Write a short note on
1. Plato's theory of form
2. Decline of the ideal state and the unjust man
3. Communism and education.
1. Plato's theory of form
2. Decline of the ideal state and the unjust man
3. Communism and education.
Everywhere, inequality is a cause of revolution. - Aristotle, Comment.
1. Plato's theory of form:
ReplyDeletePlato is the father of Political philosophy. He discussed the theory of form or ideas in his seminal work, 'The Republic'.
Plato propounded the ideal state free from the ills of the Democracy of the then Greek city states. This ideal state is the one ruled by the philosopher king, who has the virtue of knowledge. Theory of forms was explained in this context to explain what is the real knowledge.
According to this theory, Plato insisted that the true knowledge is a form that belongs to the world of permanence. Plato insisted that there is a distinction between the world of permanence and world of senses. The forms or ideas is an unchanging manifestation of what we sense in the world. For example, if tree is an object of the world, then the 'treeness' is an idea that belonged to the world of permanence. Plato said that those who obtain the knowledge of these forms are the philosophers who are to rule the state.
Plato explained this theory using 'Allegory of Cave'. According to which, people live in the cave believing that the shadows and objects in the cave is the true reality. Only when they come out of the cave, they witness the true knowledge of the day light.
Influence of Socrates' theory of 'concept' can be seen in Plato's theory of form. Aristotle, modified the theory of form. While Plato maintained that there are two distinct worlds, Aristotle said that the form is immanent in the object.
Plato's theory of form is significant because the his system of education is based on it. Education is nothing but educating people from the world of opinions to world of forms.
2. Decline of Ideal state.
ReplyDeleteTheory of decline was advocated by Plato, the world'a first political philosopher in his seminal work, 'The Republic'. According to this theory, no ideal state would remain ideal and would degenerate.
Plato belonged to a troubled phase of Athens after the Peloppensian war. The Democracy of Athens was responsible for the death a of his uncles and his teacher Socrates. This affected his opinions on democracy.
Plato said that the ideal state of a philosopher rule would degenerate first into aristocracy, then into oligarchy, then into democracy and finally Timocracy i.e tyranny. Using the theory of 'State is man writ large', Plato said that this accompanies the degeneration of the man's soul. He said that Aristocracy would replace the ideal state when virtue of courage replaces the virtue of wisdom both in the state and in the man. Similarly, when temperance replaces courage, Oligarchy comes into existence. Democracy is the rule of the ignorant many over the wise few. This was happening during his time in Athens. Finally, democracy would lead to Timocracy where one person would claim all the power from the people for his own self interest. Thus the tyrant is driven by the mad passion in complete contrast with the philosopher who would be driven by knowledge.
Even Aristotle, student of Plato believed in the cycle of revolutions in which one form of the Government changes to other.
Thus, with the change of virtues in man, the nature of state changes.
3. Communism and education.
ReplyDeleteThe theory of communism of wives and property and the system of education was propounded by Plato in his book, 'The Republic'.
Plato was appalled by the state of politics during his time in Athens. The Democracy was perceived by him as the rule of ignorant many over the wise few. He was concerned with the nature of selecting rulers. He said, " One needs some training to be a carpenter, but to be a ruler, a simple lottery would do." Thus he wanted to conceive Government from the education system. To check the degeneration of this ideal state formed, he also advocated communism of wives and property.
Plato's education system was education into the theory of forms. He wanted the philosophers, who would rule the state, to be trained in mathematics, geometry dialectics etc., to get the real knowledge of statecraft. He believed that the soulcraft through education would teach statecraft.
However, to check the self interests of the philosopher, Plato advocated that the guardian class remain free from the evils of property and family. Plato said, " If rulers start becoming husbandmen and housekeepers, then they would start fighting with internal enemies rather than external enemies." He advocated communism of property to check corruption and communism of wives to check nepotism and favouritsm.
Thus, education and communism are the systems used by plato for the creation and sustenance of the philosopher rule respectively.