Plato's Ideal Society Essay Words4 Pages One of the most famous philosophers in history is a man that hails fromGreece. Plato; renowned as one of the few greatest thinkers of all time brought thisworld new ways of thinking and a idea of a perfect society May 28, · Read Sample The Dialogues Of Plato Course Works and other exceptional papers on every subject and topic college can throw at you. We can custom-write anything as well! On one hand, Plato is a dualist who believes that the soul and the body exist separately. He states that the soul is external and considers the body its prison. The body is immaterial and is concerned with physical things while the soul is immortal and divine
Course Work About The Dialogues Of Plato | WOW Essays
We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it. Type of essays on plato Course Work. Topic: LawEthicsSocratesBodySupreme CourtSoulHarmonyJustice. Socrates begins his argument with the proposition that justice consists in repayment of debts. The general argument was on the lines that one ought not to injure friends.
Injuring enemies was considered to be acceptable. It was taken for granted that friends essays on plato good and enemies are bad. However, Socrates pointed out that a man can be seemingly good or bad. One who pretends to be a friend may have bad intentions at heart. Similarly, one who appears to be bad may be a good man. Hence, it is difficult to decide who essays on plato good and who is bad.
It follows that one cannot decide who may be injured and who may not be injured. Appearances are deceptive. Justice according to Socrates is a human virtue. In order to be just, one must repay debts. Everyone agreed upon this point. One owes good debts to a friend and bad debts to an enemy.
Socrates had already shown how one cannot identify who is good or bad and who is a friend or an enemy, essays on plato. In such a situation, the good and bad debts may be directed towards a wrong person. Socrates explains how there is no justice in this view by giving another example. Suppose someone gives arms to be kept in safety for some time, when he is in his senses. If he asks for the arms when he is not in his senses, essays on plato, there is no justice in returning the arms because the owner may use them to harm essays on plato. Although it is true in this situation that one essays on plato the arms to the owner, justice lies in preventing the owner from using arms to injure others.
Justice lies in that which is beneficial to others. Socrates concludes that essays on plato is never just essays on plato one person to injure another, whether friend or enemy. One cannot identify a good and true friend or a bad and pretentious enemy. At times, a friend may do something bad or an enemy may do something good. Every circumstance is different. Justice is concerned with the doer, essays on plato, not with whom the doer is dealing.
Hence, a just person must do only that which is beneficial and harmless to others. He must not injure others. Socrates believed that just people are happier and better than unjust people. Thrasymachus was listening to the discussion impatiently and he wanted to join the argument earnestly. He did not agree with Socrates, essays on plato. He strongly believed that justice is nothing else but the interest of the stronger. He explained his view with the help of the example of the ruling authorities.
He pointed out that the government makes laws and imposes them on the subjects. If the subjects break the law, they are punished. The same principle was followed in all the States. The government is most powerful and the government makes laws which are beneficial to them.
The government is the ruling power in each State. The others had no difference of opinion regarding these statements made by Thrasymachus.
The latter was sure that Socrates would be compelled to agree with his views. He had put forth his point very clearly and strongly. Socrates appreciated his efforts and was very patient with him. He explained how he had been right from the beginning.
Essays on plato agreed that what is commanded by the rulers is supposed to be just, at the same time, he pointed out that rulers may sometimes be wrong.
When they go wrong, they will command something that is against their interests. Hence, justice is the injury as well as an interest of the stronger. Moreover, one who is mistaken cannot be stronger at the time when he is mistaken.
Socrates gave the example of a physician to make his point clear. He said that no physician, in so far as he is a good physician, considers his own good when he writes a prescription. He is concerned about the good of the patient. Similarly, a good pilot cares more about his sailors, essays on plato.
When he is a pilot, he is not merely a sailor. Similarly, essays on plato, the rulers, in so far as they are good rulers, think about the good of the weaker subjects. Socrates continues the argument in a different way. He agrees that if the unjust have free play, they may commit injustice by force or by fraud. Thrasymachus stated that if injustice is profitable, justice can be described as sublime simplicity.
The States possess the power to be unjust. But when they exercise it, they can do it essays on plato or without a sense of justice. The unjust do not exclude anyone from injustice. They are unjust to the weaker ones and also to their fellow-beings. The truly unjust injure the villains as well as the just. Whether it a State, an army, a band of thieves or a gang of evil-doers, they cannot act if they injure each other.
Injustice creates division and hatred; justice imparts harmony and friendship. If one single element is unjust, he cannot succeed. He must get the support of all to carry out his unjust tasks. According to Socrates, injustice in a single person was fatal.
The unjust are incapable of acting in unison. They are incapable of common essays on plato. Socrates said that gods are just, so the unjust will be their enemies and the just their friends. Thus Socrates proved his point that the just are happy although it seems that the unjust are stronger and happier.
Socrates carried this argument essays on plato little further since all the listeners were not satisfied with the explanation, particularly Thrasymachus.
Socrates said that the function of the eyes is to essays on plato and that of the ears is to hear. These functions are best accomplished by the special organs meant for the purpose and the functions cannot be assigned to others.
A defect in the ear will prevent it from performing the excellent function of hearing. Similarly, the function of the soul is to command and deliberate, a function which cannot be assigned to any other. The soul is the best performer of its function, essays on plato. An evil ruler possesses an evil soul and a good ruler has a good soul. Justice is the excellence of the soul and injustice is the defect of the soul. He who lives well and follows the path of justice, is blessed and happy, although he may be a strong ruler.
Hence, injustice cannot be more profitable than justice. Explain what he means and why he says this. Socrates claims that any man who has a spirit of a philosopher will be willing to die. Death is nothing but a separation of the soul and body, essays on plato. The soul is imprisoned in essays on plato body and released when a person dies, essays on plato. The life and aims of a philosopher are different from those of ordinary men.
A philosopher is more concerned with the soul; an ordinary man is obsessed with the body. A philosopher constantly tries to sever his soul from communion with the body while he lives.
Socrates believed that one cannot attain truth through organs of the body, essays on plato. Eyes, ears etc. hinder the pursuit of knowledge by posing distractions of sights and sounds, essays on plato. They have limitations. They essays on plato inaccurate witnesses.
True existence is revealed only through thought. Thought is best when the mind is focussed and free from pleasure or pain which is physical experiences. Hence, the philosopher runs away from the body.
Plato's Cave, Divided Line, Forms, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, \u0026 Phil of Education
, time: 15:01Plato and his Views | Philosophy essays | blogger.com Free Essay Examples for Students
Plato's Ideal Society Essay Words4 Pages One of the most famous philosophers in history is a man that hails fromGreece. Plato; renowned as one of the few greatest thinkers of all time brought thisworld new ways of thinking and a idea of a perfect society Plato was a Greek philosopher during the 4th century BCE. He was born in BCE, during the “Golden Age of Athens.” His birth was three years after the Peloponnesian War began and one year after Pericles died from the plague. Plato was the son of Ariston, a descendant from the last king of Athens and Perictone, a descendant of Solon Essay – The Republic by Plato The Republic by Plato ( B.C.) is a basically an examination of the “Good Life,” or the harmony achieved by applying pure reason and justice. As a typical Plato piece, the book itself is a series of arguments between Socrates, Plato’s mentor, and several other theorists
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