Essay on "Plato/Socrates in Dialogue - "

Essay 4 pages (1846 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Plato/Socrates in Dialogue - for Plato, the Dialogue was a form of argumentative conversation that had moments of humor, irony, and pathos that was used to be a two-way flow of information in order to analyze and synthesize a particular point-of-view. There are several recurring themes in the Dialogues, but typically has Socrates showing that knowledge is a matter of recollection, not rote learning, observation or study. It is as if knowledge is part of what we would call the genetic code, and that we are simply using cognition to remember facts and extrapolate on them.

Thematically, it seems that this argument about knowledge permeates the initial Dialogue -- how is justice defined and challenged, how should individuals act, what makes the best city and the best individual, the concept of the State, the concept of the Tripartite soul, and certainly the use of the analogies of the sun, line and cave to help us understand the fallacies of knowledge. In fact, the "Allegory of the Cave" is a great example of what Plato means by knowledge being relative. The allegory is written as a fictional dialog between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. Plato asks us to imagine a pitch black cave in which prisoners are chained at birth so they can only look forward and are immobile: "Conceive them as having their legs and necks fettered from childhood, so that they remain in the same spot, able to look forward only, and prevented by the fetters from turning their heads" (Plato, vii: 515). Behind all the prisoners is a fire, lit most of the time, and it is the only light in the entire cave. Yet behind the fire, people manipulate puppets that cast shadows on the wall facing the captives. We think the puppeteers are people who were once prisoners who have been freed and now try to represent reality to the prisoners. Being chained at birth certainly implies conformity and blindness into a culture that robs us of the capacity to think. We are all born into a society where we all want to fit in, think and speak of the same things - it is our senses that prevents us from seeing the truth. 'Then in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects,"(vii: 517) representing any person of authority trying to educate others in their own way of thinking. These educators, or more accurately, accultruators, pass on what they have been taught simply because it is what they have been taught -- not because it is the truth, and certainly not due to any deep analysis.

"Then, if this is true, our view of these matters must be this, that education is not in reality what some people proclaim it to be in their professions"(vii: 535) the prisoners believe that the shadows are the most real things. Suddenly a prisoner is freed from his chains and he sees that the shadows were the work of fire and puppets. He is in disbelief but he now believes that the fire and the puppets are now reality. He is then forced out of the cave into the sunlight and blinded by the radiant light of truth. However, soon his eyes fully adjust to the brightness only to discover that the most real things are the physical things outside of the cave, and he falls to the ground, realizing that the puppets were just copies of what he sees now. Finally, he looks up at the sun and understands that the sun makes it possible for him to see the truth and that he is in a better place. "And at this point he would infer and conclude that this it is that provides the seasons and the course of the year and presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some sort the cause of all these things that they had seen"(vii: 517). He truly understands and has grasped the form of the good. It is his role to go back to the cave and enlighten others -- bringing them the truth of what he now understands. However, the prisoners prefer to see the world in their own way, easily ignoring his perceptions of reality since their viewpoint is unchanging and comfortable.

Part 2 -- Analysis of assumptions -- Taking just one example, the allegory of the cave is a way of explaining Plato's struggle to help individuals understand that there is a difference between appearance and reality, and that there are numerous steps leading to finding truth and actualization (reality. The prisoners, then, are society as a whole, who tend to learn only from what they see, or experience on a more tactile level. Humans are thus mistaken in their perception of reality, and must strive to abandon darkness and find light -- even if light is painful, unkind, and certainly more difficult that being chained in darkness and having little choice and free thought.

Enlightenment, then, can be split into different stages, all part of a regular and evolutionary growth process that, like growth of any kind, is sometimes a laborious and painful process. First there is the belief, or imagination stage. The prisoners were convinced the shadows were the most real things in the world simply because they were all they could experience -- easily seen, described, comfortable, and regular. The next stage is one of thought in which the mind must take a leap of faith and use the power of the mind to critically analyze perception and challenge its veracity. The prisoners, for instance, find things that are more real than the shadows, so their comfort zone of reality is shaken and they must redefine what they believed to be truth. In this stage one is asked to see cause and effect, and to project what "may" happen based on facts and events not yet seen or proven. The third stage, but by no means final, builds upon the logic and ability to deconstruct the world, and reconstruct it in new thought. It is the complex stage of attempted understanding. For instance, the initial blast of light (reality) is painful, and in fact, causes near blindness. It is only the gradual sense of becoming a part of that world that allows one to grasp cosmology -- that the sun is the beginning of all things; trees, life, earth, vision, etc. However, the move towards enlightenment is not easy. One must question all previous notions and ideas, and understand that the path towards reality is gained only through moving out of ignorance and into understanding, but never being able to go back; never being comfortable, and always moving towards a rethinking of one's own universe, while still understanding that we, the individual, are part of a community of humans.

Part 3 -- Views on the State from "The Republic" -- Early in "The Republic," Plato proposes definitions of justice and the state, but deems them inadequate (e.g. Socrates says returning debts, helping friends, etc. are inadequate in exceptional situations). Instead, the focus is place on looking at the individual and finds that justice is better for the human because injustice causes pain. It seems as if Plato's major strategy is to take the reader through the various kinds of justice -- first the idea of societal or political justice and then move into the concept of individual justice.

Political justice is harmony within the state; since the state consists of producers, auxiliaries and guardians, there must be balance between the three groups, and within the groups themselves. Each group has the responsibility to perform its major function through its particular skills. Justice means specialization that each person knows they are a part of a larger whole -- part of the larger state, and that they fulfill this role to the upmost of their abilities and skills. Individual justice mirrors political justice in that there are three parts to the individual that replicate the three parts of the state: the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive. The rational seeks truth and helps us find philosophical answers; the spirited desires honor yet is responsible for anger and indignation, and the appetitive lusts after wealth and other pleasures. There must thus be balance between these three parts for the individual to be just, and to participate in a just society.

Living in the state as defined in "The Republic" would likely be difficult for a modern person. There is great responsibility, but limited freedom as we understand it. It would also depend upon which of the three forms one is assigned; Plato's view is that each actualizes because that is what the person is best suited for, but modern views require that we decide what we are suited for based on cognitive skills, not just heritage and custom. For the Ancient World, however, life would be more dignified and "just" in a state modeled after "The Republic."

Part 4 -- Views… READ MORE

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