Plato’s Social Political Philosophy Essay Example

justice within the individual, the person has to be able to effectively control the three parts of the soul (“Plato's tripartite theory of soul”).

Wisdom, according to Plato, is another virtue, along with justice, that creates a good individual. Wisdom can be understood as the knowledge of the whole, knowledge of the self and political prudence. In other words, wisdom can be seen as enlightenment. For example, in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, wisdom is defined as getting out of the cave to see the objects that projected the shadows for what they “really are”. Wisdom can also be seen as care for the soul. Near the end of the Apology, Socrates famously says: "…the greatest good for a man [is] to discuss virtue [excellence] every day and those other things about which you hear me onversing and testing myself and others, for the unexamined life is not worth living for men…” (Carroll. edu).

This suggests a second image of wisdom: the examined life. This is how the philosopher cares for his/her soul (Republic cf. 29d). The other two virtues, Courage and Moderation are also very essential to creating a good and just individual: Courage is the ability to preserve and to stand in defence for values such as freedom, on which a good society is founded on. Moderation is a sense of the limits that bring peace and happiness to all, and is the quality of all social classes.

Moderation expresses the mutual consent of both the governed and the rulers as to who should rule. Without courage or moderation, the soul could not be considered just (Republic 430b, 431d-432a). Now

that we have ascertained Plato’s perspective on society and the individual, we can now explore the relevance of Plato’s view. On the night of July 11, 2011, a woman named Catherine Kieu mutilated her husband’s penis after he had threatened to divorce her. A few days later, the story reaches a TV show, The Talk. The TV host, Sharon Osbourne, brings up this dark story to the audience.

After she has explained the story to the viewers, she tells them her personal opinion on it. She said that it was “fabulous” that Catherine Kieu stood up for herself and did what she did. Surprisingly, the entire live audience (mostly if not all women) also began to laugh at that comment. Everyone in the studio did not take the matter very seriously and made a lot of jokes toward men in general. In this example, it shows that our western society has some issues regarding gender roles. Let us presume however, that the gender roles were switched.

Imagine instead a man mutilates his wife’s breasts because she threatened to divorce him. Then the story reaches network television with male TV hosts who start laughing at the whole story, talking about it like a big joke. It would be outrageous to society. Society will see this event as one huge sexist crime and all the men in the talk show would be charged accordingly. Why were the women not charged for sexist crimes when we can predict that if the gender roles were switched, those male TV hosts would definitely be charged with sexist crime?

It brings to question what exactly justice in our

society is. We may just be deceiving ourselves into thinking that our society is just, and yet discrimination is still lingering. Clearly, at least part of our society is lacking the virtue of justice. This is a strong example of why we need the virtue of justice as Plato suggests. If a society has individuals with strong justice, according to Plato, then it would mean that the citizens of the society have strong control over their soul and are responsible, rational thinkers. In Plato’s ideal society, stories like this would not happen.

Having the virtue of justice would mean that you have control of the appetitive, rational, and spirited part of your soul. Having these under control would therefore lead to a society with no aggravated assault, and also would not have people discriminating each other in any way. Imagine having a society where the people follow Plato’s virtue of justice. The society will have control over themselves because they will act rationally and intelligently that reflect human morality. Therefore, because we can presume that people in this ideal society will act moral, justice is a necessary virtue for society.

Plato then emphasizes that the virtue of wisdom is a highly important virtue in a society. Since wisdom is considered to be the knowledge of the whole, having a society with wisdom means that both the citizens and its leaders share mutual understanding of the knowledge that is passed around in their society. In other words, there are no secrets about certain things. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001 leads to a lot

of conspiracy. At first, American citizens believed that the attacks were real and that the war on terrorism is just.

However, a few years later, more and more people began to question whether or not the attacks on the World Trade Center were from actual terrorists. These people believe that the events of 9/11 were a false-flag operation or inside-job that was planned by the American government to give the American people an excuse to invade Iraq. The fact that there is speculation among the American citizens proves that western society in America has trust issues regarding knowledge of the whole. In Plato’s ideal society, there would be no speculating.

Let us say that the 9/11 is truly an inside job. That would mean that the American government is very corrupt in that they would kill 3000 people in a criminal act, and then lead a country to war for their own personal benefits. This act would be highly unjust, and therefore, wisdom is a highly necessary virtue to have in the ideal society. Plato emphasizes the importance of the virtue of courage in a society, and in its citizens. Courage is essential in that it stands to preserve and defend for values such as freedom. Freedom is a trait that a good society is founded on.

Many countries throughout history have fought for freedom. Having a free society, are what the citizens of a society strive for. It can be seen even in fiction that us humans are naturally drawn to a society with freedom. Having the courage to stand up for what you believe, especially in times of great difficulty,

are what makes a strong society. A society that has citizens whom are capable of defending their rights and freedom is the ideal society. Along with the virtue of courage, the virtue of moderation is also as important. Moderation is to have a sense of the society’s limits.

It brings peace and happiness to all, and is the quality of all social classes. It expresses the mutual consent of both the governed and the rulers as to who should rule. Moderation lets the people and their ruler have a mutual consent as to who should rule for the benefit of their society. If there is no mutual consent between the citizens and their ruler as to who should rule, then there will be conflicts within their society. The ruler won’t be able to make reasonable decisions because his/her citizens are not in agreement with him/her.

