Professional Documents
Culture Documents
.......
Rezumat: Cartea VI, 484a-502c
Nu credeți că adevăratul căpitan va fi numit un adevărat stargazer,
un plictisitor și un bun pentru nimic de cei care navighează în nave
guvernate în acest fel?
Cei puțini care sunt filosofi buni (aceia ale căror naturi n-au fost
corupte, fie pentru că erau în exil, trăiau într-un oraș mic, erau în stare
proastă de sănătate sau în alte circumstanțe) sunt considerate inutile
deoarece societatea a devenit antitetică pentru a corecta idealurile . El
compară situația cu o navă pe care proprietarul navei este greu de
auzit, are o viziune proastă și nu are competențe în navigația maritimă.
Toți marinarii de pe navă se certau asupra celor care ar trebui să fie
căpitan, deși nu știu nimic despre navigație. În locul oricăror abilități,
ei folosesc forța bruta și trucuri inteligente pentru ca proprietarul navei
să-i aleagă ca pe căpitan. Cine reușește să-l convingă pe proprietarul
navei să-l aleagă, se numește "navigator", "căpitan" și "cel care
cunoaște navele". Orice altcineva este numit "inutil". navigație sau
orice altă cunoaștere pe care să o cunoaștem pentru a conduce nave. În
acest scenariu, subliniază Socrates, adevăratul căpitan - omul care
cunoaște ambarcațiunea de navigație - ar fi numit un stargazer inutil.
Situația actuală din Atena este asemănătoare: nimeni nu are nicio idee
că există cunoștințe reale, o ambarcațiune pentru a trăi. În schimb,
toată lumea încearcă să meargă înainte prin trucuri inteligente, adesea
nedrepte. Cei câțiva filozofi buni, care își îndreaptă atenția asupra
Formelor și cunosc cu adevărat lucrurile, sunt considerați inutili.
Part of a series on
Plato
Plato from Raphael's The School of Athens(1509–1511)
Early life
Works
Platonism
Epistemology
Idealism / realism
Demiurge
Theory of forms
Theory of soul
Transcendentals
Form of the Good
Third man argument
Euthyphro dilemma
Five regimes
Philosopher king
Plato's unwritten doctrines
political philosophy
Atlantis
Ring of Gyges
The Cave
The Divided Line
The Sun
Ship of State
Myth of Er
The Chariot
Related articles
Commentaries
The Academy in Athens
Socratic problem
Middle Platonism
Neoplatonism
and Christianity
Philosophy portal
v
t
e
Plato describes the "Form of the Good", or more literally "the idea of the good" (ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ
ἰδέα), in his dialogue the Republic (508e2–3), speaking through the character of Socrates. Plato
introduces several forms in his works, but identifies the Form of the Good as the superlative. This
form is the one that allows a philosopher-in-training to advance to a philosopher-king. It cannot be
clearly seen or explained, but once it is recognized, it is the form that allows one to realize all the
other forms.
Contents
[hide]
o 2.1Aristotle's criticism
o 2.2Other criticisms
3Influence
4See also
5References
Influence[edit]
Plato's writings on the meaning of virtue and justice permeate through the Western
philosophical tradition.[8] Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism, had principles that were heavily
influenced by the Good. His concept of 'the One' is equivalent to 'the Good' because it describes
an ultimate ontological truth. 'The One' is both 'self-caused' and the cause of being for everything
else in the universe. Plotinus compared his principle of 'the One' to an illuminating light, as Plato
did with the Form of the Good. As a result of Plotinus' school of Neoplatonism, the bulk of
understanding of Platonic philosophy until the 19th Century came through Plotinus' interpretation
of it. The early theologies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam looked to the ideas
of Platonism through the lens of Plotinus.[9]
Amphis, a comic playwright of Athens, has one of his characters say: "And as for the good that
you are likely to get on her account, I know no more about it, master, than I do of the good of
Plato."[10] There is an ancient anecdotal tradition that Plato gave a public lecture entitled "On the
Good" which so confused the audience that most walked out. At the end of the lecture Plato said
to those hearers who remained: 'The Good is the One".[11]
See also[edit]
Aletheia (truth)
Influence of Plotinus
Seventh Letter
Summum bonum
The One
Theory of forms
Transcendentals
Value (ethics)
Virtue
References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Reeve, Plato ; revised by C.D.C. (1992). Republic ([2nd ed.]. ed.). Indianapolis,
Ind.: Hackett Publ. Co. ISBN 978-0-87220-136-1.
