Education In Plato's Republic

On that note, Socrates believes that virtue is a general form (eidos), meaning that there is a pattern (Plato 50). Although the two characters are both from esteemed backgrounds, unlike Meno, Socrates claims to know nothing and therefore is aware of his own ignorance. However, Socrates does know that virtue is like a recollection (anamnesis) of knowledge (Plato 49). In other words, virtue cannot come from instructions (as we learned that there are no teachers of virtue), but from an innate understanding of the soul (Plato

The question of whether Socrates was the only real philosopher comes from one interpretation of Plato’s writings, namely Apology. Written after Socrates was tainted with the sophistic brush, scorned by society and brought to trial. In this interpretation, it is believed that Plato derided all sophists and recognised Socrates as the only real philosopher among his contemporaries, and knew of no other who could be considered as such. I however, argue that Plato never regarded, nor defended, Socrates as the only real philosopher. Rather, he presented Socrates as one of the many ‘real’ philosophers.

What if every known thing in the world turned out to be misguided? What if people within the world learned ways of life and adapted to environments only to find out that it was all a lie? In "The Allegory of the Cave" from Plato's "The Republic", the same questions were considered and analyzed by Socrates, the speaker of the story. The Philosopher Socrates explicates his allegory of great curiosity to Glaucon, a man of whom Socrates shares his wealth of wisdom with. Socrates' purpose in expressing the allegory is to show how the human race may not always see the truth but rather convince themselves that what they see is the truth. In other words, people allow themselves to believe what they would like to believe. As Socrates speaks, he has a questioning, curious and wise tone towards Glaucon, he speaks as if he does not even know the truth himself.

Censorship is when material from a book, movie, magazine, etcetera or information is blocked or left out. This means that it deprives the public of, possibly very important, facts and ideas as well as the truth which in turn affects their beliefs, behavior, and choices. And just that happened to the society in Fahrenheit 451, when they let technology take over their lives. The society’s restriction is more of a self-censorship, meaning they caused it themselves when “...the people wanted the snap ending. ”(26)

Brutus’s tragic flaw of being easily swayed made fiendish thoughts over preventing Caesar from being king housed inside of Brutus, thus turning Brutus, a quondam friend into a potential enemy of Caesar. Metaphors were also commonly used in the first act to prove the theme, especially when Marallus and Flavius were trying to disperse the crowd decorating for the return of Caesar as they quite efficiently made the Roman workers back down from celebrating the arrival of Caesar. Marallus, as he conjectures that others have forgotten about the death of Pompey, says “you blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things”, where the commoners are compared to the stones (Marallus I i

In The Republic, Socrates has some interesting views on the idea of what it means to be just and what a perfect and just society would look like. To me, some of his ideas made sense, while others seemed ridiculous. Despite some of Socrates’s faulty ideas, the way he uses reasoning and examples to justify his thoughts is noteworthy. Socrates seems to place wisdom, justice, and goodness above all other virtues, and he repeatedly comes back to these themes when he describes the perfect state and people who should live in it. First of all, I appreciated the way Plato wrote down Socrates’s words and thoughts.

The cave allegory helped prove how the philosopher would be worthy of becoming the philosopher king and created the perfect government system for their city. Once this government is formed, they know how to effectively structure the city and raise the next guardians and philosophers to maintain their perfect society. After their society has found harmonious living, this proves the process required to make a just city. Using this, they can now focus on the soul as a whole rather than the whole city. Socrates shows that the three parts of the soul, reason, thumos, and appetites must work in harmony much like the city to achieve optimal success.

In his recount of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides presents the speech of the Spartan King Archidamus at the Sparta War Council as the Spartans deliberate on whether they should wage war against Athens. In his speech, Archidamus argues that self-control represents the true form of courage because the exercise of self-control is able to endow its possessor with other Spartan ideals such as good judgment, a sense of shame, and moderation. Through tying his conception of courage with other highly esteemed traditional Spartan ideals, Archidamus espouses a vision of the ideal Spartan citizen that shares many similarities with the kind of citizens that Socrates hopes to create for his imaginary city Callipolis. In fact, one can reasonably

Winston also acknowledges the fact that the proles will remain ignorant to their power until they rebel but they will not rebel until they are aware of their power. This cyclic contradiction proves that the proles will never be able to overthrow the government. This ignorance of the people gives strength to the Party. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston works, has a big part in keeping the people ignorant. Winston’s job is to change the past.

”(Homer 63-72) Menelaus was motivated by the criticism to push Adestrus to satisfy Agamemnon. Agamemnon said that he should leave no trace, telling Menelaus that it would be better for him if Adestrus was dead. With various examples, readers can conclude after reading many Greek readings that having peer pressure within the reading is part of their culture. Students reading Greek epics could easily tell you that chaos happened when one was told to choose between two things. In The Bible, Peter had to choose either stay loyal to Jesus, or utterly defy him.

Montag’s search for justice is him looking for knowledge that the government is trying to destroy and replace with simpler forms of entertainment such as TV. "’ So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless (85).’ " People have gotten so politically correct that they would rather get rid of all different ideas than learn to understand and accept them.

There was a man and an invisibility ring which make this man invisible. This guy attracted the Queen and then they made a plan to kill the King, so they could take the Kingdom. The inside meaning Glaucon wanted to say that the injustice man would do whatever he wanted to do to get advantage, or to get a best life such as having a lots money, having beautiful lady whereas the just man would not do. Adeimantus rejoined and claimed that no one wanted to be justice for its own sake, but for the reward they could get from it to have better lives. As Socrates had chosen from Glaucon’s classes, “second class of good, such as knowledge, sight, health, which are desirable not only in themselves, but also for their results”.

Book three addresses the type of education that should be taught in this ideal city, and the discussion moves from what it means to be just, to what it means to be courageous and moderate. Socrates ideas on the type of education that should be taught were unconventional for this time in Greek history. For instance, Socrates argued that certain pieces of literature ought to be censored if they promote weakness or disobedience. Correspondingly Socrates places a large emphasis on the role education plays in terms of contributing to the vitality of the city. Socrates contends that in order to have a just city, the city must develop just citizens, and the only way that is possible is through proper education of both the mind and the body.

In Book 1 of Allan Bloom’s “The Republic of Plato”, Cephalus, Polemarchus, and Thrasymachus present their ideas on what justice is. Plato’s Socrates responds to each of these characters’ proposed definitions of justice by pointing out the contradictions and logical inconsistencies within their arguments. The dialogue between Cephalus and Plato’s Socrates reveals how one’s age affects his perspective on the virtue of justice and his system of values. On the way back from a religious festival in Piraeus, Socrates makes a stop at Polemarchus’ home and begins speaking with Cephalus, Polemarchus’ father.

Having embarked on a quest to determine the goodness or badness of political justice, Socrates and company are led to discuss the origins of the polis (“city” or “city-state”). This discussion quickly leads to the topic of “guardians,” the class of citizens charged with defending the city’s regime against enemies, whether from without or within. What traits does Socrates claim these guardians will need to have? Why do they resemble noble, well-bred dogs? When Socrates stated that a guardian must resemble a noble, well-bred dogs because according to Socrates, a well bred dog has the ability to use its senses and be “quick to see, and swift to overtake the enemy when they see him, and strong too if, when they have caught him, they have to fight