Review of Plato and the Republic

The profound influence of Greek thought on our culture today can be best explained by analyzing certain works that were circulated during that time period and comparing them to practices and thoughts today. One that proved to be particularly enlightening was The Republic by Plato. In this work Plato discusses his views on virtue, government, love, life, and most of all, how to lead a happy and fulfilling existence. This work was very helpful in my search of some easy way to understand the thought process of the Greek philosophers and some the ideas that they spread throughout Europe.

A particular example of profound Greek thought that can be seen in society today is Plato's opinion on government and the way society should be ruled. Plato, much like Socrates, was obsessed with the idea of virtue. In his first book he discusses the form of justice and how even though some are unwilling to participate in the role of justice we all inevitably contribute through action or inaction. This statement is his first attempt to introduce the reader into his world of reason. He states that everything is relative and whether you take part in governing or not you are still a part of whole and thus factored into the equation anyway. He then goes on to discuss the motivation for justice in society not only being punishment, but also the fear of being ruled by a person who is unjust or less than you.

"Now the worst part of the punishment is that he who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself. And the fear of this, as I conceive, induces the good to take office, not because they would, but because they cannot help-not under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves, but as necessity, and because they are not able to commit the task of ruling to anyone who is better than themselves, or indeed as good" (Jowett 25).

In societies around the world people strive to rule their countries in the best way possible to them. While not always financially rewarding the role of leader is still coveted. Plato's idea of justice is communicated as being an immaterial part of us that we contend with on a daily basis. Plato got many of his ideas from Socrates; one of which was his theory on virtue. They both believed that virtue was an actual thing that could be sought after and defined through the use of certain methods. One of these methods was the dialectic, which is the foundation for western thinking and reason, as we know it today. The dialectic states that any answer or truth may be found through the simple dissection of thought and conversation until the most simple and reasonable answer is left. Even through the many centuries people still feel an obligation to look after each other and bring some semblance of order and truth into the world mainly because of the foundation laid for them centuries before by people like Plato.

Another interesting idea Plato discussed in The Republic is that of the senses and what we deem as real and true and what we look at as false and untrue. In book VII Plato presents us with the allegory of the cave where he brings forth his views on not only the visual world, which surrounds us, but also the material world in which we actually live. In this story he shows that man can be made to believe anything through the manipulation of the senses. Furthermore, that instead of embracing the truth when presented with it, man would rather steep in his own ignorance and not change. This to me is a classic example of man throughout history. To abbreviate the story is to take much away from the illustration of the man and his predicament, but it basically states that several men were subjected to an environment where sight was restricted to the point where they could only see inanimate objects. Eventually they began think they that this was all that the world held and that they knew where they stood. Next, one of the men was released and he came to see the world as it really was not as he thought it was. Even though he was brought into the real world he still had trouble grasping the fact that he was not correct in his first assumption made through the observations in his previous life. This story helps communicate how fragile perception is and that everyone has a different one that it can be easily influence by the physical world around you.

".... The power and capacity for learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from the darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or, in other words, of the good" (Jowett 213).

Even today we are influenced by the world around us with all our advertisements, propaganda, and visual stimuli. Plato's main point was that we need to get in touch with more factual and concrete ideas like mathematics. Mathematics was praised highly by Plato because it was an idea that did not require physical evidence to prove. "Unlike an empirical generalization, a mathematical truth cannot be refuted by experience; our knowledge of its truth does not depend upon our perspective or the state of our sensory organs or on the ambiguities of how things appear to our eyes," (Boardman). Mathematics did not rely on the material world to explain its laws or even exist. By encouraging the study of things like mathematics Plato helped encourage other cultures later in history to take his ideas further and to continue to teach his thoughts to other generations.

Finally, Plato's main concern is the soul and the value of absolute knowledge. Throughout The Republic Plato is constantly coming back to the necessity of truth. He valued truth above all else because it is factual and immutable. His use of the dialectic to communicate his frustration with the world around him was very effective as long as someone was there to continue his conversation. You see the dialectic was a superb way of communicating his thoughts because it was a method meant to teach others. Plato already knew what his theories were but needed a way to interest others in his area of thought. Asking questions was the ideal way to interest others even centuries later. All thought begins with a question or some negative that must elaborated upon to understand. This struggle to define and understand virtue and goodness surely lead many others to pursue a moral and logical existence. Even today as I read The Republic it provokes new thought on what I think truth is and how I define what is worthy of praise in my life.

Although I have only touched upon the contents of The Republic it holds many more interesting ideas and thoughts that are too numerous to list. Plato was a great thinker and questioned the world around him constantly in the hopes that he might find some knowledge that would lead him to a better understanding of life and his role in the world. The Republic was his way of communicating some of those ideas to other individuals that may share some of his thoughts. Although his words were recorded so many centuries ago they still reach through time to express the same message and to raise the same unanswerable questions in our minds today.

Boardman, William. "Forms In Plato's Republic". November 8, 1998 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. March 17, 2002. .

Jowett, Benjamin. Plato The Republic. Barnes & Noble, 1999. (1-329)