Hello everyone!
Today, we’re going to talk about one of
the most famous philosophers of the world:
Plato.
You may have heard about him even if you’re
not associated with Greek History or Greek
Philosophy.
Please make sure to turn on the captions if
you have trouble following along.
Without wasting any time, let’s jump right
into it.
So this guy right here is Plato.
He was from Athens, which was a city-state
of Greece.
He is known for his Philosophy which has reached
us through various accounts, including his
books such The Republic and Apology.
He was a student of Socrates, and a teacher
of Aristotle.
We’re going to learn more about them in
our Greek Philosophy series.
For now, let’s talk about how his famous
Theory of State impacted the world of Political
Philosophy.
But before that, we need to understand his
Theory of Ideas.
So basically, imagine a horse.
Good, now you have a picture in your head.
Now, where did this picture come from?
Most of you will say that we have observed
a horse before in our life and hence we have
formed the concept of a Horse in our mind.
See…this is exactly where Plato is different
from us.
Plato believed that our souls existed in another
world before we were born, known as The World
of Ideas or the Ideal World.
In this World of Ideas, we were exposed to
all the Ideas that exist.
Hence, when we see a horse for the first time,
our soul has already seen it before and we
just simply fail to recognise it.
Plato believed that the Ideal World is filled
with ideas which are singular in nature (as
in there is only one single concept of a Horse),
they are real (as in this Ideal Horse has
true existence and is not something which
is imaginary), they are eternal (as in the
Idea of Horse will continue to exist independently
by itself in the World of Ideas even if all
the horses of the world die out), they are
absolute (as in no changes can be made to
the Idea of a Horse), and they are all essential.
This last one is a bit tricky.
The Idea of Horse carries with itself only
the basic features of a Horse such as two
ears, four legs, one tail, and so on.
Colours, Individual attributes, and things
like that are not preserved within the Idea
because that would mean that there could only
be one single colour of the horse, and that
all attributes of all the horses will be the
same.
But we know that such is not the case, because
we see horses which are black or brown or
white in colour.
We also know that they possess different identification
marks, different speed, different genders,
and so on.
Thus, the Idea of a horse possesses only the
stuff that makes a horse, a horse.
Anything extra is a result of the imperfection in replication of this Idea in our Physical World.
Thus, different horses are simply imperfect
copies of the Idea of Horse.
The Ideal State is the Idea of the State in
the world of Ideas.
Plato mentions it in his famous book, The
Republic.
Plato wants a state that pursues the Idea
of State passionately, so that it may get
as close as possible to becoming that.
One might argue that why should one serve
an imperfect state at all if the best it can
ever be is ‘pretty close to the Ideal State?’
Well, that’s because the outcome would be
much worse.
Imagine a state which has no objective goal
and people are free to do whatever they want.
On top of that, one may ask why should a state
even exist?
Why not go and search for the truth yourself?
Plato believes that not everyone is endowed
with the faculty of reasoning.
The Ideal State is to be governed by a Philosopher,
also called the Philosopher King.
His job is to make sure his subjects can get
in touch with the Ideas.
He is supposed to act as an intermediary between
the Physical World and The World of Ideas.
The vices of the society are much easier to
eliminate than the vices of individuals, because
the former are magnified.
On top of that, Plato argued that organs are
useful only as long as they collaborate.
Individual human beings would work like solitary
organs which are useless, whereas a society
functions as the human being.
Plato hated the Athenian Democracy.
The idea that anyone could become the ruler
of the state was terrifying to him.
You would not go to an unskilled cobbler to
fix your shoes, he argued, then why would
you want your state to be run by an unskilled
man?
Plato believed that Democratic Freedom was
a guise for anarchy.
The state usually falls into the hands of
tyrants.
Plato called for an aristocracy of Intellect
in the Ideal State, where the wisest person
would be made the ruler of the state.
The society will be divided into Philosophers,
Military, and Labour class.
Each class will have its role fixed.
The Philosopher’s virtue was wisdom.
The warrior’s virtue was courage.
And the trader’s virtue was temperance.
A collaboration between the three would bring
about the fourth cardinal virtue called Justice,
where the rest of the three would be the three
Cardinal Virtues.
This division of society shows how much Plato
was influenced by the Pythagorean Tripartite
Theory of Human nature.
Not only society, but he divided the human
body into rational, noble, and impulsive parts.
The Philosopher King is expected to retire
into deep thought and brooding when he’s
not ruling.
The warriors are supposed to protect us from
external attacks, and prevent internal uprisings
and make sure that even the deviants follow
the decree of the Philosopher king.
The labourers and traders have to make sure
that the economy keeps booming.
The three classes have their exclusive professions,
which have been fixed by a very tough examination over the years.
Even the students who complete the study of
Philosophy have to serve as Public officers
before one of them is chosen to be the Philosopher
King.
Dramatic Poetry is strictly banned because
it talks about the gods and their immorality,
something that Plato believed would spread
corruption in the Society.
Only Lyric poetry is allowed in the Ideal
state.
The number of children are to be regulated
by the state, and the ones who are born mentally
or physically weak are to be killed off.
The State doesn’t entertain any liabilities.
They are brought up in State nurseries, away
from their biological parents.
Hence, nobody has a family in the Ideal State
and all the elders treat the kids as their
own children.
The problem of Injustice will not exist in
such a state because the Philosopher King
would have known about the Idea of Good, which is the highest Idea.
On top of that, no private property will
be entertained by the Ideal State.
All property will belong to the state, and
thus everyone will have a place in the Society
but it doesn’t mean everyone would be equal
as we have already seen.
That was it guys!
I hope you enjoyed the lecture.
It was a small one. I really suggest you to stay tuned for Episode
2 and also wait for the Theory of Ideas and
Tripartite division of the soul to be discussed
separately in our Greek Philosophy Series.
Till then, Like, comment, and subscribe if
you like what I am doing.
I will see you around.
