¶ … Republic, Plato conceptualizes the concept of the good primarily in terms of justice. Justice in turn extends from and manifests as harmony, both at the macrocosmic or universal levels as with the movement of the celestial bodies, and at the microcosmic or mundane levels as in political or social life. Plato also discusses the nature, essence, and importance of absolute good as an archetypal Form. The Form of Good is the seed of all things good, just, and harmonious in the universe. Plato is only slightly less concerned with Good from a moral standpoint, as the philosopher seems to take for granted that moral Good and virtue fall under the rubric of the Form of Good. In Leviathan, Hobbes's concern with good has much more to do with the process of critical thinking and understanding the relative nature of human judgment. Human concern with good reflects the constant need to make judgments, which are often rooted in erroneous beliefs, falsities, or irrationalities. Hobbes is more concerned with the application of good judgment and therefore plants the seeds for a more utilitarian, situational, and relative concept of good as it applies to political decisions and social justice. Plato investigates several different facets of the human concern with good, through characters like Socrates in The Republic. For example, good pertains to musical harmony, which "will give harmony to the soul," as "good gymnastic ... will give health to the body," (Book I). Good is therefore anything that actually...
Plato then discusses the issue of having good taste, which is the ability to perceive truth and/or beauty in a subject. On this level, Plato comes closest to congruence with Hobbes on the issue of good because of the way Hobbes becomes uniquely concerned with the application of human judgment. Just as Plato talks about having good taste as a matter of intellectual discernment, Hobbes also talks about the need to have good judgment in Chapters 7 and 8 of Leviathan. The human concern with good is therefore important because understanding good leads to effective judgment, and from effective judgment comes good governance. Good governance in turn leads to desirable -- essentially good -- political outcomes.
The second part of this book introduces the more central aspect of his argument's epistemological motive, with the prescription for proper leadership extending from a view that is ethically, intellectually and socially instructed. We can easily detect here the strands of ideology which would be invested into Hobbes view many centuries hence. This is to say that at the crux of his argument, Plato writes that "until philosophers are kings,
Philosopher-kings strive to lead individuals out of the cave, and to perceive 'the real,' the pure and ideal world of the forms rather than the shadows of ideals. This idealistic concept is one reason why Plato is so determined that every human being assume his ideal place in the social order, whether working at a trade, fighting, or engaging in philosophy. While Plato's version of a social contract between the
Thrasymachus sustains that obedience to rulers is just (Republic, 399b7) and this comes in no contradiction with what Hobbes sustains. In a contractual society, laws must be obeyed, but this is simply the result of the renunciation of one's freedoms in return of security. However, what Hobbes always argues for in his writings is that individuals pursue their self-interest because this is their nature. Laws are restrictions in the path
Hobbes' Theories Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a famous English philosopher and political theorist who profoundly influenced the political events during the so-called English Revolution (1640-1660), a time of great upheaval and disorder. Hobbes wrote his famous work Leviathan (1651) in this period in which he advocated a form of government in which the subjects hand over all the authority to the ruler. Hobbes is also thought to be the major
philosophical approaches to the study of equality presume that equality is an ideal, and suggest methods by which to achieve maximum equality. However, some philosophical approaches deny the inherent value of equality or an egalitarian society. All philosophical viewpoints relate equality to morals or ethics, primarily because equality is deemed an ethical objective. Using a utilitarian philosophical perspective, equality is an ethical ideal that presumably maximizes happiness for the
Human Nature A Comparison of Hobbes' and Plato's Philosophical Views Trying to understand how a philosopher arrives at the reasoned opinions they put on paper is essential to also understanding what they wrote. The how is often a matter of the people they have borrowed from, but that can be an unreliable method of determining the origins of their philosophy also. Two in particular are difficult to judge using the influences they
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