The Just POLITEIA in Plato’s Thought:The Philosopher King as a Guide Towards Freedom and Truth
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
李亮
Abstract
Plato’s Republic has been acknowledged as the best philosophical work of all times, and over the centuries, philosophers, politicians, and scholars have been inspired by this text. However many questions and criticisms have arisen, such as: Is the state that Plato presents realistic? Is the philosopher king a dictator? Was there ever a real philosopher king? Did Plato later give up this theory about the philosopher king? This thesis considers some of those problems, tracing the concept of the philosopher king through all of Plato’s works. The way that Plato articulates the polis may be different from previous conceptions seems, that Plato sees the polis and every citizen as being interconnected. The polis influences the citizen, and vice-versa. The citizen is not an individual as we consider it nowadays, but is the product of the existence of the polis. Plato articulates a city that would be run by a philosopher aristocrats, guardians and producers, all of whom would know their place. Similarly the soul of the individual consists of three parts: logical (which must control the other two parts), spirited, and appetitive. Plato says that if every part truly fulfills its characteristics, harmony is established, in the polis and each individual soul. The state of harmony of both the tripartite polis and the tripartite soul of every citizen is called justice (dikaiosyne). So justice (dikaiosyne) is not only a legalistic term, but mainly an existential condition; it is the way that every citizen and polis should exist in harmony and fullness. Justice (dikaiosyne) includes all the other virtues as well. The philosopher king goes hand by hand with the law. He is interpreting the law, applying the law and never breaking the law, because if he does so, his human existence would be in question. The philosopher king is the reason for the ultimate harmony in the polis and the soul. Here, an individual escapes from the present world of ignorance; he encounters the world of Ideas and full of their light, returns to this world, to guide the polis and the citizens to freedom from the bonds of the necessity of the nature, towards the fullness of life and love. The philosopher king is a necessary condition of Platonic philosophy. He tries to train people in order to become philosopher kings. Although he may fail, he never gives up. But until a philosopher king appears, the Law must rule as a second best choice. However, the platonic eros (love) is the driving force behind everything. The citizens are in love (platonic) with the polis and with each other. This means that the philosopher king is not a dictator but a real ruler of a loving community. To exercise power is a way to love. It is this critical aspect of the polis that Plato’s accusers have overlooked. Plato developed an amazing synthesis of the politics, sociology and psychology. His theory that the human being exists because of the polis could be the basis of every type of humanism and modern political theory. It is his radical idea that love (eros) should be the driving force in both the political and individual aspects of life, that we should all be seeking, and few of us will ever find..
Subjects
Plato
philosopher king
freedom
justice
truth
eros
democracy
SDGs
Type
thesis
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