Plato's Political Philosophy PDF

Structure 2.1 I~itroduction 2.2 Introducing Plato 2.2.1 The Man and His Times 2.2.2 I-lis Works 2.2.3 His Methodology 2.3 Philosophical Foundations of Piato's Political Theory 2.3.1 Socratic Base 2.3.2 Theory of Idea...

Structure 2.1 I~itroduction 2.2 Introducing Plato 2.2.1 The Man and His Times 2.2.2 I-lis Works 2.2.3 His Methodology 2.3 Philosophical Foundations of Piato's Political Theory 2.3.1 Socratic Base 2.3.2 Theory of Ideas 2.4 Political Philosophy of Plato 2.4.1 Theory of Justice 2.4.2 Scheme of Education 2.4.3 ~ o ~ i l m u nof. i t ~Wives and Property 2.4.4 Ideal Slate: The Ruli~zgClass/Pl~ilosoyhicRuler 2.5 Evaluation of I'lato's Political Theory 2.5.1 Plato's Adversaries 2.5.2 Plato's Place in Western Political Theory 2.6 Summary 2.7 Exercises 2.1 INTRODUCTION Plate (42817-34817 BC), a Greek philosopher, is one of tlie no st creative influential thinkers in political pltilosophy. A great deal of writings on Plato has'appcared fro111time to lime. Some have described Plato as the real intellectual founder of Christianity, 'a Christian before Christ', while others, of Marxian socialism. With some, Plato is a revolutionary, a radical at that, with others, a reactioliary, a fascist at that. Plato's modern critics itlclude C.M. Bowra (Ancient Greek Litertrtzrre, 1933), W. Fite (The Pl~rlonicLegend, 19341, R.H. Crossmnn (Plato Today, 1937), A.D. Winspear (The Gelresis of Plcr/ols Thoz/gJ?t, 1940) and Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enenlies, Vol. 1, 1945). Plato's adlnirers include R o l a ~ ~R.d Levinson (In , Dcfence oJ'Plnto, 1953) and John Wild (Plrto's Moden7 Et~emiesurrd the Tllcory qf Nafzrral L a w , 1953). The descriptive and interpretative, and yet sympathetic account of Plato can be i d Ernest Barker (Greek Political Theory: Pluto and His Prec?ecessors, 19 1 8) and Ricliard f o ~ ~ i in Lewis Nettleship (Lectt~rdeson the Republic of Pluto, 1929). This is merely a brief reading of works onlabout Plato intended to introduce the great philosoplier. , Political philosoplly in the West begins with t l ~ qancient Greeks and Plato, inheriting a rich tradition of political speculation became ils first embodiment. Plato was an idealist, for he laid down the basis for political idealis111in the West. He was a philosopher, for 11e had seen the forins beyond those which could be seen as appeararlces. He was a rtionalist, for he gave his pl~ilosopliya definite vision. He was a revolutionary, for he attempted to build a new a i ~ dnovel fabric 011 the ruins of the society around. Obviously, in the process, Plato drifted away fTo111 the prevailing system, and was, thus, co~iseq~~e~ltly d a ~ n ~ i easd utopian, impracticable, identist and tlie like.  d Plato's place, in western political thought, would always remain unparalleled. Numerous idealists regard Plato as their teacher and they feel great in calling themselves his disciples. Some admire Ptato wliile others condemn him, but none dare ignore him. It is here where Plato's greatness lies. He was, indeed, the idealist ainong the idealists, the artist among the artists, the philosopher among the philosophers, and the revolutionary among the revolutionaries. 2.2 INTRODUCING PLAT0 2.2.1 The Man and His Times Plato an aristocrat by both birth and temperament was born in democratic Athens, at a time when it was engaged in a deadly war against Sparta-The Peloponnesian War. The war lasted for ahout 28 years, and resulted in the fall of Athens. On his father's side, Plato traced his descent from Codrus, the last of the tribal kings of Africa, or even from the God Poseidon, and on the tnother's side, fro111that of Solon, tlie great law-giver. Plato was a child, when his father, Ariston, died, and his mother Perictione married Pyrilampes, an associate of Pericles, the statesman. As a young man, Plato had political ambitions, but he became a disciple of Socrates, accepting his basic philosopl.ry and dialectical style of debate: the pursuit of truth through discussions and dialogues. In fact, Plato was disillusioned the way things were going around. He was i~ivitedto join public life wlien the Spartan puppt t government, the Rule of Thirty, was established in 404 BC and where his maternal uncles, Critias and Char~nides,were members of tliat group. plat0 declined tlie offer, because he was disappointed by the fur~ctioningof political leadership, in geiieral, and by llis disgusting experiences of the two successive governments in particular, first by the Rule of Thirty, and later by the returned democratic faction, tlie former entrapping Socrates on charges of corrupting the youth, and the latter executing him on charges of impiety. All this co~ivincedPlato that all politics are evil 1 if not given proper management and direction. Plato hilnself writes in the