Also, the citizens will live unhappy lives if there is no mutual consent as to who should be their leader. Therefore, moderation is an equally important virtue as courage because it determines the overall happiness of the citizens in a society. For us to gain a better understanding of his argument that those four virtues are what are needed to create a good individual, we will talk about Plato’s views to common social political philosophical questions such as ,”What is Justice? ”, “What are the rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a society? , and “What are the boundaries between public and private concerns and their respective morality? ”

When asked questions such as, “What is justice? ” Plato’s definition of justice is the equity or

fairness that grants each social group it’s due and ensures that each “does one’s own work” (Republic 433a). Another question which social political philosophers ask is “What are the rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a society? ” Plato’s argument for this question would definitely go in tune with his belief that a society and an individual have to possess particular virtues to make them successful.

Plato would argue that the rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a society ultimately revolve around the virtues that the people have. In the ideal society, the rights and responsibilities of the citizens according to Plato would be the right to be free, to reason, and to have responsibilities to defend freedom, Justice (“does one’s own work”), equality, and moderation (Republic 433a). When asked “What are the boundaries between public and private concerns and their respective morality? ” Plato would respond that there are no boundaries between what is public and private.

He believes that the ideal society would have a morality that is founded upon equality. How the society should act, does not differ to how the individual should act. According to Plato, by following the virtues as an individual, it will eventually and ultimately lead to a society that reflects the virtues that the individuals are expressing. Some people may argue that Plato’s theory of virtues is highly imaginative because it consists of maintaining the “soul”, seeking knowledge of the “whole”, defending “freedom” and knowing a societies “limits”.

They argue that the idea of the “soul”, “whole”, “freedom”, and “limits” is in itself very speculative. However, if you think about how Plato

describes and separates the “soul” into three separate parts, you can see how it can be applied into the real world. The first part being the appetitive, represents the drive to our natural human instincts. We are suppose to control it with the rational part of the soul who is responsible for deciding what is right and what is wrong. The spirited part of our soul is the one responsible for questioning if our actions are reasonable.

By methodically following from instincts, to deciding, to rationalizing, you can tell that this method can definitely be applied to real life. For example, you are hungry and see a store selling apples. The apples are in the open and it is easy for you to steal it. Your instincts would tell you to steal it because you are hungry and that you need to eat in order to survive. Then your rational part comes in and asks you what are the right and wrong things to do. Lastly, the spirited part of your soul examines the situation and tells you to do the reasonable action.

Stealing is considered a crime, and for the apple which only costs little, it is more reasonable for you to buy it rather than to steal it. People may also find that the knowledge of the “whole” is very imaginative. The idea of a “whole” is questionable because it brings the epistemological question of “Can we know everything? ” and “Are there some things we can never know? ” However, these objections are incorrect for the most part. When Plato says that wisdom brings a society knowledge of the “whole”,

he means that everyone in the society – the citizens and the leader(s) – will know everything that the society knows up to then.

With this virtue, there would be no secrets, lies, and conspiracy theories among the citizens and the leader(s) of a society. The idea of the “whole” is not imaginative because Plato expresses it in relation to the society. Whenever something is in relation, or subjective to a society, it is therefore not anymore an imaginative term because it will limit itself to what the society knows. For example, a primitive society may believe that the earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around it.

Their knowledge is false, but if the leaders and citizens allow that knowledge to be available as a whole to everyone in their society, then they will be following Plato’s virtue of wisdom in a society. Another idea that people may find speculative is “freedom”. What is freedom? How can you believe that you are free? These people say that freedom is an illusion. When Plato discusses his theory of courage in a society, he is saying that the ideal society has the strength within themselves to fight for what they believe in.

Whatever the society may believe in, as long as they are willing to fight for it together as a team, then, that is the ideal society. For example, let us say that a state is being asked by its mother country to be independent. Some might say that the state is being granted “freedom”. However, this is in relation to what the people of that state believe in.

If they believe that being “free” is being dependant to its mother country, then that would be their definition of free.

The fact that the society is able to stand up for itself and for what its citizens wants, is what defines the virtue of courage. To stand up for themselves and to fight for their definition of freedom is what an ideal society will do. Lastly, the idea of “limits” can be found by some people to be imaginative. People will ask, “What are the limits of a society? ” Plato’s answer to this would be that the limits of a society are governed by the mutual consensus of the citizens and their leader as to who should lead.

This is because when a society has a leader who is appreciated y his/her people and who also in return appreciates his/her people, the entire society will be doing their activities to a higher efficiency and thus possibly their limit. They will be doing things with a higher efficiency because they will enjoy what they are being told to do by their leader(s), and the leader(s) will also enjoy what their citizens are asking of them because they are appreciating what their people are doing for the society. This can be seen in small communities and even groups of people. Imagine a group of soldiers whose commanding officer does not treat his soldiers well.

The negative actions made by the commander will affect the soldiers’ morals and they will be less motivated to do their mission. In contrast, imagine a group of soldiers with a commanding officer who respects his soldiers. This

commander is more likely to have efficient, mission-oriented soldiers because they would not be distracted by any disrespect caused by their commander. Instead, they can stay focused, knowing that their commander has faith in them. Therefore, because knowing the limits of a society leads to more efficient and even happier people, moderation is an important virtue for the ideal society.

We have convincing argument that Plato’s perspective is relative to the real world. According to Plato, we must define justice as maintaining the soul to be able to control your basic desires, decide what is right or wrong, then to make a rational decision. Wisdom should be defined as the knowledge of the whole in that society should share its knowledge amongst its people so that they can trust each other and grow together. Courage should be defined as being able to stand in defence for what you believe in, or for freedom.

A strong society is not only a society who gets along well, but one who can defend their beliefs in times of difficulty. Moderation should be defined as knowing the limits of the society. Knowing the limits leads to a mutual understanding between citizens and leader(s) as to who should lead. This makes the society and the individuals more effective at what they do. Therefore, since these four virtues can all stand as essential parts to create a good society and individual, we can agree that these four virtues are what make good, ethical citizens in an ideal society.