2. Jump up^ "Idea" from the Greek ἰδέα, often transliterated in the past but now typically
translated as "character". The archaic sense must be distinguished from the modern sense
meaning "thought". Cf. Russell: "It must not be supposed that 'ideas', in his sense, exist in minds,
though they may be apprehended by minds.... The word 'idea' has acquired, in the course of time,
many associations which are quite misleading when applied to Plato's 'ideas'. (The Problems of
Philosophy, chapter 9).
3. ^ Jump up to:a b Fine, Gail (2003). Plato on Knowledge and Forms. New York: Oxford
University Press. p. 350. ISBN 0-19-924559-2.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b Reeve, C.D.C. (2013). Blindness and reorientation : problems in Plato's
Republic (1. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 165, 166. ISBN 978-0-19-993443-0.
5. Jump up^ Herman, Arthur (2013). The cave and the light : Plato versus Aristotle, and the
struggle for the soul of Western civilization(First ed.). New York: Bantam Books. p. 46. ISBN 978-
0-553-80730-1.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c Jordan, R.W. (1986). "Platos Idee des Guten by Rafael Ferber
Review". The Classical Review. 36: 65–67. doi:10.1017/s0009840x00105001. JSTOR 3064234.
7. Jump up^ Banach, David. "Plato's Theory of Forms". Retrieved 2 May 2014.
8. Jump up^ Frede, Dorothy. "Plato's Ethics: An Overview". Retrieved 28 April 2014.
11. Jump up^ Aristoxenus, Harmonics 30–31; see A. S. Riginos, Platonica(1976), pp. 124 ff.,
for further testimony.
The analogy of the sun (or simile of the sun or metaphor of the sun) is found in the sixth book of The Republic (507b–509c), written by the Greek philosopher Plato as a dialogue between Glaucon (Plato's elder brother)
and Socrates (narrated by the latter). Upon being urged by Glaucon to define goodness, a cautious Socrates professes himself incapable of doing so.[1]:169 Instead he draws an analogy and offers to talk about "the child of
goodness"[1]:169 (Greek: "ἔκγονός τε τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ"). Socrates reveals this "child of goodness" to be the sun, proposing that just as the sun illuminates, bestowing the ability to see and be seen by the eye, [1]:169 with its light so the idea
of goodness illumines the intelligible with truth. While the analogy sets forth both epistemological and ontological theories, it is debated whether these are most authentic to the teaching of Socrates or its later interpretations by
Plato. The sun is a metaphor for the nature of reality and knowledge concerning it.
Plato's use of such an analogy can be interpreted for many different reasons in philosophy. For example, Plato uses them to illustrate and help illuminate his arguments. In the Analogy of the Sun, Socrates compares the "Good"
with the sun. Plato might be using the image of the sun to help bring life to his arguments or to make the argument more clearly understood. David Hume once wrote, "All our reasonings concerning matters of fact are founded on
a species of Analogy."[2]
Plato makes the claim that "sight and the visible realm are deficient."[1]:170 He argues that for the other senses to be used all that is needed is the sense itself and that which can be sensed by it (e.g., to taste sweetness, one needs
the sense of taste and that which can be tasted as sweet), but "even if a person's eyes are capable of sight, and he's trying to use it, and what he's trying to look at is coloured, the sight will see nothing and the colours will remain
unseen, surely, unless there is also present an extra third thing which is made specifically for this purpose."[1]:170 The third thing Plato is talking about is light. Through this analogy he equates that which gives us natural light, the
sun, as the source of goodness in this world.
"As goodness stands in the intelligible realm to intelligence and the things we know, so in the visible realm the sun stands to sight and the things we see."[1]:171
In other words, Plato is saying that the true nature of reality cannot be comprehended by the ordinary senses. Thus, we should make use of the mind rather than the sensory organs to better understand the higher truths
of the universe. The mind, much like sight, requires a "third thing" to function properly, and that third thing is Plato's idea of goodness. He likens a mind without goodness to sight without light; one cannot operate at peak
efficiency without the other.
