Theories of Plato about Philosopher-Rulers - Essay Example

?Plato's Republic and his Theories about Philosopher-Rulers In many s both in the past and now power has been a core issue. Proper use of power results in political and socio-economic development and stability. However, abuses of power results in political and social instability and stagnation or deterioration of the economy of a nation. Many nations have always sought ways and strategies of minimizing the abuse of power including entrusting leadership in the hands of the learned. However, such strategies do not seem to work. Through his book The Republic, Plato, the great thinker presents a potential solution to the abuse of power. In this book, Plato claims that the best way to avoid abuses of power, and thereby avoid some of the worst problems of political life, is to concentrate power in the hands of the wise - philosopher-rulers. There are several reasons that make Plato think that concentrating power in the hands of philosopher-rulers will eliminate abuse of power. In this book, Plato ignores the power of justice and makes philosophy the subject of inquiry. He thinks that the power of a state should be concentrated on philosopher-rulers because of the nature of philosophers. He mentions the gifts of a true philosopher as courage, good memory and quickness. Such people have natural reasonableness or inherent goodness which other people can use to get good things even as they grow old (IDPH 354). According to Plato, the minds of philosophers always love the type of knowledge that reveals to them the external nature that does not differ from corruption and generation (IDPH344). This means philosopher-rulers are in a position to make a quick detection of corrupt deals and corrupt individuals. Plato further explains that philosophers are lovers of all true being and therefore truthfulness is part of them. They are not willing to renounce others whether they are great or small, more honorable or less honorable. This means that philosopher-rulers stand for the truth in everything. This includes those issues that benefit them personally and those that may not benefit them directly or at all. This also includes truth in the smallest matters which many rulers tend to cover up. Even though such actions may not affect the citizens directly, the truth remains that it is abuse of power. They are therefore more likely to demand for openness and transparency in all actions that affect the larger population just to ensure that the highest levels of truth are maintained. Plato explains that because of their truthfulness, philosopher-rulers detest falsehood and will never receive in their mind falsehood intentionally. He goes further to describe truthfulness as the object of affection of philosophers. This is seen where he argues that truthfulness must be affirmed by philosophers. He says of them, “must be affirmed: for he whose nature is amorous of anything cannot help loving all that belongs or is akin to the object of his affections” (IDPH 344). To make it more convincing, Plato argues that there is nothing that is akin to wisdom as truth. His fellow philosopher Glaucon confirms the same as he states that someone cannot be a lover of wisdom and at the same time, a lover of falsehood. This is to say, wise people are lovers of truth and therefore, they are never lovers of falsehood. These are evident in philosopher-rulers. They would be the best watchdogs, condemners and stoppers of actions that that find their roots in falsehood like corruption and related actions like stealing. Plato ascribes the quality of being ambitious and loving ambitions to philosophers. Having rulers who love ambition can mean nothing better than elimination of every action and person who kills fruits of ambition in the national. Generally, philosopher-rulers have zero tolerance to self-centered leaders who are after heaping part of the national resources for themselves. according to Plato, philosophers are lovers of learning. Plato explains that a true lover of learning must desire the truth right from their earliest youth (IDPH 344). He also explains that through human experience, it is evident that a person whose desires are strong in a particular direction will have their desires weaker in other directions. As Plato describes, their desires will be like a stream that has been directed to another channel. He goes ahead to explain that a person whose desires are inclined towards every of knowledge will hardly feel bodily pleasure. Instead, they will be absorbed in the pleasures of the soul. However, he makes a clarification that this is the quality of a true philosopher, not a fake one. This description indicates that philosopher-rulers are more likely to be the type of rulers that can be described as ‘dream rulers’ of the nation. A Plato explains, these are rulers who are sure to be temperate and the exact opposite of covetous (IDPH 344). The reason he gives for this is that the motives that have the potential of making a person desirous of possessing and spending have no place in their type of character. What a good description of rulers. These are definitely the type of rulers who will not allow themselves to be induced by the desire to acquire and spend into abusing power just to satisfy their greed. This is evidenced by Plato’s description of such rulers as non-covetous. The desire to have and spend is a major source of abuse of power and thus giving more power to philosopher-rulers will reduce or make abuse of power a history. Plato gives another criterion for measuring true philosophical nature as one whose soul always desires or longs after the completeness of things, both divine and human. He explains that there can be nothing antagonistic as meanness to this type of a soul. Because of this, philosophers always have a character that demands that should be no secret corner of illiberality (IDPH 345). This portrays a character of boldness and generosity in the hearts of philosophers because they do not just think of themselves. From the above attributes, it is true to say that philosopher-rulers think much about human life and as Plato puts it, they are in a position to account for