Plato’s Republic: A Reflection of Ancient Athens’ Crisis
The time in which Plato lived conditioned and justified his philosophy, especially his socio-political thought, namely his masterpiece and examination center, Republic or About Justice. Although not strictly the time in which he lived, Plato was the direct heir of the political, philosophical, and social problems that led to the emergence of democracy in classical Athens at the hands of Pericles after the victory in the Wars and the subsequent Medical anthropological turn that saw the new horizon of isonomy and the elimination of the aristocratic model.
Plato was born in 427 BC into an aristocratic family in the midst of the Peloponnesian War, in which he participated as a soldier. This conflict was between the cities of the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League. The war ended with the introduction of the scheme of the 30 Tyrants, which was led by members of his family and politically supported by Sparta. This scheme meant the crisis of democratic ideas and the beginning of the collapse of the Greek world.
At 20 years old, he met his mentor, Socrates, whom he admired and whose philosophy he reflected in his works. After the restoration of democracy, for a short time, a jury condemned Socrates to death. This decision resulted in Plato’s engagement in philosophy and education, apart from public life, and his continued criticism of the Sophists and the corruption of the political system that had led to a permanent crisis, leading to an anthropological, ethical, and political crisis.
Plato’s Travels and the Founding of The Academy
The death of Socrates plunged Plato into a crisis. He initiated a series of journeys that took him through various countries, in addition to trying to implement his model of “State” and coming into contact with other thoughts. The crisis remained until Philip II of Macedon ended Greek self-reliance.
In his many travels, Plato came to Egypt, where he met disciples of Heraclitus and Parmenides, who started the problem of change. Parmenides takes the quality for the Idea, the traits of being, and the relationship between sensitive and false. From Heraclitus and his worldview that flows, symbolized by the fire, he also learned. He met some Pythagoreans in Sicily who influenced his way of thinking. He assumed the importance of mathematics, its anthropological dualism, the identification of man with his rational soul, and reincarnation. He criticized atomism and took the concept of Nous of Anaxagoras as ordering intelligence external to the material itself (Demiurge).
On his return to Athens, he founded “The Academy,” considered the first university. It was the cultural center of Athens for centuries. For the training of future leaders, many subjects were studied with great intellectual freedom. At this stage, he developed his theories and major works.
Plato’s Later Years and Legacy
At 60 years old, he began another trip to Sicily to try to implement the political model embodied in his work The Republic, the result of intense socio-political reflection. After the crisis, he concluded the need for society to be formed into a new idea of justice, defined as “to each his own,” especially in the case of the philosopher-rulers. Thus, Plato tried to prevent democracy from leading the people to a new crisis, as if they knew the idea of justice, they would seek the common good and not their own. Thus reappeared, with moral force, Socratic intellectualism, seared into the consciousness of the philosopher.
That is why Plato went so far as to doubt the validity of his philosophy, but once learned, he returned to Aristotle, who served as a great encouragement. He died in 347 BC.