In this section I set out to define the unvirtuous ruler and examine the relationship with this and a tyrant; I to describe the ancient philosophy about greed and the archetypal tyrant, finally I outline how the tyrant typically manipulates a population and I extrapolate this onto the Roman Empire.
i. The Political Spectrum
Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, and Tyranny, the five predominant regimes within the ancient world are described within Plato’s Republic (380 BCE) as he outline the political spectrum. In these, Plato etches his impression of what establishes the ethical and the immoral leader. Primarily, his elucidation of the Aristocratic regime highlights an accord within his ideals. Plato describes the “philosopher king”,
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In the allegory, Plato has Socrates to describe a cave, in which a gathering of people are kept, and indeed have been kept since birth. These people are chained to the cave wall, held – immobile – so that their necks and legs cannot move and that they are, therefore, compelled to look at the wall in front of them. Forms appear on this wall, as the shadows of objects are projected by things passing in front of a fire, behind the prisoners. Understandably, since the convicts have never been exposed to anything else but the shadows, they perceive these as a reality. Indeed, Plato asserts that the names the prisoners used for the flickering images “applied to the things they [the prisoners] see passing before them”. Of course the allegory can be interpreted in countless ways, the most pertinent here is that of human population control. With this in mind, the prisoners chained to the wall may represent the general population; the puppeteers, Plato’s ruling class and the flickering images, the propaganda that they project. Certainly, the ruling class have complete control over what the lower strata’s are exposed to. A. S. Ferguson (1922) suggests that the parable is indicative of how leaders “without a strong philosophical mind-set” manipulate the human population for their advantage. Thus, Plato bypasses Ferguson’s argument when he advocates the “philosopher-king” – the Aristocratic ruler. Surely, a “lawless” tyrant (Plato, 380 BCE) such as Gyges would be whiling to use propaganda in order to regulate the knowledge of a population. Famously, scientia potentia est -“knowledge is power” (Hobbes, 1651) – hence, by restricting the knowledge of a population one is eroding their power and protecting oneself (stated above). Rather ironically, in his description of “The Republic”, Plato describes the “old quarrel between philosophy and poetry”, leading to a total ban on the arts
“The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato is about a group of prisoners that were chained up in a cave with their backs facing the exit of the cave, unable to see what was going on in the outside world. They occasionally would see shadows on the wall and would
In Plato’s allegory of the cave he enplanes the effect of society. In the allegory there are people chained in a cave. All they know are the shadows that they see. The shadows are being made by the shadow master who is in front of a fire. So if the shadow master shows them a shadow of a toy dragon then the people in the cave will believe that dragons are real because they saw the shadow.
Tyrants were common in the Archaic Period. This has led many historians to debate the origins of tyrants within the Greek poleis. Many Ancient Greek historians have proposed varying theories on the origin of tyrants such as Drews, Anderson, Stien-Hollskamp,Cockwell,Sealey, Ure, Nilsson, Forest and White. By examining their theories I would propose that the origin of tyrants was due to the need for rapid social change in poleis, changes of economy, and tyrant’s personal desire for glory.
First off, one rhetoric that " The Allegory of the Cave" has is a metaphor. A metaphor is comparing two unlike things. The focal thought is, a few detainees were bolted into a give in and the couldn't escape. It speaks to that how much freedom is worth. In the event that you never had an opportunity to see the outside world, you just can envision what it resembles.
In life, the world one lives in is always assumed to be the reality, without anyone questioning its credibility. As Iris Murdoch once said, “[People] live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. ”(Iris Murdoch Quotes). In The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, prisoners are trapped in a cave and chained so that they are to face a wall and only see the shadows of objects that pass behind them.
In the book Allegory of the Cave, Socrates was talking with Glaucon and he began to explain how light and darkness are found within the nature of a human. In order to provide a better explanation Socrates created an image. This image was a dark den in which many humans were chained from the hands, feet and neck since they were children. These chains kept these prisoners from moving and allowed them to see only a wall of the den. Behind them there was fire, which was the only source of light in the place.
Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.
“The real meaning of greedy is taking more than you give” (Iyanla Vanzant). In other words, greed is the intense and selfish desire for something. There are numerous myths that are part of Greek mythology that convey greed. Greed between the Greek gods and goddesses is the same feeling every day because greed can be destructive and take away families, as well as force people to not be thankful for what they have. Both King Midas and Jason pushed their luck due to greed, and lost their families as a result.
In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave the people think that their entire reality is the shadows that they see on the walls of the cave. Plato explores the truth and criticizes that humanity does not question what is real. Plato explores that the human understanding and accepting of what is real is difficult and
Plato tells of a group of prisoners held in a dark cave chained to the walls. These people have never stepped outside into the world and can only experience shadows that are displayed on the opposite side of the cave through the light outside of the cave. One of the slaves, now liberated steps outside of the cave and is able to experience reality, or what we can distinguish as objective truth. After returning to explain to the other what he has seen there seems to be quite a difference in opinions(Plato). In his article Plato’s Cave, T.F Morris attempts to dissect Plato’s allegory and explains his belief that “… the shadows on the wall of the cave correspond to what we call reality…(Morris 417)”
This essay will be explaining the ways in which tyranny was a good thing for Greek states across the Mediterranean during the 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries BC. In the first instance, What tyranny is and how some of the Greek States were, in general, before tyranny will be explained. Additionally, examples of two tyrants from two different locations will be discussed. Finally, why and how tyranny came to be seen as a bad thing will be discussed. Tyranny
Socrates’s allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic Book VII is an accurate depiction of how people can be blinded by what they are only allowed to see. The allegory does have relevance to our modern world. In fact, all of us as a species are still in the “cave” no matter how intelligent or enlightened we think we have become. In Plato’s Republic Book VII, Socrates depicts the scenario in a cave where there are prisoners who are fixed only being able to look at the shadows on the wall which are projections of things passing between them and the light source.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato uses a conversation between his former teacher and an unknown person named Glaucon to lay out this deep and complex extended metaphor. This intricate metaphor is a step by step representation of how one could achieve true comprehension of the world around them. In this, there are four stages one must complete. The first stage is when the people are shackled in the cave, and he/she is required to use imagination to come to conclusions about the realities of life. When the ex-captives break away from the manacles and see the light from inside the cave is known as the second phase, and this is where one tries to define instead of imagine.
Plato’s republic aims to describe a just state, and in turn a just individual consistently throughout the text. By analogising the justice of the state and the justice of the individual, Plato attempts to demonstrate that a just society will breed just individuals. However, there are certain loop holes within his thought process that can lead one to wonder whether or not his ideas are pragmatic, and could function within a real societal structure- and if human beings given their inherently selfish nature, can adopt the traits necessary in order to achieve justice and the ideal state described in the Republic. Plato described the human soul as a “tripartite soul” where three main qualities seen in the human being, will also be reflected in the three classes of the ideal state. Reason is the highest of the three main qualities, and it forms the class of rulers and guardians.
If Plato had portrayed an Ideal State in hid republic which could be built in heaven only, Aristotle came down to earth while drawing the outline of his ideal state. Like a true scientist he does not attempt any impossible scheme in formulating his theory if Ideal State. His ideal state is attainable on his earth. We must first consider not only what is ideal but also what is the best attainable in actual practice. The only difference between a monarchy and an aristocracy is that in the first case virtue is centered in one person.