Compare And Contrast Plato And The Allegory Of The Cave
A look into Plato and his understanding of the philosophical ways of life; in this paper we will do just that. There are many aspects of Plato’s understandings of philosophy and its relationships within a society and we will dig into a handful of them. Those few being Plato’s understanding of philosophy and its relationship with politics; The Allegory of the Cave and how it shines light on Plato’s concept of education. The next being the characteristics and abilities of a philosopher making them superior rulers; comparing of a Philosopher-King and Creon, and finally the likelihood of a successful Philosopher-King in the real world. Beginning with a look into Plato’s understanding of philosophy before we can look at its relationship with politics, the " Platonic Conception of Philosophy" states that Plato believes Philosophy to be the love of wisdom and the
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characteristics of that wisdom are as follows: 1. Wisdom can face the test of critical discussion which is cross examination; 2. It makes use of a method peculiar to it (proceeds by criticizing received opinions); 3. Only a philosopher has direct access to the true reality so only he can offer final criticism of received opinions; 4. To apprehend the true nature of reality is to know what purpose everything has; and 5. It is because of his knowledge of ideals that the philosopher knows how men ought to live. Keeping this in mind we will move into the relationship Plato believes philosophy to have with politics. As discussed in the beginning of this course the meaning of Political Philosophy is," Philosophical reflection on how to best arrange our collective life; our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic system and our pattern of family life." The basic principle of this definition is derived from the teachings of philosophers over time such as Plato who believed that without philosophy we cannot fully grasp or understand anything and can accomplish nothing. He also hints at the fact that only a philosopher can have that connection with the true reality, therefor should be seen as superior, which we will discuss later on. Another key point to look at is his understanding of philosophical experience and how it shines light on his concept of education. The Allegory of the Cave demonstrates the philosophical experience by breaking down the intellectual process one must go through to finally reach the ability to see and understand the forms. The four stages of this intellectual process from start to finish are; imagination, belief, thought, and understanding. This was seen as the education process and the goal was to get everyone to progress through the stages as far as possible. The stage that they stopped on defined their classification and only the ones who made it all the way through with the full understanding where labelled philosophers. This shines light on Plato’s idea that education should not be aimed at putting knowledge into the soul, but at turning the soul toward the right desires. This contrasts with others that see education as the process of learning a skill and language, with that being the ultimate goal. Next we will discuss the character and abilities of a philosopher and why those two things would make a Philosopher- King more qualified to rule over others. The philosopher is one who seeks wisdom of a special kind- certainty about the true nature of reality. This true reality is explained as the aspect of reality that is beyond what we can see, and made mostly of unchanging, eternal, absolute entities called forms. Forms such as goodness, beauty, etc. are the cause of all objects and experience, and only the forms can be objects of knowledge. It is thought that with the philosopher being the only one who actively seeks this true reality they are the only ones who can finally reach that full understanding therefore evolving into the Philosopher-King. Uniquely, the Philosopher-King can grasp the forms and understand the meaning which they hold, thus they are the only people who can claim actual knowledge. They are also people who yearn for the truth above all else. The Philosopher-King is the most just man. This is the perfect type king in Plato’s opinion, because how could a ruler be a success if he has no knowledge of nor grasps the true reality, and he is this way only because he does not search for the truth. When one looks at the Philosopher-King and compares him to Creon, the king in the story of Antigone, one finds that they are vastly different.
As discussed earlier the Philosopher-King is one who is in constant search of the truth and his sole rule is grounded in his role as the most just man. He is also the only one with the ability to grasp the true reality in its purest forms. Whereas Creon is a weathered man who sees his rule as a burden and duty. He only focuses his interest in the political and social order of the state. Creon’s rule is based in serving the state and upholding order by enlisting fear and intolerance. Taking these differences into consideration, when asked the question of whether the Philosopher-King would be likely to make laws or edicts such as the one Creon made which resulted in the death of Antigone, I would have to say I believe it to be highly unlikely. If the Philosopher-King is truly the most just man and is able to see and grasp the world with a superior view into the true reality of the world, he would be able to see the flaws in laws and edicts such as the one Creon
set. After discussing all the of the underlying meanings and understandings we finally get to the main purpose of this paper, which is to determine weather or not a Philosopher-King would make a successful ruler in the actuality of the real world. While he is the perfect ruler in theory, when the possibility of him in the real is brought to light one has to acknowledge that getting people to believe in him as the only one so privilege to see the true reality and the only searcher of truth will be a challenge in itself. If the people as a whole where able to accept this and welcome him to be the ruler, I believe that he would make a magnificent ruler; at least until the people lost faith in his justness and view of the true reality.
