Form Of Good In Plato's Republic
In Plato’s Republic, books 6 and 7, many forms are portrayed. The most important form was the form of good. Socrate’s describes this form of good in different ways while comparing it to education. He believes that there is an importance in turning the human soul towards “good” or right desires. Education plays a major role in turning the human soul towards these right desires. In continuity, the allegory of the cave is another example to depict educations effect on the human soul. This allegory is an example of an empirical world; a person’s perspectives of the world defined by observations fabricated through experimentation. Socrate’s view of the form of good helps to educate the human soul towards the right desires. Socrates describes the
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Education in comparison to the soul is turning the soul so it is able to see the light, where seeing the light is the form of good. This allows a philosopher to become a philosopher king. Socrates said, “Education isn’t what some people declare it to be, namely, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes.” (518 b-c, page 190) The last part of this quote helps back up the statement that only people who understand the form of good can understand the rest of the world around them. If one doesn’t understand the form of good, he says “it’s like putting sight into blind eyes” because someone who has been blind their whole life would not understand what to do with their eyes if they were given the ability to see. This helps in explaining Socrates next statement. He claims that “The power to learn is present in everyone’s soul and that the instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” (518 c-d, page 190) This means that everyone has the ability to learn about good and bad from their own personal experiences, but it is thats person’s realization that those experiences wont corrupt you but actually learning can will allow you to understand that. This quote is another example of lightness and darkness where light represents knowledge and darkness represents ignorance. This is a very black and white statement because its either knowledge or illiteracy, it can’t be both or the grey in between. According to Socrates, turning the human soul towards the right desires is to gain knowledge through the form of good, also know as
Education in comparison to the soul is turning the soul so it is able to see the light, where seeing the light is the form of good. This allows a philosopher to become a philosopher king. Socrates said, “Education isn’t what some people declare it to be, namely, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes.” (518 b-c, page 190) The last part of this quote helps back up the statement that only people who understand the form of good can understand the rest of the world around them. If one doesn’t understand the form of good, he says “it’s like putting sight into blind eyes” because someone who has been blind their whole life would not understand what to do with their eyes if they were given the ability to see. This helps in explaining Socrates next statement. He claims that “The power to learn is present in everyone’s soul and that the instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” (518 c-d, page 190) This means that everyone has the ability to learn about good and bad from their own personal experiences, but it is thats person’s realization that those experiences wont corrupt you but actually learning can will allow you to understand that. This quote is another example of lightness and darkness where light represents knowledge and darkness represents ignorance. This is a very black and white statement because its either knowledge or illiteracy, it can’t be both or the grey in between. According to Socrates, turning the human soul towards the right desires is to gain knowledge through the form of good, also know as