Seventh Letter, I supposed to be his autobiography, saying: ".., eager though I had been at first to go into I politics, as I looked at these tlii~igs(the course of political life in the city-states) and saw everything taking any course at all with no direction or management, I ended by feeling dizzy.... But at last I saw tliat as far all states now existing are concerned, they are all badly For tlie condition of their laws is bad almost past cure, except for some miraculous accident. So, I was colnpelled to say, in praising true philosophy, that it was from it alone that one was &le to discern all true justice, private as public. And so I said that all the natiolls of men will never ,,$ease from private trouble until either the true and genuine breed of. philosophers shall come to political office or until that ofthe rulers in the states shall by some. s divine ordinonce take to the true pursuit of philosophy". (Italic added) After Socrates' execution in 399 BC, Plato, fearing for his owl1 safety, and in all disillusionment, set hilliself for long travels temporarily abroad to Italy, Sicily and Egypt. In 388 BC, Plato, ' , after his return to Athens, founded the Academy, tlie institution oftell described as the first European University. It provided a comprehensive curriculum, including such subjects as astronomy, biology, political tl~eory,philosophy and mathematics, inscribing, on the vely gate of the Acadenzy, about matheinatics: "Those having 110 kliowledge of mathematics need not enter here." I Pnrsiling an opportunity to combine philosopl~yand practical politics, Plato went to Sicily in. 367 to tutor the new ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius, the younger, in the art of philosophical rule. The experiment failed. Plato made another attempt to Syracuse again, in 361 BC, but once  again, he met with a failure. The last years of Piato's life were spent lecturi~~g at the Academy, and in writing. Plato died at about the age of 80 in Athens in 348 or 347 BC leaving the management of the Academy to Specesippus, his nephew. 2.2.2 Hls Works Plato's writings were in dialogue form, and the hero in all writings except in the Laws was none but his teacher, Socrates. In the dialogue-type writings, philosophical ideas were advanced, ' discussed, and criticised in the context of a conservation or debate invoJvi11g two or more persons..The collection of Plato's works includes 35 dialogues and 13 letters, though doubts are cast on the authenticity of a few of them. The dialogues may be divided into early, middle and later periods of composition. The earliest represent Plato's attempt to communicate the philosophy and dialectical style of Socrates. Several of these dialogues take the same form. Socrates encountering someone who claims to know much professes to be ignorant and seeks assistance from the one who knows. As Socrates begins to raise questions, it becomes, however, clear that the one reputed to be wise really does not know (i.e., Cephalus, Polemarchus, Thrasymacl~us on 'Justice') what he claims to know, and Socrates emerges as the wiser one because he, at least, knows that he does not know. Such knowledge, of course, is the beginning of wisdom. Included in this group of dialogues are churntides (an.attempt to define temperance), Lysis (a. a discussion of friendship), Leaches (a pursuit of the meaning of courage), Protagoras (a defence of the thesis that virtue is knowledge and can be taught), Euthyphro (a consideration of the nature of piety) and Book I of the Republic ( A discussion of justice). he middle and the lute dialogues of Plato reflect his own philosophical development. ~ o s t ' scholars attribute the ideas, in these works, to Plato himself, though Socrates continues to be the main character in many of the dialogues. The 'writings of the middle period include Gorgius (a consideration of several ethical questions), Meno (a discussion of the nature of knowledge) the Apology (Societies' defense of himself as his trial against the charges of atheism and corrupting Athenian youth), Crito (though half-finished, Socrates' defence of obedience to the laws 'of the state), Phaedo (the death scene of Socrates, in which he discusses the theory of -- Forms, the nature of the soul, and the question of immorality), the S'yosiunt (Plato's olrtstanding dramatic achievement, which also contains several speeches on beauty and love), the kepublic (Plato's supreme philosophical achievement), which is also a detailed discussio~iof the nature of justice). The works of the later period include the Sfafesman,the Theaetetus (a denial that knowledge is to be identified with sense ,perception), Promenades (a critical evaluation of the theory of forms), Sophist (further consideration of the theory of Ideas, or Forms), Philebus (a discussion of the relationship