Four philosophical questions from Plato's Republic

¶ … Plato's Republic

One of the most important concepts that Plato deals with in his book "The Republic" is that of justice. The focus the m is both on the individual and society, therefore justice being a fundamental principle as far as society is concerned, one will also be able to find a deep connection between justice and man as well. According to the philosopher a just society is one which functions well. Naturally society is made of and by the people. Therefore it seems to be quite obvious that in order to be just, a society needs to be composed out of just people. The main functions which must be performed in order to regulate society refer to the decision -- governing process, the executive one and the production one. If these functions are well performed then society is a righteous one. These functions are actually derived from the human nature. The human soul is divided into three parts, each of them correposnding to one of the functions, reason, spirit and desire (corresponding to knowledge, honor and pleasures as interests and philosophers, warriors and commoners as social classes) It is obvious that the very concept of virtue is closely connected to the one of duty. A person's duty is to fulfill his or her own potential. People are not alike, the three parts are differently developped in each and everyone of us. There are some who have a more developed appetite and others who have a more developed intellect. Each must do everything in his power in order to fully achieve his potential (the part of his soul which is most evolved). It would be absurd for someone whose strongest part of the soul is the appettite to want to excell in a function of social command. Each has a destined condition and fulfilling it will lead to personal happiness. In addition, if all the people succeeded in doing that then the result would be a happy society, where happiness is tied to the ethical dimension.

2. The purpose of Socrates was to come as close as possible to the truth or at least understand which is the right method to follow in order to reach this goal. From this point-of-view it is safe to say that the philosopher was concerned with understanding the way the human mind works. In his opinion, understanding reality for what it is represents an important step towards the achievement of the truth. Taking into account the powerful subjective level which influences perception and reasoning, it is important to differentiate between knowledge and belief. The former is based upon facts and solid proof while the latter relies more on personal preferences. In order to better illustrate this difference Socrates brings into discussion the concept of Beauty and he states that while it is easy for people to distinguish between things which are beautiful and things which are not, it is not so easy to establish what Beauty actually is. Knowledge on the one hand corresponds to that which is real, to all the things the existence of which can be undoubtedly perceived. Belief on the other hand is situated between knowledge and ignorance. Therefore the best way to govern society would be that which follows knowledge. But, to what extent is knowledge available to the human intellect? Can we really have access to pure knowledge despite the strong influence that our values, preferences, desires and ideals have upon perception and the evaluation of the surrounding enviornment? The conflict between knowledge and belief is extremely visible when Beauty becomes an issue. There are some general indications which people can follow when moving around in the area of aesthetics but this does not solve the problematics implied by the issue. Somebody establishes them according to an already existing set of values. What happens when these values are not shared by everyone? Can people actually agree upon an universal concept of beauty based solely on reason? These are some of the issues which the philosopher tries to analyze.

3. An important metaphor that Socrates uses in order to convey his ideas regarding the concept of good is the one of the sun. The action of illumination which the sun performs is not only physical but spiritual as well. Since the sun is the very source of knowldge and the instrument which guides people towards the truth, the sun becomes a metaphor for the "good" as well. Therefore there is a close connection between knowledge and ethics, the main link being the truth. The sun (through its generating the light) is the main tool that the eye uses in order to perceive and record the tangible world. This world is composed out of elements the understanding of which represents the goal of both scientific research and philosophy. The light is associated with the realms of reality and the things whuch can be completely understood and measured, therefore with the good. The subconscious and all the things which carry us within a realm which is more difficult (if not impossible to decypher) are associated with evil and the darkness. Trying to understand ourselves and the world through the use of categories is an almost useless attempt because it will not take us far. The real path to the truth is the oen which uses the universa forms. And good is the supreme type of form. As we can see there is a two way connection between knowledge and truth. The type of action through which we reach knowledge (and conceptualize it) and the nature of that knowledge are deeply intertwined.