"Well, here's how you can think about the mind as well. When its object is something which is lit up by truth and reality, then it has—and obviously has—intelligent awareness and knowledge. However, when its
object is permeated with darkness (that is, when its object is something which is subject to generation and decay), then it has beliefs and is less effective, because its beliefs chop and change, and under these
circumstances it comes across as devoid of intelligence."[1]:171
Having made these claims, Socrates asks Glaucon, "...which of the gods in heaven can you put down as cause and master of this, whose light makes our sight see so beautifully and the things to be seen?"
(508a) Glaucon responds that both he and all others would answer that this is the sun. Analogously, Socrates says, as the sun illuminates the visible with light so the idea of goodness illuminates the intelligible
with truth, which in turn makes it possible for people to have knowledge. Also, as the eye's ability to see is made possible by the light of the sun so the soul's ability to know is made possible by the truth of
goodness.
Understand then, that it is the same with the soul, thus: when it settles itself firmly in that region in which truth and real being brightly shine, it understands and knows it and appears to have reason; but when it
has nothing to rest on but that which is mingled with darkness—that which becomes and perishes, it opines, it grows dim-sighted, changing opinions up and down, and is like something without reason. ('The
Republic, VI: 508d; trans. W. H. D. Rouse)
The allusion to "...that which becomes and perishes..." relates to all of that which is perceived by the bodily senses. The bodily senses make it clear that all visible things are subject to change, which Socrates
categorizes into either the change of becoming or the change of perishing. Socrates argues that the bodily senses can only bring us to opinions, conveying an underlying assumption that true knowledge is of
that which is not subject to change.
Instead, Socrates continues, knowledge is to be found in "... that region in which truth and real being brightly shine..." (508d) This is the intelligible illuminated by the highest idea, that of goodness. Since truth
and being find their source in this highest idea, only the souls that are illumined by this source can be said to possess knowledge, whereas those souls which turn away are "...mingled with darkness...". This
subject is later vividly illustrated in the Allegory of the Cave (514a–520a), where prisoners bound in a dark cave since childhood are examples of these souls turned away from illumination.
Socrates continues by explaining that though light and sight both resemble the sun neither can identify themselves with the sun. Just as the sun is rated higher than both light and sight, so is goodness rated
more highly than knowledge and truth. It is goodness which allows us to know the truth and makes it possible to have knowledge. Hence goodness is more valuable than truth and knowledge as it holds a
higher place. Through this analogy, Socrates helped Glaucon come to the realization that Goodness is of inestimable value, being both the source of knowledge and truth, as well as more valuable and
unattainable than both.[1]:171
Plato further equates the sun to the ultimate form of goodness by calling them both sources of "generation".[1]:171 The sun not only makes objects visible but is necessary for their growth and nourishment,
similarly to how goodness not only makes it possible for things to be, but also allows for things to be known.
The sun provides not only the power of being seen for things seen, but, as I think you will agree, also their generation and growth and nurture, although it is not itself generation...Similarly with things known, you
will agree that the good is not only the cause of their becoming known, but the cause that they are, the cause of their state of being, although the good is not itself a state of being but something transcending far
beyond it in dignity and power.[3]
Socrates' main concern was that he did not want his followers to place Goodness, Knowledge, and Truth all on the same level. You can achieve Goodness from Truth and Knowledge, but just
because you have Truth and Knowledge that does not mean you have Goodness. Plato writes:
Well, what I'm saying is that it's goodness which gives the things we know their truth and makes it possible for people to have knowledge. It is responsible for knowledge and truth, you should think of it as being
within the intelligible realm, but you shouldn't identify it with knowledge and truth, otherwise you'll be wrong: For all their value, it is even more valuable. In the other realm, it is right to regard light and sight as
resembling the sun; So in this realm it is right to regard knowledge and truth as resembling goodness, but not to identify either of them with goodness, which should be rated even more highly. [1]:171
Ultimately, the Good itself is the whole point. The Good (the sun) provides the very foundation on which all other truth rests. Plato uses the image of the sun to help define the true meaning
of the Good. The Good "sheds light" on knowledge so that our minds can see true reality. Without the Good, we would only be able to see with our physical eyes and not the "mind's eye".
