Introduction
Plato is one of the most known Greek philosophers in history. As a student of another great philosopher, Socrates, Plato learnt a lot and involved himself in the many issues that affected his society. Plato literatures continue to be important references in philosophy, even in the current times. Platonic schools that evolved from Plato’s work were the main form of school in the classic Greek and played a major role to formation of the society. Plato, Socrates and Aristotle made strong philosophical arguments that remain relevant more than Two thousand Five Hundred years after they have left. The issues of society and justice have always been important in philosophy. Most of Plato’s literatures focus of society, social problems and leaders. Plato dialogues address the moral and ethical issues in his society in a different approach that draws implied conclusion.
Most of Plato’s literatures are structured in form epistles and dialogues. Dialogues make the major part of his philosophical writing and it is through them that his philosophical thoughts are obtained. Plato’s dialogues bring out philosophical issues in the society, divergent arguments towards the issues and convincing conclusion. Use of dialogues makes Plato unique in his work.
Historical Overview
Plato is a renowned Greek philosopher in Classical Greek period. He is also remembered as the pioneer in western academies through his Platonic schools. Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, the great Greek philosophers, are closely related (Barnes & Chadwich 107). Plato was a student to Socrates, borrowing much from him while Aristotle was a student to Plato. This lineage of philosophers formed an important foundation to other philosopher after them. Memories of Plato are brought out through his sophisticated dialogues and letters. Plato’s dialogues numbers to thirty-five with The Republic as the leading and most referred Dialogue. One unique factor in Plato’s dialogues is that Plato’s personal position on issues is not expressed explicitly. The main character in most dialogues is Plato’s mentor, Socrates, who represents Plato’s position.
Discussion
Plato arguments for nature of justice
Plato’s dialogues bring out the nature of justice in the society. The nature of justice has been a major issue in philosophy and ethics. From early days philosophers, individual and the society in general have tried to understand justice. The definitions of justice in the societal or individuals level differ across different part of the world. In consequence, the way people understand justice influence how they relate with each other. Plato addresses the issue of justice in most of his dialogues (Barnes & Chadwich 7). He tries to understand how his society defined justice and the consequences of these definitions. Plato does not leave the issue at descriptive level alone but he criticizes the definition to find their strength and weakness.
Plato’s dialogues bring out common themes in justice. In most of his dialogues, Plato sees justice as a balance between the three main elements of the soul. The three elements of the soul are explained as the desire or drive, appetite, and reason (Sayers 51). According to Plato and Jowell, “…we shall expect to find that the individual soul contains the same three elements and that they are affected in the same way as are the corresponding types in society,” (54). The balance between these three elements in every individual determines whether and an individual is capable of justice. On the other hands, the dialogues show that imbalance in these elements is what make an individuals to act in unjust way. Desire, one of the elements of the soul is defined as the drive or motivation behind an action. The implication made by this element is that, for every action, there is a motivation. Appetite on the other hands is seen as the element of the soul that makes someone to be spirited towards as action. As implied by most of the dialogues, being spirited makes individual to act out side towards the goals set by the desire. Finally, reason is the element of the souls that rules over both desire and appetite. The relationship between desire, appetite and reason is brought out in the allegory of Phaedrus (Sayers 57). One of the horses in the allegory represents the desire while the other horse represents the appetite. On the other hands, the driver of these horses represents the reason. The sun, the goal at which the horses and driver head toward, represents the prime goal in life. As justice is viewed as one of the most important goal in life, the sun also represents justice. Plato emphasizes on the need for a balance between the three elements of the soul. The story of Icarus gives warning to lack of such a balance. Individuals should not fly too close to the sun or too low to the ground.
According to Plato, the nature of justice in individuals can be understood by reviewing the nature of a society. Plato’s dialogues help him review a society and postulate the ideas nature of a society to reflect the nature of justice. Plato argues that the balance between the three elements of the soul in the society soul reflect the balance in individuals (Sayers 87). In search of and ideal nature of justice, Plato set out for a plan for a just society.
Plato views a small state as the best example where the nature of justice can be addressed. A small state enables division of labor, specialization. Division of labor and specialization enable different needs of different people to be met through combined effort of members of the society. “…we decided that a society was just when each of the three types of human character it contained performed its own function,” (Plato, & Jowett 54). Problems observed in a society according to Plato include some people in the society seeking luxury; some people who are not members of the society may seek to benefit from the society and inability of society to be protected by the guardians alone. The issue of guardian of the society is a major issue in the society. The main question on guardians is how the guardian would be checked given that the guardians themselves are prone to injustice. Presence of guardians in the society involves allocating some powers to some part of the society. The power allocated to some part of the society has to be checked but there are no other guardians to check the society.
Plato’s ideal state constitute of a state where people needs are achieved, each individual is involved on what they best at, only limited luxuries are allowed to the members and a military protection friendly to members of the society exist. Limited luxuries and military royalty is held as the most important of an ideal society. Plato believed that excessive luxury corrupts the soul and proposed a balance between luxury and power. He proposed the power of the society should only be delegated to members of the society who had control over their luxury.
