Socrates in The Republic
One of the first works of political philosophy is the Republic of Plato which is a masterpiece of insight and feeling, mainly expressed in dialogue form. Further development of Plato's ideas is undertaken in his Statesman and Laws, the latter prescribing the ruthless methods where they might be imposed. Plato grew up during the Great War between Athens and Sparta in which Athens lost and, like many political philosophers, tried to find ways for prevalent political injustice and decline. The Republic is the first of the writings; and it is the first classic attempt of a European philosopher to moralize political life. Cast as a lively discussion between Socrates, whose wisdom Plato is recounting, and various Athenians, Books V, VII-VIII, and IX of the Republic state the major themes of political philosophy with poetic power. Plato's work has been criticized by many, reflecting the moral assumptions of the elite in a slave-owning civilization and bound by the narrow limits of the city-state. The work is a classic example of a philosopher's bad views of society. With Socrates the central problem of philosophy shifted from the study of the physical universe to the formulation of a rule of life, to the "practical use of reason." As
It may be significant that the only dialogue later than the Theaetetus in which Socrates takes a leading part is the Philebus, the one work of the second group that deals primarily with the ethical problems on which the thought of Socrates had concentrated. This is usually explained by supposing that Plato was unwilling to make Socrates the speaker of doctrines that he knew to be his own property. It would, however, be hard to understand such things if Plato had already been employing Socrates in that very capacity for years. It is very well known, that Aristotle, who apparently knew nothing of an earlier and a later version of Platonism, attributed to Plato a doctrine that is quite unlike anything to be found in the first group of dialogues. It was also the view of Neoplatonic scholars that the theory of Ideas of the great earlier dialogues really originated with Socrates; and the fact that they did not find it necessary to argue the point may show that this had been the standing tradition of the Academy. Few modern scholars, however, support this view. The differences between the early and late periods are not as great as they have sometimes been represented. The ideas of the early period may have been inspired by Socrates, but they were Plato's own ,for example, the theory of Forms could not have started with Socrates. Plato nevertheless attributed it to him because he saw it as the theoretical basis of what Socrates did teach. Scholars in the 19th century usually assumed that this doctrine of Forms was consciously devised by Plato after the death of Socrates. The chief argument for this view is based upon the observation of Aristotle that Socrates rightly "did not separate" the universal from the particular as, it is
Some common words found in the essay are:
Socratic Platonic, Theaetetus Socrates, God Socrates, IX Republic, Aristotle Socrates, Sparta Athens, Socrates Plato, Plato's Republic, Aspasia Aeschines, Republic Plato, doctrine phaedo, enjoy serving, understand plato, rulers enjoy, political philosophy, one's soul,
Approximate Word count = 1170
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
