In light of the current political climate, do you feel that Plato is right that people who go into public office for motives of financial gain (or power gain) actually destroy the republic? Why or why not? Comment, by using current candidates (of either party,) if possible.
Personal involvement among the public offices have serious and complex consequences to a Republican Government. Persuading, inducing or influencing a public officer is considered as a great offense. The current political culture had changed. Instead of classical Republicanism the fair and comfortable Commercial Republicanism is replaced. Public involvement in Government affirms became a curse in many countries. Bribery, use of public offices for personal gain and money are the major aspects of current political corruption. People who go in to public offices create problems for the entire system of a public office. People usually approach public offices for gaining something not in an acceptable manner. So they accept the above mentioned ways such as bribing, influencing and giving money. All these involvements are harmful for a structured community. This may be considered as an ethical offence and it has harmful implications for the people’s observation of good governances.
People use public officers for their private need caused in the total destruction of political or administrative system of a country. In the light of the current political or social system one can see that Plato’s comments about the involvement of the people in the public sector to destroy the republic is absolutely right. In the field of political corruption a public officer seeks illegitimate personal gain with the help of patronage, graft, extortion and bribery. People’s involvement in conflict of interest is harmful to the electoral affluence of elected officials. After the result of these involvements the state suffered with poor quality of service and misuse of state funds Medias published a number of stories about severe crime. It is very common in third world countries criminals escape with the help of politicians and other officials. It may be a great challenge for the credibility of an administrative system. In their joint effort Arnold J. Heidenheimer, Michael Johnston defines corruption. They say: “Yet the prevailing definitions of political corruption by recent political scientists have firmly consistently defined corruption in terms of transactions between the private and public sectors such that collective goods are illegitimately converted into private –regarding payoffs.”(Page-6)- (Political corruption: concepts & contexts By Arnold J. Heidenheimer, Michael Johnston).
Public officers are public servants that mean a person or a group of persons who has been chosen to become a public servant. Today political parties concentrate power not public. So Bureaucracy is the best weapon for several people, especially politicians. Another major problem is that growing terrorism. Number of people approach the officers for getting passports, identity cards, licenses and other personal needs. It is more harmful for third world countries like Pakistan, Nepal, African and Latin American countries. Excessive people involvement in public offices leads the nation in to social and political anarchism. Personal involvement of people in the field of judiciary creates some constitutional problems. Corrupted officers and judges are the preventive factors in the Judiciary. Result of people’s engagement: an officer forced to do or help a particular person or a group of persons for their private goals. School construction, property taxes, public pension plans, investing in infra structure, and investing in the defense sector are common areas of corruption. So all these areas are the significant parts of a Republican government and any kind of external influence will affect the smooth functioning of an administrative system. External influences from the part of the people weaken the Administrative system.
If you analyze the current political situation of Middle East countries one can easily find the absence of an effective administrative system or a Republican government. The Middle East Muslim nations like Iraq, Iran, Taliban, and many Afro Asian countries have been suffering from external involvements. External involvement of people will lead a nation in to social polarization. Religious groups, social pressure groups and other organizations misuse the facilities. Misusing of government property and confidential information are the after result of these kinds of people involvements. Outside employment of government officials are also a serious problem. An officer who involved in outside employment has the responsibility to satisfy the demands of a person or pressure groups. Excessive people involvement affects the public private partnerships and the process of privatization. An interesting fact is that the problem of people’s involvement is highly affect in democratic countries. In a democratic country modern political leaders have more power and political influence towards the administrative system. To conclude, the public officials of a country serve the nation like the nerve system of the human body. So examining the current political system, a person forced to support Plato’s view about the involvement of people in public affaires is harmful for the smooth functioning of an administrative system.
Since art is fiction, it does not accurately explain truth (Socrates’ quest), and therefore is not only not helpful, but immoral. In our modern art forms, do think that TV, movies, music, etc. deceive people about reality or inform them? Think about how you view life, history, science, etc. How much of it is based on facts, or how much is based on images that you may have seen in a movie, read in a novel, or heard condensed into sound bites by a reporter with an agenda? Discuss.
For many years, critics are parted with the question, whether art is an imitation that deceives the people from reality or not. There were discussions at the time of Socrates, regarding the topic and Socrates opinioned that art is an imitation of an action through which an artist is attempting to deceive the spectator. When one links Socrates’ theory of imitation with the modern art forms, one can view that imitation is deceiving the people from the reality.
As it a controversial factor, it would be better for one to have a look on the view points of the great thinkers on the topic. Great thinkers like, Plato and Aristotle have attributed different meanings to art and imitation. Plato has viewed ‘mimesis’ on ethical and political; context and Plato, in his book, ‘Republic’ comments, “art is imitation, and that’s bad.” Generally it has been agreed upon the fact that art is the imitation of an object or action. To analyze the key factors of ‘mimesis’ one has to look on the historical and the etymological background of the term. Only after understanding the real meaning of the term, ‘mimesis’ would it be possible to interpret whether art deceive people or not. The theory of imitation of Plato views art as a means to deceive people. By joining with the principle of Plato one can assume that the whole aim of the art is to deceive. The presentation of an art form can be regarded successive, when the spectator mistook reality. As art is a powerful medium, it is capable of influencing the people, and it may corrupt the single minded society. Different studies and analysis have been proved the reality that art is capable of attracting the lesser men who are bewitched by its magnificent power. Majority of the studies verify that art has the ability to deceive the viewer into immoral acts, and is overly concerned with sensual pleasures.
Theoreticians like Plato are of the opinion that art is merely an imitation of life and the imitation is after all useless. Their possibility for the bad contents of life should appear again that may make it even dangerous. It may be one looking into the mirror for his reflection and is unable to find out the real need of the society. The continuous viewing of television effectively produces the same reflection and the watchers may forget of the real world and the surroundings.
It is often seen that artists are nonchalant in the portrayal of truth when reproducing actions or scenes. They do not give much importance to reality as they mention stories or images and evaluate whether they are good or bad. Artists regard their art successful only when spectator mistook reality. It is the same sentiment that is generally found in the modern television viewers and in the media portrayals especially in their increasing trend to scrawny celebrities. One see that it not the reality but a destructive lie to dazzle the spectator. As art is focused on the sensual pleasures of the viewer, it is often visible that art ignores the mind, intellect, and reason. If a person values only the sensual pleasures by completely dissuading reason and other baser instincts, it is inferred that he is disregarding what makes human being human. Though the modern television viewers claim that the different movies that express violence are capable of arousing a kind of passion against violence, in practical sense one is sure that these kinds of films or programs will be exerting only its negative impact on the viewers. A close evaluation reveals that an ordinary viewer is unable recognize the real dangers that are hiding in art.
To conclude, one can infer that art very often hide the reality from the viewer and forces him to misinterpret what is real.