Dialogue on the nature of justice in a state between Socrates and other individuals brought out the nature of justice in a clear way. Socrates is able to contradict the poor definition of justice. Socrates argues against Justice as doing good to friend by wrong to enemies by showing the danger of such a definition (Sayers 66). Socrates also brought out a strong argument against justice as giving back what belongs to the society. He give an example by showing that giving back a sword to its mentally unstable person would be just in conventional term, but unjust due to possible consequences.
Allegory of the cave
Knowledge and ignorance is an important theme in Plato’s dialogues. Plato understanding of knowledge and ignorance is brought out through his characters. Knowledge is viewed freedom from prison of ignorance and as light to the eye. The best account of knowledge and ignorance is narrated through The Allegory of the Cave. In the allegory, prisoners in the cave hold a wrong believe over the shadows that they see in the cave. A prisoner that is able to move out of the cave and discover the reality of the shadows represents the liberation nature of knowledge (Plato, & Jowett 243). One the other hand, individuals in the cave represents people in the society who remain imprisoned by ignorance. The allegory of the cave is a good example of the nature of our society. The cave represents the world. As the cave, the world hides many truths to people who live in it. The shadows in the allegory represent the images that the prisoners in the cave could see through their senses. The shadows show the deceptions which human is prone through reliance on sense information. True knowledge is not possible for all; it is only possible to those who engage in the journey for knowledge.
World of appearance is compared to the shadows in the cave. Plato viewed the observable nature of the world only as a reflection of other invisible ideas. Although he believed that appearances were important, he was against obsession on appearance at the expense of the actual truth of the appearances. The ideals, according Plato, constitutes of the Archetypes from which appearance derive. The journey to the exit of the cave is the struggle involved in acquiring knowledge and away from ignorance. Although the ideals are the most important elements for knowledge, the journey to knowledge starts with the shadows.
Allegory of the Cave is a good reflection of the journey to knowledge. People in the society today invest a lot of resources and time to acquiring knowledge. Although acquiring knowledge is not equal to being a philosopher, knowledge is part is part of philosophy. As exemplified in the example of the prisoners in the cave, the reality of sense information may be difficult to tell (Plato, & Jowett 97). The journey from ignorance to knowledge, thus, requires ability to question the truth of our perceived world. A philosopher is an individual who persevere the struggle in search of knowledge and continues with the journey until the end. Understanding of a philosopher according to Plato is a bit different form our current understanding. Contrary to our view of philosophy as love of opinion, Plato emphasizes a philosopher as someone who seeks knowledge that is able to transform the society. “ The process, I said, is not the turning over of an oyster-shell, but the turning round of a soul passing from a day which is little better than night to the true day of being, that is, the ascent from below, which we affirm to be true philosophy?” (Plato & Jowett 261). A philosophy leader, thus, is a leader who knowledge beyond sense knowledge as is seen as the ideal leader.
Duality nature of Plato’s Dialogues
Although Plato’s dialogues bring out a lot of philosophical knowledge, is fails in some elements. The dialogues bring out duality on some issues. The arguments made on nature of justice in the society bring out inconsistencies on definition of justice. For example in a dialogue in The Republic, Socrates describes Kallipolis as an example of an idea state. In the dialogue, Socrates implies that and idea state, where there was justice, was the state with strict division of labor (Sayers 56). Afterwards Socrates further argues that justice was the essential thing that brought in virtues in the city-state. However, Socrates argument on the nature of justice in the city was based on assumption that the perfect state was the most just. Since Socrates makes an assumption of the very conclusion be draws, his argument becomes invalid.
Plato’s position is not well set out in some dialogues. The reader of the dialogues fails to separated Socrates and Plato’s position. Socrates, as a character, represents most of Plato’s views on topics under discussion but Plato also include Socrates own opinions. Some Plato’s dialogues seem to be aimed at winning arguments rather than expressing objective opinion. Socrates seems to undermine other characters opinions even when they seemed strong.
Conclusion
Plato’s work in philosophy is very relevant to the field of philosophy today. As one of the major classic Greek philosophers, most of current western thoughts constitute some of his opinions. Plato addresses justice, ethics and politics in his dialogues in details. For justice, Plato proposes a balance between desire, appetite and reason. The journey from ignorance to knowledge is exemplified in the example of the cave. Dialogue enables Plato to feature philosophical issues in the society in a more realistic way. Despite of the strength in the dialogues, some arguments bring about duality by contradicting some addressed issues. Plato will continue to be significant in philosopher despite of many other philosophers after him.
Work Listed
Barnes, Hare. & Chadwich. Founders of Thought. London: Oxford Paperbacks Oxford University Press, 1991.
Plato & Jowett. The Republic. New York. Vintage.
Sayers, Sean. Plato’s Republic: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.