Ruminations on Plato

23. March 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

Dish of the day:  Plato’s Republic, Books I-V.  (Ferrari (ed) and Griffith (trans).  Cambridge University Press).

 I would imagine that many regard books three and five of the Republic as appalling and repugnant.  In book three, Socrates lays out, in very specific detail, the sorts of forms of art that would be most optimal for a just society.  Forms that differ from the chosen ideals are swiftly outlawed. Myths and stories that portray the suffering and fallibility of Gods and heroes are discarded for the potential effects they may have on the worldview of the consumers.  Imitative dramas are discarded for their propensity to induce inauthenticity. In book five, the coherence and balance of society is shown to require that all private property and exclusive relations (e.g. marital or parental relations between individuals to the exclusion of others) be abolished in favor of communitarian living.  And the sheer practical difficulty of such social organization requires that the ruling power be a philosopher-king. Read the rest of this entry »

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