Plato’s Philosophy: Ethics, Knowledge, and Ideal State
Plato’s Philosophy: Ethics, Knowledge, and the Ideal State
Judgment of the Soul
The soul will be judged in Hades (the unseen) for its justice or injustice, its temperance and profligacy, its virtues and vices. Just mind the virtue of the soul, no matter if it is a great king or the last of his subjects. Sentences were of four types:
- Awards time.
- Temporal punishments.
- Eternal reward.
- Eternal punishment.
Theory of Knowledge
Objective knowledge is possible and universally valid. Plato distinguishes between two types of knowledge, which in turn are divided into two:
- Opinion (doxa) or sensitive knowledge: You cannot do science because of its constant change.
- Evidence.
- Imagination.
- Science (episteme): Knowledge of true reality, the world of ideas.
- Reasoning: Knowledge of realities through others.
- Dialectic: Intuitive knowledge, direct and immediate.
Only philosophers are able to climb through the dialectic to the pure insight of Good (noesis). The dialectic is the path by which reason leaves the sensitive and goes to pure ideas.
The Myth of the Cave
Plato, through the “Myth of the Cave,” shows us that what we take for reality is the appearance, or the world we live in shadows. He described the different degrees of reality:
- Sensible appearances (doxa)
- Scientific knowledge of the world of ideas (episteme)
Ethical Reflection
From Plato, ethical reflection on human conduct aimed to solve three problems:
- How to take charge of their own behavior, exceeding our constitutive animality.
- How to integrate individual interests in a common project that makes life possible together.
- How to achieve happiness.
Four Virtues
- Concupiscence, intelligent moderation: Moderation.
- Irascible: Strength.
- Rational, practical intelligence: Wisdom.
- Sum of the three virtues above and expresses the perfect harmony of the soul: Justice.
Virtue According to Plato
For Plato, virtue has three complementary ways:
- Wisdom (Socrates): No one does wrong knowingly, but through ignorance or error; we all want the best for ourselves.
- Purification: Ability to control, to avoid being dragged by the body.
- Harmony: Adjustment between the various parts of the soul. Balance.
Politics and the Ideal State
Regarding politics, each of the parts of the soul will be a class of citizens:
- Producers: Those in whom the concupiscible predominates. Temperance.
- Military: Citizens in whom the predominant irritable. Fortaleza.
- Rulers: Citizens in whom the rational part predominates. Prudence. Part of that prudence will exercise authority in a vigorous manner, so that justice prevails in the polls.
Justice (about politics): Harmony between the citizens among themselves and with the state, and the different classes together.
In a society, one has to seek the common good, not the particular.
Communal Living for Rulers and Guardians
Plato believed that the rulers and guardians, to lack personal ambition, should not own private property or a family. The rulers and the guardians will comply, therefore, with a regime of community of children, women, and property.
Education
Education will be similar for men and women and citizens selected according to their abilities:
- Only basic training: Producers.
- Maximum preparation: Ruling class of philosophers.
Forms of Government
For Plato, the monarchy (rule by one) is the ideal government. A constant danger to the monarchy is the political ambition of the guards, who can use their strength to gain honors and the wheelhouse. In that abuse is called timocracy (from the Greek words timē, “honor, esteem,” and kratos, “power, rule”), and may degenerate into an oligarchy (rule by the rich) if the warriors are made also with wealth. But as the rich are few and the poor many, it is normal that they will rise up in establishing democracy, where everyone participates in the government but everyone seeks his advantage, becoming a struggle of all against all. That is why democracy often leads society into chaos, opening the door to tyranny (government of the fittest).