Implications Of Plato's Censorship Of Poetry In The Republic

"Unless," I said, "the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place, while the many natures now making their way to either apart from the other are by necessity excluded, there is no rest from ills for the cities, my dear Glaucon, nor I think for human kind, nor will the regime we have now described in speech ever come forth from nature, insofar as possible, and see the light of the sun."(THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO By Allan B- 473d - 473e)

In Plato’s Republic he has many examples of rhetoric. In regards to the controversial topic of women and eugenics in which Plato is almost forced into mentioning because of Adeimantus and Glaucon, he uses various rhetorical statements to portray his view on the matter. His readers believe women should be equal, so Plato attempts to persuade his readers into thinking he believes the same. For example, in the passage on women and family Plato states, “we shall assign these to each accordingly; but if the only difference apparent between them is that the female bears and the male begets, we shall not admit that this is the difference relevant for our purpose, but shall still maintain that our male and female Guardians ought to follow the same occupations” (164). He uses the women are equal and can do the same things as men strategy in order to make Athenian men understand what he is trying to say while still stroking their egos by using rhetoric. Men are in general are hard to persuade when it comes to power, so as a result Plato gives a sense of gender equality while at the same time still giving men the upper hand.

At the beginning of Book I, we are introduced to the narrator, Socrates, and his audience of peers. We are made aware, however, of Socrates' special charm and intellectual gifts through the insistence of Polemarchus and the other men for the pleasure of his company. The tone is casual and language and modes of expression rather simple, as is commonly the case in Plato's dialogues. However, Plato's unaffected style serves at least two purposes. For one it belies the complexity and elevation of the ideas, thus it is in accord with Socrates' characteristic irony itself, which draws the "fool" in by feigned ignorance, only so that the master can show that he does not know what he thinks he knows. And second,

The text proceeds from analyzing each poem individually, and later draws parallels between the two. It tries to answer the questions whether the poems are a call to social irresponsibility, and if the object of the poem, the common man should be scorned or pitied. That the common man who is busy conforming to the norms of the state and the society has lost connection with his natural surroundings evokes sympathy for him. Materialism has subsumed his capacity to think to an extent that he cannot even decide whether he is free to do as he wishes – can he say no to enlisting for war? Or can he hold an opinion that did not coincide with the larger public?

Plato’s half-brother, Glaucon, perceived to be a spirited and democratic man, has some challenging views of the nature and essence of justice. So much so, his account prompted Socrates argument of a perfect city in speech.

Philosophy is a Greek word meaning "love of wisdom." Throughout Plato's Republic, wisdom plays an important role. According to Plato, education is wisdom. In the passage, 518d, Plato discusses the true meaning of education vicariously through Socrates. Some literary mechanisms can be found in the passage and I will show how they fit in the text and how they contribute to the main themes of Plato's Republic.

“See human beings as though they were in an underground cave-like dwelling” (193). Although Plato’s famous allegory of the cave doesn’t appear until Book VII of The Republic, its significance cannot be understated. The meaning behind the Greek philosopher’s imagery manifests itself throughout the rest of the work, specifically Book I. After outlining the description of the cave and demonstrating how the rest of The Republic dramatizes it, I argue that Plato (or Plato’s Socrates) is revealing a relationship that posits philosophy, which can only come about through mutual respect, as critical for the city’s well-being, but ultimately not enough just by itself.

“the having and doing of one’s own and what belongs to one would be agreed to

believes that the son will realize to be just is only worth it if you can get a

Throughout Republic, Socrates discusses elements that comprise his ideal city. More specifically, in Republic X, Socrates examines the impact of poetry on his noble state. Coming from a negative standpoint, Socrates says that poetry is detrimental to the city for two reasons: one is that, “[poetry] arouses, nourishes, and strengthens this [inferior] part of the soul and so destroys the rational one…”, and the other, “an imitative poet puts a bad constitution in the soul of each individual by making images that are far removed from the truth and by gratifying the irrational part…”.

This essay examines the effects that poetry has on society, both socially and politically. Poetry has been around for centuries, and it is a common misconception that it serves no purpose. One critic in particular, W.H Auden claimed, “poetry makes nothing happen”. However poetry awakens the reader’s eyes and gives an insight to the society in which we live in today, and which has been before us. As evident in Ezra Pound’s work, as he explored the use of imagism to critique modernism and twentieth century, forcing the readers to think more about society as a whole. The purpose of this essay is to show that poetry does make something happen and can have instrumental effects on society, whether it is a poet critiquing society, or simply providing another interpretation. Poetry is a code than needs to be cracked, it is a riddle that makes the reader bring out their true creativity, which is why I disagree with W.H Auden in saying, “poetry makes nothing happen.”

The Republic of Plato is a fiction about a conversation. This conversation bridges a huge amount of topics, most regarding concepts of justice or goodness. The points of the book seemingly is to sort out what makes a good man and what makes a good city. God men and good cities, Socrates and friends conclude, must fit a myriad of criteria. During the course of this fiction the idea of fiction itself comes up, specifically idea’s about using imitation as an art and how it makes a man and city just or unjust. Plato speaking as Socrates delivers a few idea’s about this which all develop as he builds his city and the characters figure that imitation in poetry is wholly unjust. In the end, Socrates sets up idea’s about the regulation of art that contradicts what Plato is doing, but he does this to beckon the reader to specific meaning in the book itself.

    Censorship of the arts has been around for a very long time. Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or "inconvenient" as determined by government authorities or by community consensus. Poetry is an art, displaying an array of ideas or story through words. While Plato discusses with Glaucon how damaging poetry is for his society, I will be discussing how Plato contradicts himself by his use of censorship of poetry, which should be considered in his just society. In his republic, justice is doing the job that was assigned to you based on your nature. There are people who have a nature for poetry, specifically imitative, it would be unjust to dismiss these people who are doing the job that is best suited to their nature. I will be using a variety of contemporary sources in order to support my claim that Plato is contradicting himself by keeping poetry from his republic.

In Plato’s text “The Republic” his ideal nation is one without poetry. Plato makes the assertion that poetry imitations reality and it takes us further, instead of closer, to the forms (i.e. truth), thus leading to falsehood (142). Platonism in relation to Milton’s “L’Allegro” and “IL Penseroso” are what makes these two poems in opposition of one another. The poem “L’Allegro” affirms Plato belief about poetry because it offers readers an illusionary and sensationalize approach to reality. Whereas, “IL Penseroso” refutes this notion by bestowing on the readers a rational view, which in turn leads to the truth.

Socratic moral philosophy is important in poetry because it engages poets in rational thinking when making poems. Poetry is mostly communicated through written texts; it can be used to expand one’s knowledge of himself or herself and the world. However, philosophers disparage poetry by its composition and senses such as imitation, representation, fiction, and expression. On this note, Socrates used philosophical explorations to criticize the role of poetry in the world. Many poets engage in imitation and imagination in their poetic works, which limits the chances of poetry enhancing knowledge in the society. The branch points between poets and Socrates are imitation versus and imagination versus reason.