If Socrates is considered to be the first western philosopher in the tradition of rationalism who challenged, for the first tReview of book iii and x
If Socrates is considered to be the first western philosopher in the tradition of rationalism who challenged, for the first time, the abstract, mythic, axiomatic patterns of thought constructed by the pre_Socratic thinkers, Plato, his disciple, on the other hand, made himself familiar with the Oriental philosophy during his sojourn at Asia Minor after the Peloponnesian war to avoid the similar fate which Socrates had met with by refusing to Co - operate with the evil political designs. It was during his stay in the Asia Minor he came in contact either with Pythagoras or Pythagoreans which seemed to have been responsible for his configuration of the world as illusion, and laid the foundation of his doctrine of "imitation".
After his return from the Asia Minor, he established himself as a 'diaskolos' (a teacher) and took the responsibility to train and shape the minds of the youth of his time in his 'Akademia', a prestigious school of learning. The ravages of Peloponnesian war left the Athens on the verge of decline and the sociopolitical turmoil imprinted a shadow on his youth and impelled him to configure a philosophical system that would best explain the nature and causes of Athenian downfall. The Republic is the fruit of his intense critical thinking on the subject because he never relinquished the idea of Athens's survival.
Q : what is the subject of The Republic?
A : Though the book iii and x deals with the subject of poetry, but, in fact, the central subject of the book is 'Dike' (justice) . That is how to ascertain the nature of Justice.
The contemporary Athenian decadence and the prevalence of Injustice ( adike) in the every sphere of society fretted him to the core. He believed it was only Justice that could serve as the instrument for reviving and restoring the faded glory of Athens in a time of political madness. His trust in 'paideia' (education) is so strong that he asserted that :
"a philosopher must be king or a king must be the philosopher",
as opposed to the Sophists who emphasised on the individual cause as the basis of state craft, and visualized the dream of disruption. The bifurcated education system that Plato visualized :
1) Education of the Body , which can be attained with ease by training in gymnasium. 2) Education of the Mind, which is essentially complex and requires prolonged intellectual training under the able guardianship of a preceptor. The ideal form of knowledge may be generated by the perfect form of intellectual training. This knowledge, he further categorized into a) 'alethe' (falsehood), that is the knowledge of semblance, a mere attraction for the appearance. b) 'doxa' (opinion), that is a perception of the finite level of knowledge. c) 'beltion' (knowledge), that is the perfect form of knowledge, the knowledge of ultimate reality, the knowledge of 'being'.
Book iii
The arguments of Book iii started to take shape in the Book ll when Glaucon raised the importance of educating the guardians of the city state. In order to make these guardians courageous and wise they should not be allowed to listen to the stories told by the poets as the poets are inadequate moral guides. This contention of book ii is elaborated and magnified in book iii. It should, therefore, be noted that the discussion of poetry in this book was not prompted by his intention to expatriate the nature of poetry but by the major role that poetry play in the methods of education. Poetry can never be capable of forming the true philosophical spirit of the guardians of the city because poetry can never lead to 'paideia' (perfect form of education), as poetry lacks both psycho-moral education (book iii) and philosophical education (book x). Therefore, poetry is conductive 'apaideia' or educational inadequacy.
As far as the structure is concerned, Book iii has three distinctive divisions. The first part deals with psychological and moral charges against poetry, the second part with narratological problem, and the third with the selection of songs, music and words.
Psychological Charges Against Poetry :
The ideal Republic of Plato banished the poets because they are responsible for conducing an excess of emotions which blurs and destabilises the rational mind.Of all the emotions responsible for this disorder , Plato rejected two particular emotions : the emotion of fear and lamentation. The excess of emotions disrupts the working of reason in a person. Citing the examples of Homer's description of hell and Achilles's lamentation in the 10th book of Iliad or Priam's weeping in the 4th book of Iliad , he averred that if children and young men listen to these sort of stories they will either grow a sense of fear or grow unmanly and start to lament even at a slightest provocation and break into complaints without trying to endure or resist. He also added "Indulgence in violent laughter commonly invites a violent reaction".
Moral Charges against poetry : In terms of moral charges, Plato put forward the principle of self restraint. At socio political level, self restraint means "obedience to their rulers", on the other hand, at person level it means "ruling their own desire for the pleasure of eating, drinking and sex." Again citing the examples of Zeus carnal desire for Hera from Homer's Odyssey (10th) and other great gods who lack the self restraint, Plato evinced them to be dangerous because listening to such stories and believing in their credibility, people may conclude that they can also perform such immoral acts with impunity, and therefore, destabilize the sociopolitical norms of an ideal city state.
Book x
Whereas the book x may broadly be divided into two parts. The first part is concentrated in discussing the philosophical theory of 'eidos' (idea or form), whereas the second part tries to correlate it to his discussion of poetry.
Philosophical charges against poetry :
Following the charges brought about by Socrates in Plato's Ion, in The Republic, Plato continues the trend by stating that the works of poets or any other artists are imitation, the semblance of truth but not the higher reality which, according to him, only exist in the mind of the God. What form and visible objects that the poets and other artist create are merely imperfect copies of the higher truth or "idea''....more
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