from us. It is the reasoning part of the soul is what makes us curious and drives us to seek answers instead of just accepting things as they are presented to us as just mere images. The reasoning part of the soul is what allows us to ascend to a higher level of thinking between the material visual world and the intelligible world of ideas; it allows us to seek the highest Form, which is Good. Plato demonstrates the difference between the material world and the world in which ideas and the desire to seek knowledge and reach good in his divided line theory. Plato demonstrates this by stating The lovers of hearing and lovers of sights, on one hand, I said, surely delight in fair sounds and colors and shapes and all that craft makes from such things, but their thought is unable to see and delight

in the fair itself. (p156) Plato describes the balance of the soul in his ideal regime. The ideal regime is a larger instance of the model provided by the soul. The virtue associated with the ideal regime is Prudence. Justice is a virtue that stands outside the division of the soul it rules the relationship among the three parts of the soul. Justice is the longing of the human soul to do a duty according to its nature it is the inward actions one takes in controlling the three parts of the soul. In the ideal regime, the three parts of the soul are in proper balance with one another. We can tell this ideal regime is well balanced when the citizens are pursuing their personal excellence this is the Form Justice. Plato describes justice as non-interference with ones station in life and not to interfere with the duties of another. Plato uses metal as an analogy to demonstrate his ranking on the importance of each part of the soul. The merchant class maintains the economic structure and represents basic needs of life such as eating and sleeping, they are said to have bronze in their souls. Security is provided by the auxiliary class are said to have silver in their souls. The auxiliary class represents courage, passion and honor this is part of the soul that gives us the drive to take action, or the moral compass that we strive to listen to, our passion for others and ourselves stem from this part of the soul. The guardian class, they are said to have gold in their souls once again reinstating the importance Plato places

on reason, gold is the most valuable of the metals, followed by silver then bronze. The guardian class is the ruler class of this regime, and they arrange life of the state, it is the ruler of the soul. The guardians are the intelligence of the soul, the part of the soul that seeks to ascend to a higher level of thinking. This part of the soul must have knowledge of what is true, and good this is part of the soul that makes philosophy possible. Plato believed that philosophers were the only ones fit to rule, meaning the reasoning part of the soul is rightfully the moral ruler. The reasoning part of the soul does not meander in the middle of opinion it seeks the truth in knowledge and in order to have knowledge one must be able to learn and have a love of learning. A philosopher does not love part of something he cherishes all of it. (p154) A philosopher is willing to taste every kind of learning; he appreciates learning with delight and is insatiable. (p155) An example of this is alive in todays Universities. When someone goes to college, they select a major, such as business meaning they hope to work in finance, marketing or sales. The student does not just take business classes; they are expected and are exposed to other disciplines, such as science, art, mathematics, and philosophy. A student of any discipline is a philosopher in the fact they should love the process of learning, not just their desired field but the whole experience of learning. It is the learning of other disciplines is what most Universities call the core

curriculum; it is designed to expose the student to other disciplines, to have an appreciation of other disciplines and more importantly to acquire knowledge of other disciplines, not just to have an opinion on something they were not exposed to. In this process, the student acquires a well-rounded knowledge required to obtain a degree in their desired field. As a IS major, I know I would not have signed up for PHL1000, however, Im grateful to Villanova for exposing me to this work. Plato was definitely a man before his time. He believed that education should not be limited to the privileged or wealthy. In Plato's ideal regime, the citizens of are educated until the person has reached their maximum potential and ability. How far a person goes in their education, determines a persons class. Platos educational system is structured to produce philosophers, meaning that no one based on the class they were born into is destined to stay in that class. Their ability ultimately determines which class they will belong to. In comparison, the US has a similar structure for education. There are scholarships, grants and loans to help those who are not wealthy go on to a University if they so desire. There are also requirements for admittance into University one must demonstrate the ability, the measure of abilities are tests such as the SAT, ACT scores and grades from High School. In the US if the ability is there, financial constraints will not prevent talented individuals from being educated.

Expand on this!!! The aspect of the Republic that disturbed me was the fact Plato supports the telling of a noble lie. Plato clearly states that knowledge is the most vigorous of powers as it drives us to seek the truth. Plato stresses the importance of seeking truth, Plato asserts that the search for the truth is not an idle game; it is what gives us intellect and a soul; however, he supports the telling of his noble lie. Plato discusses how the populace are told this noble lie to keep harmony among the citizens. The rulers, Plato said, must tell the citizens that their circumstances were not within their control, but it was Gods intervention. The lie was that God put either Gold, Silver, or Bronze into a persons soul, and the metal that God put into ones soul determined their station in life, this was so people would be content with their station in life. In comparison this is representative of using religion to control a population, this is in my opinion is the antithesis of seeking truth Plato places so much importance on. Plato advocates using God as a guise to spread this lie in order to control his ideal population. This reminds me of the allegory of the cave the followers are fed these false images by the rulers essentially keeping them imprisoned by falsehoods or images for their own gain. We see this in politics where Politicians use lies to control people to vote them into office. I will compare Platos noble lie to religious organizations that use religion as a way to stifle their followers from seeking truth, and

knowledge; they control their followers by telling them falsehoods. I use religion as an example because God is an important part of most peoples lives. To use God to spread lies is wrong no matter how noble the lie may be. An example of telling religious lies for personal gain was the Jim Bakker scandal. Jim Bakker used religion to control is followers for monetary gain. Jim Bakker preached that God wanted his followers to give him all their money. In contrast, Plato is using religion to establish harmony and peace among the citizens. If a person seeks the truth, has knowledge they cannot be controlled by falsehoods they will seek the truth, in learning, not just accepting images fed to them by puppet masters. In the Republic by Plato, he describes the soul in three parts, the part that control the basic needs, this is the part that controls hunger, thirst, sleep and sustaining basic life functions. The second part of the soul controls honor and courage; it is what drives us in our passion for ourselves and for one another. The most important part of the soul is reason. Reason is the intellect of the soul it is what drives us to seek truth, and knowledge. A soul with reason ruling the soul is said to be the philosopher. A philosopher is a lover of learning he does not accept images he does not love one part of learning he has a love of all of it, he is fed by learning. A philosopher loves shapes, colors and sounds; he is capable of enjoying and understanding the beauty of all of it.

References:

Plato (1991-10-02). The Republic Of Plato: Second Edition. Perseus Book Group-A. Kindle Edition.