Term Paper on "Plato and Suzuki"

Term Paper 5 pages (1613 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Plato and Suzuki

What is the problem of truth? What are two of the main types of obstacles to the pursuit of truth? How does Zen practice help to overcome one type of obstacle? How does Socrates work help to overcome another type of obstacle to the pursuit of truth?

Truth," depending upon the philosophy, is at best an unattainable perfection that can be experienced only once all connection to the mortal coil can be severed. The problem, then, is that the philosophical "truth" is blocked most significantly by human failure to completely divorce itself from our need to establish a definition, a clear and unmistakable line that defines truth. This cannot be done. For Plato, the two obstacles to the pursuit of truth are that it can become corrupted in the minds of men over time and that lies can become the truth if told often enough.

Zen takes on the first obstacle by focusing on ignoring the past and the future for an absolute state of "now" where what has been said before or about an object or person cannot change what that person or object is in the present. Socrates addressed the second obstacle, that of lies becoming truth with repetition, by challenging those around him to see things not as others describe them (thus setting expectations which are always a lie of sorts) but without filter of any kind.

2-Who is Socrates? Who is Plato? When and where did they live and work? How is Socrates' approach to teaching and argument different?

Socrates is often considered to be a fiction of Plato - a prototypical teacher who Plato himself could use to put his words and philosophy forward to the world without those thoughts being his. Regardless of whether or not Socrates actually existed, his role in Western philosophy is clear - he is the teacher and Plato is the student. The time of Plato and Socrates was in pre-Christian Greece, around the 5th and 4th century BC. Plato's description of Socrates presents us with a man who is without disciples, without distractions, and is a man of pure thought - which by it's very essence is what lends to the idea that Socrates is more mythical ideal than real man. However, for Socrates, teaching is best accomplished by challenging the pupil to take up the world and to examine it with an eye to see past the conventions, structures, and realities of men to not only live within the world ad a citizen of Greece, but to also see beyond those conventions to see the world as it is, not as we would make it out to be. For Plato, the style of teaching is much more direct - rather than leading the student to a place of self-realization, Plato explains what the realization should be about truth, life, citizenship, philosophy, etc. And thus justifies his own thought through argument and statement. Socrates simply posed questions and conundrums, challenges to what is "known" such that the pupil would arrive at the same conclusion as Socrates, but through their own discovery.

3-Polemarchus and Adeimantus ask Socrates to discuss justice with them. What is meant by justice? What are the three kinds of goods they discuss? According to Socrates what type of good is justice? What argument about justice do they want Socrates to prove?

Justice, to Socrates, would arrive from within the individual man once he had discovered the universal good. Socrates believed that truth and good were absolutes defined by the universe in the same way that a square or gravity is. Once discovered, this ultimate good would then naturally prevail and all men who understood these "goods" would by the nature of their discovery understand justice and mete it out accordingly. Justice, to Socrates, is the ultimate "good" which can be discovered and thus understood by all men. Justice is carried out by the soul in whatever way is necessary within a given situation - punishment, reward, assistance, denial, any of which are possible results that come from personal interactions with others. The self-aware soul will always mete out justice according to the higher truths. Those that are not aware in this manner will behave unjustly and it is the responsibility of the self-aware to respond as required.

4-What arguments about justice does Glaucon make (out of the four possibilities, which one does he explore, and according to him why are people just)?

What story does Glaucon use to demonstrate his argument? What is the point of this story?

Glaucon, Plato's older brother, argues that justice is good for its own sake and for the sake of its consequences (the third category). People are injust, according to Glaucon, because it is in their inherent self-interest to be so - all men will determine to take whatever shortcuts are available and deemed "reasonable" by society such that they can pursue their lives in whatever way they choose. This is made evident by the very nature of the conversation - something that would only be possible on the backs of countless servants and slaves who make it so that these philosophers and citizens can sit around and think rather than toil. He uses a story about a world without laws, without common agreement as to the mutual good, to show that justice is both self-serving and serves the community. While as individuals we may seek out our own best benefit at the cost of others' we expect that our society will treat all citizens with an equal hand. Thus we pursue justice as a social construct that allows for a society made up of self-serving individuals to exist.

5-What is Socrates definition of justice in the state as found in Book IV? Compare the parts of the just state to the parts of the just soul. Describe the virtues of each.

Socrates defines justice as being essentially a combination of both what Cephalus and Polemarchus put forward earlier - that justice is the honoring of the contract between men in a society (laws) and of the more private pursuit of assisting friends and harming enemies. Socrates reconciles these two definitions with the idea that justice, in any of these situations be they public or private, is the rendering of that which is due.

The just state, then, is one that is built upon law but in which those laws are enforced by men who hold an unwavering belief about that which is harmful or to be feared and that which is beneficial or not to be feared. The virtue of belief is that it is founded upon knowledge not only of the self, but of the universal truths.

The just soul, to Socrates, is the basis for the just society. Man's ability to see truth in the self, to understand justice as being both self- and community-serving also leads to the understanding that the soul loves truth as much as it loves honor (virtue). Knowing the truth allows us to see the ultimate good. Honoring the truth means living and acting in accordance with the truth. Thus the virtues of the soul are the same as those of the community - truth and honor.

6-the luxurious city requires more land and defending the wealth acquired. What sector of society does this create? Describe what this group of citizens will need to be like in terms of character and skills. Why is their education so important? What are the main areas of their education?

The luxurious city requires a balance of workers, craftsmen, merchants and managers without an upper-class of people who simply take from the lower classes of people rather than contributing actual value to the city. The citizens who live and thrive in the ideal luxurious city represent the functions of the soul (reason, desire… READ MORE

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