Chomsky and Plato both believe that the people in charge of the government during their times manipulate the public; they differ in what they think the replacement for the elites are. In the Republic Plato thinks the ruling class should be replaced with philosophers, in manufacturing consent Chomsky believes the rulering class should be replaced with the masses and democracy. Some of the reasons for this different mindset is the environment they were in at the time of righting their books. So first, I would like to compare and contrast people and their environments from Plato’s time with Chomsky’s. During Plato’s time Athens was a democracy, kind of like our times where we are a democratic republic. During Plato’s time most people could …show more content…
In Plato’s cave like in current times all people know is the cave/media. Plato and Chomsky differ in how they view there influences on the masses. In Plato’s cave the masses are forced outside of the cave they are not prepared for the removal of illusion in fact in their eyes, reality is the illusion. So, they would rather go back into their illusion, forcefully if they have to (Plato 260). Chomsky has a very different view of the masses; they are looking for a way out of the cave but can’t find one because of the propaganda model in its five filters. The first is media ownership since few people own the media they are in control of what the masses see so they would not criticize themselves or friends. Thus leads to the masses, not having power to make their own decisions since the decision is already made on a viewpoint. Another filter is advertising where what companies want to sell you see and nothing else; makes it where you can’t criticize you funders. The third is the reliance on official sources; this is analogous to the cave where a few puppeteers disseminate the information to the prisoner 's. Another filter is flak, this is where you publish something and get punished for it. So the masses will never see the reality only the illusion. The last filter is anti-communism, this idea can be seen in how Muslims and ISIS are viewed, and as result of this you have Donald Trump, with his recent comments on banning Muslims (Chomsky 62). All of these
Have you ever thought of what it would be like if your whole life were an illusion and you had no way of knowing reality? This is the situation Plato describes in “The Allegory of the Cave”. Prisoners in a cave watch shadows that they think are real; however, a few prisoners leave the cave to see the truth in sunlight. Similarly, in George Orwell’s novel 1984, most citizens believe the lies of Big Brother and the Party, and only a few rebel to seek the truth. 1984 parallels the first two stages of “The Allegory of the Cave,” in which prisoners believe shadow scenes are reality, until they are released to see
Plato is a philosopher; however, in “Plato’s Republic,” Plato’s view on philosophers within society is rather unorthodox compared with others who study philosophy. This is due to Plato’s views of individuals each having different skills they are naturally good at; he states that only true philosophers will be fit to rule. All others who attempt to rule will create terrible consequences for a city. The people shun philosophers because they are lovers of knowledge and are perceived to be different from them. The majority of people in a city are not lovers of knowledge but rather lovers of beauty.
As Plato puts it, everyone is in a cave where reality and perceptions are distorted. Plato states:
Plato's ideas on knowledge represent, perhaps, the most foundational and influential attempt to establish the boundaries of what can be known. His ideas have had an immense influence on successive philosophers as well as Western Civilization as a whole. David Hume, who came over two millennia after Plato, represents perhaps the most relevant attempt to establish the boundaries of what can be known.
The second group is the other 80% of the population. They don’t think or pay attention as astutely as do the first 20% and their opinions and thoughts can be somewhat manipulated. According to Chomsky, their main function is to follow orders. The consent of the people is the consent, or opinions being manufactured by the government, and the political system. Their intentions are to manufacture the consent of the people and make sure that their choices and attitudes are altered in such a way that they will always do what is in the government's best interest, which often is the same interest of corporate companies in America. This is what Chomsky meant by propaganda.
Political and social theories between the two philosophers were very different. Plato had very Totalitarian or even communist views for state government. He in his novel The Republic, he describes in much detail his utopian society. He felt society should be organized into three groups: “rulers, auxiliaries and labourers.”(Gaarder 91) The rulers or guardian class would have reason; education and intelligence this would make them well suited for leadership. Plato called these rulers ‘Philosopher Kings’, they would rule for the good of all in the society. Philosopher
In The Republic of Plato, Plato, in addition to sharing his views on justice, shares his views on democracy using a fictionalized Socrates to outline the most pressing issues. Plato’s views on democracy are negative; he believes democracy to be bred from a response to inequality of wealth and to heighten all of humanities worst traits. Plato believes democracy leads to unequipped leaders who hold offices and power without the necessary traits and preparation.