between pleasure and the good), Timaeus (Plato's views on natural science and cosmology), and the Laws (a more practical analysis of political and social issues). , Of all his writings, the Republic (written over a period of Piato's early life as a writer, though finished around the year (i.e, about 386 BC) he established his Academy, the Statesman (written about the year 360 BC.), and the Laws (published after his death in 347 BC and written a couple of months earlier) may be said to have contained his entire political philosophy... The Republic of Plato is by all means the greatest of all his works. It is not only a treatise on politics, but is also a treatise dealing with every aspect of human life. It, in fact, deals with metaphysics.(the idea of the Good), moral philosophy (virtue of human soul), education (the  scientific training the rulers ought to have), polilics (the Ideal State), the philosophy of history (tlie process of historical change from the Idea State to tyrallnical regime), economy (communism of property and families)-all combined in one. The Republic has ten books whose subject- matter can be st~mmedup as under: i) Book I deals with man's life, nature of justice and morality. ii) Books IT lo IV explain tlie organisation of the State, and of the system of education. Here, Plato lays down the featnres of good man, and ideal society, stating three eletne~~ts in human nature (appetite, spirit and reason) and tlieir corresponding characteristics in the ideal state (the producers, the auxiliaries, the rulers). iii) Books V to VII, while stating the organisation of the ideal State, refer t o such a system based on commul~ism(of families and property) and headed by the philosopher-ruler. iv) Books VIII and IX tell us how anarchy and chaos visit when the individuals and States get perverted. v) Book X has two parts: Part I relates philosophy to art, and Part I1 discusses the capacity of the soul. The Statesman and the Laws deal more with the actual states and ground realities, and as such do not have the same idealism and radical overtures, which the Republic posh.:ssed. Plato of the Repzrblic is what is known to the world: the idealist, the philosopher and the ~adical. 2.2.3 His Methodology It is usually said that Plato's methodology was deductive, also called the philosophical method. The pkilosopher, while following this methodology, has his pre-conceived conclusions and then seeks to see them in actual conditions around him: general pririciples are determined first, and thereafter, are related to particular situation. The deducfive [nethod of illvestigatioli stands opposite to the inductive one where the conclusions are reached after studying, observing, and examining the data avaiIable at hand. Plato, it is said, followed the deductive method in so far as he attempted to find the characteristic features of the state lie founded in his iniagil~ationin the existing conditions prevailing in the city-states of tlie ancient Greek Society. Obviottsly, 11e did not find what he had imagined, and that was why he felt dizziness (See the quotation from Seventh Letter above). That Plato's methodology is deductive is an ilnportant aspect, but it is, at the same time, an amalgam of ilulnerous nletllodologies is something more ilnportant a fact if one seeks lo u~~derstand Plato. Nettleship is of the opinion that Plato's n~etliodologyis inductive as well, for it relates theory with practice. The fact is that Plato follows a variety of nietliocls in expressing his political thouglit. Plato's methodology is dialectical, for 'dialect' has been a tradition with the ancient Greeks. Socsates followed this lncthodology in respo~ldingto the views of his rivals by highlighting fallacies in their thinking. Plato, following his teacher Socrates, pursued this metliodology in his search for 'the idea of good' and the way it could be reached. 111the process, he was not imparting Ipcrsays, bill fhr a li~tnre.ii)r a model and that too tlirougli a rational plan. Accordingly, Plato can bc described ils an idealist, but not a utopian; a physician and not a life-giver; a refor~iicrand [lot a drenmcr. Tlicrc is originality in I'lato iri so fiir he Ilntl btrild not very uncommon institutions on postulates he thought basic. I'lato's significallcc lies in making education as the bedrock on which is struclurecl thc wholc ideal statc. If the \~llzolesclienle of education is practised completely, tlie development o f t l ~ statc c is ccrtniuly nssurecl. Sound education and sound nu~turingare guarantees for filll-llcdgccl bcttermcnt. I Ie was of [he opinion that tlie state could be stri~ct~ired afresh as againsl l'opper's view ol' piccenieal social engineering. Plclto is a ~hilosoplicralitl ;kt tlic satlie ti~iiean idealist. A philosopher is one who thinks more than lie sccs; he