Platonic Political Ideals Essay
Platonic Political Ideals
Plato was an interesting individual, and has always been one of my favorite Philosophers. I personally like most of his political ideals, and find them almost in alignment with my own. In particular I like his reasoning when it comes to the citizens that make up the city-state, along with the leadership. So throughout this essay I plan on drawing from the Republic to talk more about this Philosopher’s ideas.
Plato had some interesting thoughts with his “Philosopher Kings” concept. Essentially a “Philosopher King” would be selected based off of their natural tendency towards the love of wisdom and would be put through a carefully designed education program. He fully believed that the Philosopher Kings would …show more content…
Plato believed that the Democratic state degenerates into anarchy and that paves the way for the Tyrant to come in and rule over the weak. He believed this largely because he thought that in Democracy every man would arrange his own life to suit his pleasure, and if anything this seems like an early attack upon moral relativism because of the anger towards men just doing whatever they wished. He remarks that the life of a democrat is: “Subject to no order or restraint, and he has no wish to change an existence which he calls pleasant, free, and happy”. Plato thought that the insatiable desire for this good would lead to the neglect of everything else and would “transform” a democracy and make it lead to a demand for despotism. He foresaw that all of this would lead to citizens becoming so sensitive that they reject even the slightest application of control and would call it “tyranny” which would simply lead to a disregard of the Law. This would be total anarchy which would only lead to a Tyrant coming in and taking the power for himself, something that Plato utterly hated the thought of. In conclusion, Plato’s political ideals were largely based off of his Theory of Forms and his ideas concerning the nature of Democracy. While I do not really like the idea of any “absolute” ruler, I do see the merit behind an individual like a Philosopher King. His ideas concerning that nature of a ruler was something
Plato was an interesting individual, and has always been one of my favorite Philosophers. I personally like most of his political ideals, and find them almost in alignment with my own. In particular I like his reasoning when it comes to the citizens that make up the city-state, along with the leadership. So throughout this essay I plan on drawing from the Republic to talk more about this Philosopher’s ideas.
Plato had some interesting thoughts with his “Philosopher Kings” concept. Essentially a “Philosopher King” would be selected based off of their natural tendency towards the love of wisdom and would be put through a carefully designed education program. He fully believed that the Philosopher Kings would …show more content…
Plato believed that the Democratic state degenerates into anarchy and that paves the way for the Tyrant to come in and rule over the weak. He believed this largely because he thought that in Democracy every man would arrange his own life to suit his pleasure, and if anything this seems like an early attack upon moral relativism because of the anger towards men just doing whatever they wished. He remarks that the life of a democrat is: “Subject to no order or restraint, and he has no wish to change an existence which he calls pleasant, free, and happy”. Plato thought that the insatiable desire for this good would lead to the neglect of everything else and would “transform” a democracy and make it lead to a demand for despotism. He foresaw that all of this would lead to citizens becoming so sensitive that they reject even the slightest application of control and would call it “tyranny” which would simply lead to a disregard of the Law. This would be total anarchy which would only lead to a Tyrant coming in and taking the power for himself, something that Plato utterly hated the thought of. In conclusion, Plato’s political ideals were largely based off of his Theory of Forms and his ideas concerning the nature of Democracy. While I do not really like the idea of any “absolute” ruler, I do see the merit behind an individual like a Philosopher King. His ideas concerning that nature of a ruler was something