Platos Aristocracy and Tyranny - Term Paper Example

Teacher THE REPUBLIC: PLATO’S ARISTOCRACY AND TYRANNY Introduction It is far known that the thrust of Philosophy is a logical, systematic pursuit of fundamental truths. [What is Philosophy…] A budding philosopher has to learn how to dissect the breadth of a subject matter. It allows one to focus and hone one’s ability to perceive relationships among different perspectives of cultures, individuals, concepts, etc. and learn from them. Learning Philosophy deepens one’s sense of meaning with additional value-added experience and knowledge. In this scholarly exercise, this paper attempts to explore and provide valued insights gathered from various literary works that contributed to explain how Plato defines and inter-relates aristocracy with tyranny (dictatorship), why he preferred aristocracy as his ideal form of government while he considered the rest as imperfect forms of State. In the process, this paper also intends to come up with a stance in the context of Aristocracy and Tyranny. Plato’s The Republic is made up of ten books covering numerous disciplines from law (justice), ethics, poetry, music, government, politics, etc. Thus, it is important to confine the paper’s coverage only to specifics which relate to Plato’s views about Aristocracy and Tyranny. An added limitation of this paper is its constraint to present the whole picture of inter-relationships for the four (4) imperfect forms of government as presented by Plato in his The Republic, namely: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. Main Discussion Plato’s The Republic Plato’s “The Republic” is an incomparable work of a great mind. Initially, it is essential to have an idea of what Plato has constructed in his mind about an “ideal state”. The Republic is just one of best contributions of Greek philosophy to Western Philosophy (Hooker, 1996). R. Emerson remarked that “Plato is Philosophy; Philosophy is Plato” (Merriman, 2006). Today, most contemporary philosophical and literary works, occasionally to include scientific researches too, if not all, are found to have citations or captured references from Plato’s work, precepts, or dialogues. This is indicative that “The Republic” has been influential in almost all disciplines. The Republic is also a manifestation of how Plato was greatly inspired by his mentor, Socrates, whom he created here as his fictional persona (Bloom, 2010). What is Plato’s The Republic? The Republic appears to be a classic explorative repository of ideas. One of the major features of The Republic is Plato’s political theory of an ideal state which he claimed to be Aristocracy. Aristocracy is the chosen ideal form of government by Plato (Ross, 2005). According to him, it should be ruled by the best, the most wise, intelligent, non-corrupt individuals in the city [Aristocracy in Plato’s..]. This goes without saying that this elite group, cream of the crop rulers has the ability to have complete control of the state. Plato stratified his society for an ideal state into three classes: First, it is the very small and rarefied group, whom Plato called "Guardians" or Philosopher-Kings. The Guardians are considered the best, extraordinarily intelligent, virtuous, brave, and are in complete control of the state. Those who are in the middle section somewhat bright, strong, and especially courageous, suited for defensive and policing professions make up the army and the police whom he called "Auxiliaries." The lower end of human society, which, as far as Plato is concerned, consists of an overwhelming majority of people in a state, he calls the "Producers," since they are most suited for productive work. (Kemerling, 2002) Plato’s Affinity towards Aristocracy and the Underlying Factors Aristocracy generally refers to a form of government that belongs to combined nobility, hereditary ruling, landed gentry, and a superior group which often thought to be ruled by the best. 1 In the context of The Republic, the ideal state itself Plato called is "aristocracy" (aristos, "best," and krateîn, "to rule"), ruled by the best and the guiding principle of this state is the reason of the philosophers (Ross, 2005). It embodies the wisdom of philosopher-kings [Aristocracy…] Plato’s affinity for aristocracy may be initially traced from Plato’s family background. Plato is known to be a son of a wealthy influential Athenian couple who were highly prominent in the aristocratic circle. His articulation on the details of his ideal Aristocracy is definitely influenced not only by the status of his parents but also of himself who was raised and grew in the aristocratic environment. Another factor that may have contributed to Plato’s affinity towards aristocracy is following the execution of Socrates which took place while a democratic form of government was in place at Athens. Kreis cited that: Socrates was charged for impiety. Although Socrates was neither a heretic nor an agnostic, there was prejudice against him. Socrates managed to provoke hostility among Athenians and eventually, they executed him. Socrates execution has devastated Plato, his prime student. Further added, Socrates wrote nothing himself. It was through the writings of his closest friends, Xenophon and Plato that people learned about him. It was also written that The Republic is Plato’s takeoff where Socrates had left (Kreis, 2009). A further consideration why Plato favored aristocracy could be also attributed to the aftermath of the war between Athens (democracy) and Sparta (military-led). After Athens got embroiled with the military dictatorship of Sparta, its flourishing economic supremacy and prosperity, as well as its cultural and intellectual influence collapsed. The shift in form of government in Athens to military dictatorship may have given Plato new inputs to postulate about the imperfect forms of government: timocracy, democracy, oligarchy and tyranny. Plato’s Imperfect Forms of Government In Book VIII of The Republic Plato examined the four imperfect states: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny. According to Plato, the