In order to understand the moral fabric of the world, it is important to question any information that is given to an individual, instead of blindly accepting the majority opinion and giving it full credibility and validity based on other people’s opinions. Plato’s work, The Republic introduces the allegory of the cave, which is metaphorical scenario that attempts to explain the importance of questioning norms that may seem trivial. Plato illustrates a cave where bounded prisoners have lived all their lives in seclusion, away from the outside world. In their immobile state, they can only look at the wall in front of them which is illuminated by a small fire that has been going on behind them. The wall constantly projects shadows of people
Noam Chomsky separates his surroundings in 2 groups. They are people that make decisions and have control over the politics, the culture and education of society. The 20% include big news corporations, for example he discusses The New York times quite a few time throughout the film. The remaining 80% are the followers. That is what most of the world is. These are people that either do not know, or do not care about the truth. Actually, the 80% has an important job and that is to be brainwashed. Without people acting like sheep, theses major corporations would not be able to function.
However, the philosophical approach is quite the opposite in The Republic, Plato displays Socrates as the main speaker and provides an ultimate approach to how the government should be set up. This is quite the contrast from Socrates’ philosophical approach in The Apology. For example, in book 7, the philosopher/freed prisoner is the wisest person and is all knowing after he leaves the cave. “...In the knowable realm, the form of the good is the last thing to be seen, and it is reached only with difficulty. Once one has seen it...one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything…” (Plato, 1135) This meaning that wisdom can be reached and once it has been, a person will understand everything. This wisdom is referred to by
In the various discussions of imitative art there has been a notable disagreement between two distinguished philosophers; Plato and Aristotle. Although it was Plato who first discussed the concept of imitative art, it is my belief that Aristotle was justified in his praise and admiration of imitative art, specifically, the tragic drama. In my discussion on the two philosophers’ dissertations I will begin with the ideas of Plato and his position and requirements for imitative art and its respected uses, after which I will discuss the ideas of Aristotle to show that the tragic
In conclusion, Chomsky ends his documentary film by saying; “There is huge opportunities, it is a free society, still the freest in the world….So there’s a lot that can be done if people organize, struggle for their rights as they’ve done in the past and can win many victories”. While ending his documentary film, Chomsky does an amazing job by using that phrase as a warning to the viewers. In essence that was part of his argument, but is used in such a way to give viewers a sense of angst. To enlighten viewers that even though
Plato's Republic is often read as a political work, as a statement of some sort on government, society, and law. This is certainly not a rash reading of the dialogue; it is called the Republic, and over half of it is devoted to the construction of a city through speech, a city complete with a government structure, a military, an economic system, and laws. However, I believe that to read the Republic as a political statement is inaccurate. Although Socrates and his companions construct a city out of speech as they attempt to define justice, the dialogue repeatedly frames justice as something that cannot be established through a fixed system of morality, let alone through a rigid
Comparing the political theories of any two great philosophers is a complex task. Plato and Aristotle are two such philosophers who had ideas of how to improve existing societies during their individual lifetimes. While both Plato and Aristotle were great thinkers, perhaps it is necessary first to examine the ideas of each before showing how one has laid the groundwork and developed certain themes for the other.
Noam Chomsky (1997) begins his critique of the role of media in politics with presenting his readers with the question: “What kind of society do we want to live in, and in particular in what sense of democracy do we want this to be a democratic society?” (9) He then poses two conceptions of democracy: one where the public has the means to participate in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free; or the second conception where the public must be barred from managing their affairs and the means of information is kept narrow and controlled (Chomsky, 1997, 9). Admittedly, this is a strange way to define democracy; however, Chomsky (1997) urges us to understand that the latter is the prevailing conception that his been in that way in theory for a long while (10). Throughout the rest of Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda Chomsky examines American propaganda efforts and discusses how both major political parties use the falsification of history, suppression of information, and promotion of meaningless discourse to stifle questions about U.S. policy.