sees things in general, and avoids what is particular. Plat0 was such a pliilosophw \vho sitw thc general clctc~.ioratingconditions of tlie city-states of his time. He souglii to diagnose the ailmcnt, rallies tlia~itlie symptoms. Wliat ailed tlie ancient Greek society was llie ever-siclicnil~gC O I. I ' LI'IIIC~S, I ~ ~ ancl his diagnosis, then, was to give tlie people a set of rulers wlio hnew the art of r~lling. Plato was such a pl~ilosoplierwlio never lost siglit of pl~ilosopI~y, one that was idealistic, purposive, fi~~ure-oriented and normative, and yet witliill the framework of actual conclitions. tlc did rcach the lleiglits but lie remained within tlie reacli of what was practicnblc. IIe was, [Iius, a pliilosopher wlzo reliiained within tlie boundaries of realities; lie was a pliilosoplier wlio looked foward the sky but with his reet grounded on tlie earth. Plato may not be a saint, but lzc is a teacher of all of 11s. We can criticise him but we cannot ignore Iiim. Plato's a~iollicrcol~trihut.iolito western political thought was liis radicalism. He innovated liovel ideas a~iclintcyriltctl tlle~nskillfully in a political sclieine. His radicalis111lies in tlie fact that his rulers are rulers witllot~lcomforts and luxuries possessed by men of property; they are masters witlioitt owning anytlling; tlley arc parents witlzotit calling tlie children tlieir own; they have  powers, absolute powers but they also have absolute responsibilities. It was a plan to organise the entire social order on.the basis of knowledge, skill and expertise. It was a total negation to tlie Pericleali idea of participatory democratic order with emphasi's on capacity and individuality rather than equality. Plato's attempt in the Republic is to portray a perfect model of an ideal order. With primacy of education he conceived of an elite which would wield power not for themselves but for the good of the society. But there was no prescription for checking degeneration or abuse of power. It is because of sucl~an important omission, his more realistic pupil, Aristotle co~iceivedof an ideal state not on the blueprint of the Republic but of the Laws. The beginning of the modern democratic order based o n the rule of law could be traced to the Laws and not to the Republic. However, Plato's place in western political thought is matchless. His legacy spreads with age and it is really difficult to prepare a list of subsequent political philosophers who might not have Plato's imprint, either explicitly or implicitly. Plato was one of the prolific writers, a philosopher, of the ancient Greece, born in 428/7 BC and died in 348/7 BC. His works have come to us in the forms of dialogue which have an appeal to the educated, and an interest in philosophy. He was a great political philosopher. In him, myth, metaphor, Iiumor, irony, patlis and a rich Greek vocabulaly captivate those who read hiin as his philosophy leads to the most pressing issues of the mind and reality. Plato was influenced by his teacher, Socrates, and by the then conditions of the ancient Greek. The theme of Plato's social and political thought, especially of the Republic is that philosophy alone offers true power-it also is the way to knowledge. The philosopher knows the forms, the ideals. He alone is fit to rule-those who are guided by reason and knowledge alone should have the power. They alone are capable of establishing justice, to see that everyone contributes to the best of his abilities, of ~naintainiiigthe size and purity and unity of the state. These rulers, possessed with the element of gold, together with man of silver and of copper, constiti~le the ideal state. Justice, for Plato, lies in each class (and in each individual in his own class) doing his own job. Plato gives to these t h e classes education which each one needs. Plato, being a perfectionist, does not take any cha~iceand seeks to have a corruption-free administration. That is why he applies communistic devices on the guardians. Plato's friends and foes are numerous. His admirers describe him as an idealist and a philosopher, as also a teacher of all, his adversaries co~ldelnnhim as the eneniy of open society, an anti- democrat and a fascist. His contribution to western political thought is without any parallel. He has given western political thought a basis, a vision and a direction. 2.7 EXERCISES 1) Critically exaluine Plato's Theory of Education. 2) Evaluate Plato's Theory of Justice is the light of the prevailing theories of justice. 3) Explain the importance of co~ii~nunity of wives and property in Plato's ideal state. 4) Discrlss Plato's theory of ideal state. What qualities does Plato suggest for the ruling class? 5) Assess Popper's critique of Plalo. 6) Evaluate Plato's political philosophy. What is Plato's contribution to western political tliought?