Optional
Exercises for Hauptli’s Midcoast Senior College Students
Plato’s
"Aristocratic and Authoritarian" Republic
vs. Dewey’s “Pragmatic" Democracy
Consider any or all of these in light of your reading of
Plato’s Republic:
1. Archeologists recently working on a site just outside
Athens found a treasure trove of papers that many believe were exam questions
authored by Plato for use in his famous Academy.
Here, translated into contemporary English is one.
Consider how you might address it:
you are a middle-aged guardian
training to become a ruler [philosopher king] in a city-state organized along
the lines specified in my Republic
(which you have recently finished reading carefully).
This is one of the many tests you have become used to over the years, and
you approach it with the seriousness which arises from knowing that the wrong
answer could mean that you will find yourself selected for another job should
your answer not show the qualities which are required of a future ruler.
You are to write an essay (of the usual length, it may be a dialogue, or
in other format of your choosing) which demonstrates you understand the relevant
themes of my theory as you address the following questions: (a) “Would you be
willing to lie to the non-ruling citizens of your state, and if so, under what
sorts of circumstances?” and (b) “If so, would your justification for doing so
be that “the end justifies the means”?”
2. There seems to be a fundamental contradiction in Plato’s
Republic.
At times he maintains that his description of the human soul is perfectly
general—that his discussion applies to
everyone. Thus he maintains
“...the power to learn is present in everyone’s soul” (518c).
At other times he distinguishes between individuals in terms of their
natures. Thus he discusses “the
inferior many” who are controlled by their appetites (431b) and, in general,
his discussion of the ideal state is clearly founded upon a differentiation
of our species into several distinct groups each having its own “nature” and
“task.” It does not seem possible
to have it both ways however: if
everyone is in fact capable of wisdom, it seems clear that there really should
be only one class in the ideal state;
while if there are to be distinct classes (some of which are incapable of
wisdom), all souls are not alike in regard to their access to the truth.
Either Plato has a major problem here, or the criticism I have just
raised has a flaw. Consider how you
might address this.
3. If Plato’s rulers and auxiliaries are to be plausible
rulers, it seems that there will be times when they will have to
harm people (enemies of the state
from without or from within). Yet
his rulers are supposed to be concerned with maximizing human excellence—with
justice and with never committing an unjust act.
Effective states, and hence their rulers, will need to enforce the laws
of the state, and this will mean punishing offenders.
It seems as if they cannot rule without sacrificing the very
characteristic that is supposed to make the state just!
Consider how you might address this.
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File revised on 08/24/21