death fearfully. He states that people of mean nature and those who are coward have no part in true philosophy. This is a description of most of the leaders that have been ruling the society and are still ruling today. Their mean nature is the source of abuse of power. This happens when they want to gain where they have not sown or want to retain leadership position when on the other side, the citizens are echoing ‘go home, go home’. At the same time, such rulers are never ready to account for pains or loss of human life that result from their abuse of power. Philosophers are people who are harmoniously constituted. Plato explains that a person who is harmoniously constituted and is not mean, boastful, coward or covetous can never be found to be unjust or hard in their dealings. Glaucon seconds him by saying that such is impossible (IDPH 345). He then remarks that there are signs that differentiate people of philosophical nature from those who are unphilosophical, even in youth. According to him, people will be able to observe whether a man is gentle and just or rude and un-sociable. Philosopher-rulers are just, gentle and sociable. Just leaders are a good weapon for weeding out injustice, a product of abuse of power. On the other hand, gentleness and being sociable encourages democracy and democracy is a powerful tool for stopping abuse of power because it gives room for the citizens and opposition leaders to voice their concerns. The rights of the citizens to have action taken or a given ruler who abuse power removed are respected. As mentioned earlier, Plato mentions good memory as one of the gifts of a true philosopher. This makes them to love learning and doing things that allow them to progress after their toil. For those people who are forgetful, they retain nothing out of what they learn and thus they remain empty vessels. Because of this, they labor in vain and their end is hatred against themselves and their fruitless occupation (IDPH 346). This is what happens to unphilosophical rulers. Because of their lack of sincere concentration and efforts to true leadership, they end up making little progress and this makes them to hate themselves. As a result, such rulers are more likely to hate themselves and lose concern for those they serve and therefore, abuse of power will not make them feel any guilt or feel condemned for their betrayal. Plato also mentioned quickness as one of the gift of a true philosopher. In respect to this, Plato states that besides other qualities of philosophers, we must find a mind that is well-proportioned and gracious. According to him, this is the mind that will move spontaneously/quickly into the true being of everything (IDPH 344). Rulers who have such kind of a mind will not always act right but they will also be quick to speak to against any abuse of power among the unphilosophical rulers. According to Plato, the best interest of a state is that its men and women be as good as possible. This contrasts the actions of the un-philosophical rulers (IDPH 313). Plato explains that people who do not have virtue and wisdom are always busy with sensuality and gluttony, moving up and down all through their lives. This means their interest is not to help the citizens or guide them to become good citizens. Instead, their greed drives them to selfishness that at its extremes, could result to abuse of power. According to Plato, philosophers base their arguments and actions on wisdom and virtue (IDPH 448). These arguments are always aimed at making people to adopt the best behavior possible so that they can become good citizens. The truthfulness of a true ruler is seen through their obedience of the same command they give and expect others to follow. However, un-philosophical rulers have failed in this. Plato says that for if rulers and their auxiliaries to deserve the name they bear, they must be willing to obey power of command and the guardians must obey the law. They must ape the spirit of those entrusted to their care in details (IDPH 310). Conclusively, Plato states that after the nature of a philosopher has been ascertained, people should come to understand them and acknowledge that the union of qualities in them should be the rulers of the state (IDPH 344). Better means of dealing with abuse of power. Plato’s suggestion is a good and economical. However, it might not be possible to achieve such a transformation in the current society. There is also no assurance that philosopher-rulers will be able to maintain their call throughout their terms of office. Abuse of power is better dealt by other means and one of them is prosecution. As much is practical, rulers who are found guilty of the vice are made to repay all public money. Suspensions and loss of positions is also another means. An example is being stepped out of a ministerial position. Suspensions and loss of positions brings shame and limits the powers of a ruler to influence investigations against them. At the same time, they lose the authority they have and cannot make further transactions on behalf of the government. However, this should be advanced to ensure that with good evidence, those found guilt should also be indefinitely eliminated from the political arena. This will make the cost of abuse of power verses its benefits unattractive. Conclusion Plato thinks that philosopher-rulers can make good rulers because he credits to them traits that are required in good rulers. These include good memory, gentleness, being gracious, quick to learn, lovers of learning, truthful, just, temperate, courageous, ambitious among others. He explains that all these qualities to hand-in-hand and are in every way necessary to a soul which is to have a perfect and full participation of being. This is the description of the kind of rulers that Plato thinks can be found in philosopher-rulers. It is the logic behind Plato’s thoughts that the best way to avoid abuses of power is to concentrate power in the hands of the wise, of philosopher-rulers. This will help to avoid some of the worst problems of political life. Works Cited IDPH. Plato: The Republic. Web. 2002. Viewed 26th, October, 2011. http://www.idph.net/conteudos/ebooks/republic.pdf Read More