Current Political Philosophy & Plato
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The very nature of current political philosophy is often inexorably tied with the name and philosophies of the fifth century Greek known as Plato. Although Plato had prodigious interests, and his life ended in the middle of the fourth century, the rich nature of Greek culture at the time is not particularly forthcoming regarding his biography. One of the reasons for this is that the code of the time warned against making explicit mention of living contemporaries. The famous orator Isocrates, who was Plato's contemporary, does not mention him at all. Aristotle, who was in his late 30s when Plato died, only alludes vaguely to the philosopher "Plato." In some places, he even refers to Plato as Socrates, and Socrates, Plato's teacher, as the author of such works as the Republic (Edwards, 1967, p. 314). It is, however, that same work, Plato's Republic, upon which this paper will concentrate. That seminal work, so tied up with the basis for modern political philosophy, contains Plato's basic ideas of the state and society in general. The paper will begin by an overview of the work itself, including some of the most basic premises it makes, and scholarly commentary on the same. It will then turn to Plato's actual theories of the state, including the theory of justice, ruling as an art, social organizations and education, the virtues of the state, the famous statement on philosophers as kings, and will conclude with Plato's vision of the possibility of democracy.
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st be forced to consent under threat of penalty . . . and the heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself . . . (Plato, in Ebenstein, 1969, pp. 15-16).
Ruling, then, is an art that must be practiced and coveted, although it is not something that those who Plato believes are qualified will necessarily crave.
However, rulers must exist, for anarchy would result without someone to embody and lead the state. This also gives rise to the fundamental needs of society. These, Plato says, are embodied, "as far as possible [in] the love of the city as this particular city, as one's own city. As far as possible, patriotism takes the place of eros, and patriotism has a closer kinship to spiritedness, eagerness to fight, 'waspishness,' anger, and indignation than to eros" (Plato in Strauss and Cropsey, 1981, p. 22). In this sense, Plato views all of society as being necessarily sublimated to the State, and that society as a structure cannot exist without the State in place. One should certainly remember that for a Greek of this time, the city was the State, and one's loyalty to the polis was considered the only appropriate loyalty. The modern conception of the nation had yet to be invented, and
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Approximate Word count = 2060
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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