Plato's attempt at making a beautiful
city in The Republic is very
commendable. His city has some good qualities, but most of them are
bad. For instance, he (not to be anachronistic here) has a very
Bolshevik-esque method of controlling what people learn from reading
and hearing stories. While some form of censorship is appropriate and
necessary, his seems to be a bit overkill. His can be summed up as:
There are also
prostitutes, communally shared wives, and pastries (and we know that
sugary goodness is evil), but removing some of these things might
actually make his city a good place.
I also really like
what he says about the guardians and the judges not necessarily being
happy. Happiness in a position of power may distract from the gravity
of the position. It follows, then, that governance should look less
like this
and more like this
Speaking
of the guardians, let's look at his method of raising them: “We
must keep them under observation from childhood . . . and we must
select whoever keeps on remembering it and isn't easily deceived”
(413c-413d). Am I the only one who thinks this is a little bit
creepy? It bears a striking resemblance to the kind of population
control we (will) see in (SPOILERS!)
Huxley's Brave New World.
I
also really enjoyed Plato's summary of wisdom, courage, moderation,
and justice. I was surprised to see his definition of courage as a
sort of preservation of the city and its institutions, especially
because he seems to lean toward the idea in his Laches
that courage is a form of endurance. The more I think about it,
though, the more preservation of the city's institutions seems to be
a form of endurance. He's relatively consistent to say the least.
I think my biggest
issue comes from his definition of justice as being a sort of refusal
to meddle in affairs or duties that are not one's own (434c);
furthermore, he asserts that an individual who is just is also wise,
courageous, and moderate in his indulgences (442d).
Here,
his logic is fallacious because his definition of justice doesn't
coincide with the other three qualities from which it's derived. I'm
training to be a teacher in Maryland, so let's use that as an
example. I will be obligated to report any suspected cases of a
parent abusing his or her child. That's the right thing to do, ergo
it's just, which means
the deed is justice. Obviously, reporting such an incident would be
wise (to prevent further injury) and courageous (because it's a tough
decision to make, especially if one turns out to be wrong). According
to Plato, both of these categories factor into justice, but the
action wouldn't be justice because it would be meddling, which is
unjust. Yeah, right...
(Meme taken from mybroadband.co.za. Crowdsurfing photo taken from blog.gotoohlala.com. Burden sketch taken from jonathanmetz.com).
