Plato And Guardians

The rulers are the most important and must be brought up with a good moral upbringing. Plato believes that it is necessary to tell the rulers falsehoods in their childhood to have them be gentile to their own people and harmful to their enemies. In order to give them a good moral upbringing Plato states that you need to read them stories about the Gods. But because the ruler can only be subjected to good moral ideas, the evil stories will be overlooked. " Aren't there two kinds of story, one true and the other false?" Socrates states," Yes. And mustn't our men be educated in both, but first in false ones?" Plato thinks that children not be confronted with anything evil until its character is already formed, making the children respect honesty and virtue." The young cant distinguish what is allegorical from what isn't, and the opinions they absorb at that age are hard to erase and apt to become unalternatable. For these reasons, then, we should take the utmost care to insure that the first stories they hear about virtue are the best ones for them to hear."

Plato is remembered as one of the worlds best known philosophers who along with his writings are widely studied. Plato was a student of the great Greek philosopher Socrates and later went on to be the teacher of Aristotle. Plato’s writings such as “The Republic”, “Apology” and “Symposium” reveal a great amount of insight on what was central to his worldview. He was a true philosopher as he was constantly searching for wisdom and believed questioning every aspect of life would lead him to the knowledge he sought. He was disgusted with the common occurrence of Greeks not thinking for themselves but simply accepting the popular opinion also known as doxa. Plato believed that we ought to search for and meditate on the ideal versions of beauty, justice, wisdom, and other concepts which he referred to as the forms. His hostility towards doxa, theory of the forms, and perspective on reality were the central ideas that shaped Plato’s worldview and led him to be the great philosopher who is still revered today.

In Book VII of the Republic, Plato intimates that someone “returning from a mode of existence which involves greater lucidity” (63-4) would “much prefer, as Homer describes it, ‘being a slave labouring for someone else – someone without property’ […] than share [the] beliefs and [the] life” of ignorant “people who [have, by virtue of being (born) astute, managed to accrue a great deal of] status and power” for themselves despite the sizeable odds stacked against them (62).

Plato was a philosopher who was born in Athens (470-390 BCE), and was also a student of Socrates. He felt that intelligence and one’s perception belonged to completely independent realms or realities. He believed that general concepts of knowledge were predestined, or placed in the soul before birth even occurred in living things. Plato believed that the cosmos was intelligible, and the the universe was mathematically understandable. He believes that mathematical objects could be seen as perfect forms. Forms, a doctoral of Plato, can be understood as an everyday object or idea, which does not, exists in the everyday realm, but merely is existent in the hypothetical realm or reality.

In the end of Plato’s Republic Book I, Socrates and Thrasymachus who had just finished a set of vigorous arguments on what the definition for justice is and whether the just or the unjust life is the best life to live, come to a conclusion. Regarding the true definition of justice, at the end of Book I, Socrates mentions that their discussion have not led them to the true definition of justice (Republic 354b). On the other hand, their discussion on which life is more profitable does come to a conclusion, “So the just man is happy and the unjust man is miserable…but being miserable is not profitable, whereas being happy is” (Rep. 354a) Socrates says, indicating the just life tends to be more profitable than the unjust life. Following their

Courage will be taught by censoring fearful stories of the Underworld and Hades so that the guardians will be fearless of death (Republic, 386b). Moderation and self-control will be taught by removing stories of gods and heroes living in excess (Republic, 390a-d) and of men lamenting (Republic, 388a-d). The modes and rhythms should follow similarly, culminating in an education of music and poetry that teaches these ideals of courage and moderation. Physical training must be simple as a good soul that is trained in music and poetry will produce a good body (Republic, 403d). This combined with the practice of moderation and self-control in food and drink (Republic, 404c) will create the physical aptitude needed to guard the city and fight wars. Socrates ends his dialogue about the guardians’ education by emphasizing the importance of the harmony of education in music and poetry and physical training in making the soul moderate and courageous (Republic, 410d-e). Socrates wants the guardians to embody goodness and for goodness to become a natural instinct and inclination. This is then the development of a sense of shame. Guardians who are raised in this manner will feel a strong sense of shame when confronted by ideals that are opposite to their nature such as cowardice and licentiousness. Thus, it is evident that purifying these stories and correct physical training will teach the guardians courage,

In “Book 1” of Plato’s The Republic, Socrates asks Cephalus about the difficulty of old age, as Cephalus has reached “the threshold of death” and is therefore suited to speak upon age. Cephalus explains that older people tend to be more peaceful because youthful desires like sex, partying, and drinking constrain many people to temporal pleasure, but age releases them from those shackles. These youthful desires are later treated as shackles that constrain many people to temporal pleasures. By introducing these metaphorical shackles in the first discussion of The Republic, Plato foreshadows and parallels the cave allegory that appears in “Book 7” (Plato 3).

