Self-Recognition, Play, and Plato’s Philosophy of Justice
The Stadium in the Mirror
Lacan was a French psychoanalyst of the twentieth century. According to Lacan, all babies go through the mirror stage, which is essential for the formation of personality. The baby, between 6 and 18 months, reaches a moment of recognition in the mirror and a moment of joy and enthusiasm.
This stage is very important for the formation of the “ego” personality. The individual’s identity is essential to identify with some image, but it is also the first trap: the child is identified with the image, but that image is really only one aspect of himself.
In fact, throughout our lives, we play this game of identifications, the need to form our own identity from an image. However, the image never completely satisfies because we will never be the image.
Mirror and Self in Animals
Some researchers thought that if an animal is capable of recognizing itself in a mirror, it means that it has self-awareness. So they did an experiment in two phases:
1st: They placed a mirror in the animal’s habitat, and if it acted as if it were another animal or interference, it means that it did not recognize itself. In contrast, if it takes the mirror to inspect parts of the body not normally seen, it recognizes the image as itself and therefore has a sense of self.
2nd: While sleeping, they make a mark between the animal’s eyebrows. If when it wakes up, it shows surprise at the mirror and uses the mirror to inspect the mark, it means that it recognizes the image as itself and therefore has a sense of self. Chimpanzees and orangutans gave positive results. But the elephants and monkeys did not.
Spontaneous Play (Play) and Organized Game (Game)
George Herbert Mead was an American psychologist and sociologist of the twentieth century. According to Mead, the game is very important for the development of cognitive skills as well as personality (identity). At first, the child plays (play) to imitate the roles of the people around them and plays the father, doctor, teacher, etc.
This game is spontaneous (pleasure), so the child is preparing to join society, adopting a role. Later, the child begins what is called “organized play”, that is, the game with rules valid for two participants.
For example, the goalkeeper knows that they have some features that other players have other roles (defenders, attackers, etc.). At this time, what Mead calls “generalized other” appears.
Plato (4th Century BC)
Plato was a disciple of Socrates. For Plato, the death sentence of Socrates was a scandal because he was “the fairest man in an unfair town”, one of the city’s philosophical obsessions.
He starts from the idea that there are parallels between the soul and the city (society/individuals). According to Plato, injustice can appear in a city if there is injustice in just one soul; if a just soul appears, remove it.
If all souls in a city are unjust, the city is also unjust. For Plato, the soul is a reflection of the city. In the city with large letters, we read what is written in the soul in small print. By virtue of parallelism, as the soul has three parts, the city will also have three parts.
The Just Soul
The just soul for Plato is one in which the three parts are fitted and the rational part is in charge and has the virtue of wisdom (which is well known), and the irascible has the virtue of fortitude (strength of will) and follows the orders of the rational part. Temperance contains the instincts and desires of the concupiscible.
Example: A fair soul, one that would understand the rational that the dentist has said (can not eat candy) and use willpower to control the irascible/suppress the desire to eat cakes.
The Just City
In the just city, there is a good adjustment of three parts:
1st: Where the philosophers govern, who have the virtue of prudence, know the right idea. The philosopher is one who knows the soul through the unique and valid idea of good for everyone and knows how to behave well. (Moral intellectualism).
2nd: Warriors or guardians, who defend the city but also control the producers. They have the virtue of fortitude and obey the orders of philosophers.
3rd: Producers, who should limit themselves to producing the goods needed in the city and must obey the orders of warriors or guardians.
The Warriors
The warriors are dedicated to defending and controlling the city; they have no family or private property; they feel the whole city is their family. Since the ruling apparatus with the best warriors, the best fighters have the best offspring.
The children of warriors are separated from their parents and educated communally. They consider the city’s fathers to be their families, and adults may be their parents.
Education of the Warriors
The gymnasium serves on one hand to strengthen the physical body and on the other to strengthen the character. It also helps to achieve discipline and willpower. This includes studying music literature, which serves to form the soul and create a harmonious soul.
Strong censorship is applied; warriors cannot listen to melodramatic songs because their souls would not do their job well. Nor can they listen to aggressive or dissonant melodies because their souls would become aggressive and lose discipline and harmony.
Books and stories where the gods behave immorally (lie or commit adultery) are censored. They want the warriors not to have the temptation of imitating models of immoral Gods.
Within warriors, the best are reaped, and there will be additional training for women to become philosophers. The background of mathematics is examined so that the soul gets used to thinking without using the senses. After studying the dialectic, one must be able to know well. If one knows well, one is able to behave morally right and govern well.
Just Regimes
- Aristocracy: When the best of the excellent rule, it is when a group of philosophers who know the idea of Good and govern well.
- Monarchy: When one philosopher governs, following the principle of Good. It is not a hereditary monarchy.
Unjust Regimes
- Timocracy: Governments of the warriors because there is nobody who can become philosophers. This system is unfair because the government follows the idea of honor. It starts to accumulate gold.
- Oligarchy: Rule appears when the sons of warriors who have accumulated great wealth. Government remains the principle of wealth, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
- Democracy: Government by the people. It appears from the citizen revolt of the people. It is governed by the principle of “freedom.” It is unjust because, in a democracy, Socrates was condemned.
- Tyranny: Appears when a popular uprising leader uses force and cunning to seize power. The government follows its terminals and bad instincts. It is capable of killing its father and maintaining relationships with its mothers. It has enemies and lives in fear. For example, Stalin (USSR) had taken power from Lenin on the pretext of his illness. Doctors could not say that Stalin was sick because they were accused as traitors for wanting to remove him.