On the Discrepancies in Socrates’ Argument of What Truly Is in Plato’s Republic
Polina Vulakh
William Mullen
First Year Seminar
09/29/2012
On the Discrepancies in Socrates’ Argument of What Truly Is in Plato’s Republic In Plato’s Republic, Socrates presents us with the notion that there exists an entire realm of what truly is: That someone who’s a lover of learning in his very being would be of such a nature as to strive toward what is, and wouldn’t linger with the many particular things that have a seeming of being, but would keep going and not blunt the edge of his erotic desire or let up from it until he gets hold of the nature of what each thing itself is.
Nothing in this realm changes. Its contents are accessible only to “the eye of the soul.” If this “eye of the soul” dismisses auditory and visual aids, through which of the senses does it perceive what truly is? How can a seeing, hearing human being blatantly disregard the very senses that characterize his entire conscious existence? Something can be entirely unchanging only if it is hypothetical. This implies that the specific realm of objects in their purest forms is conceptual; it is the perfection of these concepts rather than the actual itselves that is or should be “the highest object of the philosopher 's contemplation,” yet even this is fundamentally unachievable. Though the sciences of optometry and audiology were virtually nonexistent in Socrates’ time, one could understand how visual and auditory aids would skew one’s vision of what truly is. Human beings are born with eye and ear defects, and therefore perceive objects differently from one individual to another. Thus, Socrates rightly dismisses these two fragile senses since our interpretations of reality would differ based on the condition of these senses within our bodies. Because what we see and hear seems a certain way to us, we are essentially accepting the seeming by receiving images and sounds. There is no way to arrive at what truly is without referencing what we have accepted, and what we accept is
William Mullen
First Year Seminar
09/29/2012
On the Discrepancies in Socrates’ Argument of What Truly Is in Plato’s Republic In Plato’s Republic, Socrates presents us with the notion that there exists an entire realm of what truly is: That someone who’s a lover of learning in his very being would be of such a nature as to strive toward what is, and wouldn’t linger with the many particular things that have a seeming of being, but would keep going and not blunt the edge of his erotic desire or let up from it until he gets hold of the nature of what each thing itself is.
Nothing in this realm changes. Its contents are accessible only to “the eye of the soul.” If this “eye of the soul” dismisses auditory and visual aids, through which of the senses does it perceive what truly is? How can a seeing, hearing human being blatantly disregard the very senses that characterize his entire conscious existence? Something can be entirely unchanging only if it is hypothetical. This implies that the specific realm of objects in their purest forms is conceptual; it is the perfection of these concepts rather than the actual itselves that is or should be “the highest object of the philosopher 's contemplation,” yet even this is fundamentally unachievable. Though the sciences of optometry and audiology were virtually nonexistent in Socrates’ time, one could understand how visual and auditory aids would skew one’s vision of what truly is. Human beings are born with eye and ear defects, and therefore perceive objects differently from one individual to another. Thus, Socrates rightly dismisses these two fragile senses since our interpretations of reality would differ based on the condition of these senses within our bodies. Because what we see and hear seems a certain way to us, we are essentially accepting the seeming by receiving images and sounds. There is no way to arrive at what truly is without referencing what we have accepted, and what we accept is
Bibliography: Plato. 2007. Republic, tr. Joe Sachs. Focus. Keller, Helen. 1910. The World I Live In. The Century Co. Joshua Mark. 2008. “Heraclitus: Life is Flux.” Web. 30 Sept. 2012. [ 7 ]. Joshua Mark. 2009. Web.