characteristics of that wisdom are as follows: 1. Wisdom can face the test of critical discussion which is cross examination; 2. It makes use of a method peculiar to it (proceeds by criticizing received opinions); 3. Only a philosopher has direct access to the true reality so only he can offer final criticism of received opinions; 4. To apprehend the true nature of reality is to know what purpose everything has; and 5. It is because of his knowledge of ideals that the philosopher knows how men ought to live. Keeping this in mind we will move into the relationship Plato believes philosophy to have with politics. As discussed in the beginning of this course the meaning of Political Philosophy is," Philosophical reflection on how to best arrange our collective life; our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic system and our pattern of family life." The basic principle of this definition is derived from the teachings of philosophers over time such as Plato who believed that without philosophy we cannot fully grasp or understand anything and can accomplish nothing. He also hints at the fact that only a philosopher can have that connection with the true reality, therefor should be seen as superior, which we will discuss later on. Another key point to look at is his understanding of philosophical experience and how it shines light on his concept of education. The Allegory of the Cave demonstrates the philosophical experience by breaking down the intellectual process one must go through to finally reach the ability to see and understand the forms. The four stages of this intellectual process from start to finish are; imagination, belief, thought, and understanding. This was seen as the education process and the goal was to get everyone to progress through the stages as far as possible. The stage that they stopped on defined their classification and only the ones who made it all the way through with the full understanding where labelled philosophers. This shines light on Plato’s idea that education should not be aimed at putting knowledge into the soul, but at turning the soul toward the right desires. This contrasts with others that see education as the process of learning a skill and language, with that being the ultimate goal. Next we will discuss the character and abilities of a philosopher and why those two things would make a Philosopher- King more qualified to rule over others. The philosopher is one who seeks wisdom of a special kind- certainty about the true nature of reality. This true reality is explained as the aspect of reality that is beyond what we can see, and made mostly of unchanging, eternal, absolute entities called forms. Forms such as goodness, beauty, etc. are the cause of all objects and experience, and only the forms can be objects of knowledge. It is thought that with the philosopher being the only one who actively seeks this true reality they are the only ones who can finally reach that full understanding therefore evolving into the Philosopher-King. Uniquely, the Philosopher-King can grasp the forms and understand the meaning which they hold, thus they are the only people who can claim actual knowledge. They are also people who yearn for the truth above all else. The Philosopher-King is the most just man. This is the perfect type king in Plato’s opinion, because how could a ruler be a success if he has no knowledge of nor grasps the true reality, and he is this way only because he does not search for the truth. When one looks at the Philosopher-King and compares him to Creon, the king in the story of Antigone, one finds that they are vastly different.
As discussed earlier the Philosopher-King is one who is in constant search of the truth and his sole rule is grounded in his role as the most just man. He is also the only one with the ability to grasp the true reality in its purest forms. Whereas Creon is a weathered man who sees his rule as a burden and duty. He only focuses his interest in the political and social order of the state. Creon’s rule is based in serving the state and upholding order by enlisting fear and intolerance. Taking these differences into consideration, when asked the question of whether the Philosopher-King would be likely to make laws or edicts such as the one Creon made which resulted in the death of Antigone, I would have to say I believe it to be highly unlikely. If the Philosopher-King is truly the most just man and is able to see and grasp the world with a superior view into the true reality of the world, he would be able to see the flaws in laws and edicts such as the one Creon
set. After discussing all the of the underlying meanings and understandings we finally get to the main purpose of this paper, which is to determine weather or not a Philosopher-King would make a successful ruler in the actuality of the real world. While he is the perfect ruler in theory, when the possibility of him in the real is brought to light one has to acknowledge that getting people to believe in him as the only one so privilege to see the true reality and the only searcher of truth will be a challenge in itself. If the people as a whole where able to accept this and welcome him to be the ruler, I believe that he would make a magnificent ruler; at least until the people lost faith in his justness and view of the true reality.