best form of government is Aristocracy. As interpreted: Once aristocracy degenerates, any of these imperfect forms of government can emerge. For example, if rulers of a state become rich and eventually become rule of the few, Plato terms this as ‘Oligarchy”. This can be also termed as “Plutocracy”, rule of the wealth. The principle of this state is the desire of the rich. The plutocratic kind of state will decay once the children of the rich decide simply to enjoy themselves and dissipate their wealth, or when the poor decide to take advantage of their numbers by overthrowing the rich. The result is a "Democracy" (dêmokratia; dêmos, "people"), the rule of the people. The principle of this state is the desire of the many. Because the desires and possessions of some inevitably interfere with the desires and acquisitiveness of others, Plato thinks that democracies will become increasing undisciplined and chaotic. In the end, people will want someone to institute law and order and quiet things down. Giving sufficient power to someone to do leads to the next kind of state, Tyranny. The tyrant succeeds in quieting things down. Then he establishes a new kind of government, tyranny (tyrannis, "tyranny," from tyrannos, "tyrant"). The principle of this state is still desire, but now it is just the desire of the tyrant himself (Bloom, 1991). In principle, tyranny or dictatorship, totalitarianism, absolute monarchy has one thing in common and that is, freedom of their subjects is subjugated and curtailed, rendering most, if not all aspects of their lives to the dictator or the tyrant. In what aspect do they differ? Simply they differ in their objective and in the manner how these leaders ascended into power. For example an absolute monarchy leader ascends to power by rights of either inheritance or marital. Dictatorship or a tyrant rises to power usually due to a crisis and ascends to power not by any legal laws but by purely power grabbing regardless how it was done. On the other hand, Aristocracy is a form of government ruled by a few who are deemed superior both morally and intellectually, and, therefore, govern directly in the interests of the governed. [Aristocracy…] Conclusion In view of the above, we learn that forms of government adopted differ from one society to another depending on their applicability and society’s needs. This century, men have witnessed how democracies in other countries collapsed and how tyranny, oligarchy, monarchy and other forms emerged. This is just indicative that what Plato theorized, even for the sake of argument, can be actualized. Historical events also show that some leaders have adopted Plato’s theories as evidenced in the ascent to power by B. Mussolini in Italy and the aggressive tyrants in the person of J. Stalin of Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler of Germany, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, among others. History also tells us that tyranny used with aggression never lasts with some exceptions like the benevolent leaders as in the case of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew. Plato was right in saying that if one form of government degenerates, another type emerges. In such case, we may somehow conclude that if the interests of the governed are not well served, in time there will always be an imminent move for change in leadership and form of government. Reckoning from this point, new paradigms will definitely emerge in the field of philosophy and the quest for more knowledge must be a continuing endeavor for Philosophers and we know that Knowledge is power. WORKS CITED “Aristocracy ” The Republic Of Plato: Second Edition - Ebook Detail. Ebooklink.net. 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. . “Aristocracy in Platos The Republic and to Build a Democratic State” bookrags.com. n.d.Web.03 Dec. 2010 “Aristocracy”. Enclypedia2.thefreedictionary.com.Web. 03 Dec 2010 “Aristocracy”. Classic Encyclopedia.com. Web. 03 Dec. 2010 Bloom, A. “Plato”. Books.google.com. 1991. Web. 03 Dec 2010 Campos, T. “Platos Ideal State – Plato and the Aristocratic Government” suite101.com. Web. Aug., 2010. . 03 Dec 2010 Hooker, R. “Greek Philosophy Plato”. wsu.edu. 1996. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. Kemerling, G. “Plato: The State and the Soul”, philosophypages.com. 2002. Web. 02 Dec.2010 http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2g.htm Kreis, S. “The History Guide: Lectures on Ancient and Medieval European History Lesson 8:Greek Thought Socrates, Plato and Aristotle”. historyguide.org. 2000. Web. 03 Dec. 2010 http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture8b.html Merriman, C.D. “The Literature Network :Plato’s Biography”. Online-literature.com. Web. Jalic, Inc. 2006. Web. 02 Dec. 2010 . Philosophy: A Brief Guide for Undergraduates. “What is Philosophy? A Tour” American Philosophical Association,1982. Web. 01 Dec. 2010 . Ross, K.L.(Ph.D) “Plato’s Republic”. friesian.com. 2005. Web. Dec 03, 2010. “Totalitarianism vs Absolutism “ historum.com. 2010. Web. Dec. 03, 2010 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bloom, A. “Republic of Plato” books.google.com. 1991. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. Campos, T. “Platos Ideal State – Plato and the Aristocratic Government”. Suite101.com. 26 Aug. 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. Frost, Jr. S.E. Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers. Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1962. Print and Web. 03 Dec. 2010. http://www.archive.org/stream/basicteachingsof007419mbp#page/n5/mode/2up Jowett, B. The Republic. Trans. Introduction to The Republic, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2010 http://www.ac-nice.fr/philo/textes/Plato-Works/19-Republic.htm Kautsky, J. H. The Politics of Aristocratic Empires. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982, pp. xvi, 416. Print. Endnotes: 1 Regular definitions for “Aristocracy” were derived from two online web pages: classic free encyclopedia and free encyclopedia dictionary. (Kindly refer to entries in Works Cited) Read More