The gymnastic education that Socrates prescribes is not as complicated. He rather merely says that it would be sufficient for their purposes that those being reared to be guardians maintain a healthy diet and follow a simple exercise plan from youth. What is more emphasized by Socrates is that there should be balance in the study of both gymnastics and music, and that these studies should be properly harmonized. Those who neglect gymnastics will tend be soft, but on the other hand, those who likewise neglect music will tend to savagery. As Socrates says, “this ferocity only comes from spirit, which if rightly educated, would give courage, but, if too much intensified, is liable to become hard and brutal.” He continues, “On the other hand the philosopher will have the quality of gentleness. And this also, when too much indulged, will turn to softness, but, if educated rightly will be gentle and moderate.” Thus the traits that make a good guardian are developed and nurtured through a good balance of musical and gymnastic education.

“Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate” (Plato 277). On the other hand, poverty causes the craftsmen to develop a rebel attitude. As such, the will resort to evil deeds in order to sustain themselves in the city. Another class in the city is the soldiers. Plato, through his mouthpiece Socrates, argues that the courage of the people of the city lie in their soldiers. However, courage is not a state in which there is lack of fear. Rather it is a state of knowing and persevering in one’s own convictions. However, for this to happen, soldiers need access to good education, which will strengthen their convictions. Education becomes an important part in ensuring that the soldiers understand their role in the city. “Educating [soldiers] in music and gymnastic; we were contriving influences which would prepare them to take the dye of the laws in perfection” (Plato 286). In other words, without education, soldiers would not be able to make decisions that resonate with their beliefs. Thus, lack of fear alone would not serve a full potential as it forms only a smaller portion of what courage constitutes. The third class of the city is the guardians. According to Plato, “Here, then, is a discovery of new evils, I said, against which the guardians will have to watch” (277). Guardians are portrayed as people who have wisdom to watch over

Socrates continues the conversation with Glaucon and now focuses on the obligation of the guardians and philosophers to serve the people as a result of their education.

Rulers, otherwise known as “True Guardians” held the most worthy role, although not the most important. Their social metallic property was gold. The Rules were leaders and philosophers who kept society in order. To fulfill this role one must be specially educated in specifically math and dialect. Plato believed that rulers must live in poverty, with any possessions they do have held in common. The very things, then, that mean the most to commoners will be denied to the rulers. The next class were the Guardians, otherwise known as “auxiliaries”. As the name implies, they were soldiers or warriors. They were responsible for defending the city from invaders, and for keeping peace. They enforce convictions and ensure that rules were obeyed. Their metallic property was silver. Although not as worthy or as looked up to as Rulers, the Guardians held what is considered the most important role in society, much as in modern day society our

yes because back then in the geek area, Plato was using the physiognomy to attempt how powerfully is attractive is . He was talking about how beauty holds in the face and eyes mostly .and still to this day people are attractive to the face and eyes ,it still a apply to the geek mythology what scientists says around from around the world. Scientists was saying that Plato was partially correct about the attractants from the eyes and face . But they were saying that not only physical appearance is important but also the way in the which we

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

workers, so that they do not desire to be in the ruler's position. It is seen

Ethics? Philosophy? What do these two words mean? Living life the right way? Always doing what parents instruct? Some people walk through the motions of life and never fully understand what living is really about—it is more than paying bills, earning an education, and having a family. By definition, philosophy is: “a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means”.1 Humankind has studied philosophy for many years trying to figure out the complex meaning of life, an example being Plato one of the greatest Greek philosophers. Philosophy can be very complicated, but life is a beautiful thing (Thesis statement).