The sun bequeaths its light so that we may see the world around us. If the source of light did not exist we would be in the dark and incapable of learning and understanding the true realities
that surround us.[4]
Incidentally, the metaphor of the sun exemplifies a traditional interrelation between metaphysics and epistemology: interpretations of fundamental existence create—and are created by—
ways of knowing. It also neatly sums up two views for which Plato is recognized: his rationalism and his realism (about universals).
Socrates, using the Simile of the Sun as a foundation, continues with the Analogy of the Divided Line (509d–513e) after which follows the Allegory of the Cave (514a–520a).
See also[edit]
4. Jump up^ Marmysz, John (2012). The Path of Philosophy. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. p. 49.
Further reading[edit]
Gentzler, J. (2005). "How to Know the Good: The Moral Epistemology of Plato's Republic". Philosophical Review. 114 (4): 469–496. JSTOR 30043692.
Hunt, A. & Jacobsen, M. M. (2008). "Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and Plato's "Simile of the Sun"". Explicator. 66 (3): 155. doi:10.3200/EXPL.66.3.155-158.
Lear, J. (1992). "Inside and Outside The Republic". Phronesis. 37 (2): 184–215. doi:10.1163/156852892321052605.
?????????”””””
Summary: Book VI, 484a-502c
Don’t you think that the true captain will be called a real stargazer, a babbler, and a good-for-nothing by those who sail in ships governed in that way?
Given that only philosophers can have knowledge, they are clearly the ones best able to grasp what is good for the city, and so are in the best position to know how to run
and govern the city. If we only knew that they were virtuous—or at least not inferior to others in virtue—then, Socrates’s friends agree, we could be sure that they are the
ones most fit to rule. Luckily, we do know that philosophers are superior in virtue to everyone else. A philosopher loves truth more than anything else (“philosopher” means
“lover of truth or wisdom”); his entire soul strives after truth. This means that the rational part of his soul must rule, which means that his soul is just.
Adeimantus remains unconvinced. None of the philosophers he has ever known have been like Socrates is describing. Most philosophers are useless, and those that are
not useless tend to be vicious. Socrates, surprisingly, agrees with Adeimantus’s condemnation of the contemporary philosopher, but he argues that the current crop of
philosophers have not been raised in the right way. Men born with the philosophical nature—courageous, high-minded, quick learners, with faculties of memory—are
quickly preyed upon by family and friends, who hope to benefit from their natural gifts. They are encouraged to enter politics in order to win money and power by their
parasitic family and friends. So they are inevitably led away from the philosophical life. In place of the natural philosophers who are diverted away from philosophy and
corrupted, other people who lack the right philosophical nature, rush in to fill the gap and become philosophers when they have no right to be. These people are vicious.
The few who are good philosophers (those whose natures were somehow not corrupted, either because they were in exile, lived in a small city, were in bad health, or by
some other circumstance) are considered useless because society has become antithetical to correct ideals. He compares the situation to a ship on which the ship owner
is hard of hearing, has poor vision, and lacks sea-faring skills. All of the sailors on the ship quarrel over who should be captain, though they know nothing about navigation.
In lieu of any skill, they make use of brute force and clever tricks to get the ship owner to choose them as captain. Whoever is successful at persuading the ship owner to
choose him is called a “navigator,” a “captain,” and “one who knows ships.” Anyone else is called “useless.” These sailors have no idea that there is a craft of navigation, or
any knowledge to master in order to steer ships. In this scenario, Socrates points out, the true captain—the man who knows the craft of navigation—would be called a
useless stargazer. The current situation in Athens is analogous: no one has any idea that there is real knowledge to be had, a craft to living. Instead, everyone tries to get
ahead by clever, often unjust, tricks. Those few good philosophers who turn their sights toward the Forms and truly know things are deemed useless.
All that we need to make our city possible, Socrates concludes, is one such philosopher-king—one person with the right nature who is educated in the right way and
comes to grasp the Forms. This, he believes, is not all that impossible.
Continuing with the defense of the philosopher, Plato asserts in this section that the philosopher is not only the sole possesor of knowledge, he is also the most virtuous of
men. Plato indicates that the philosopher’s association with the Forms determines his virtue. By associating with what is ordered and divine (i.e., the Forms), the
philosopher himself becomes ordered and divine in his soul. He patterns his soul after the Form of the Good.
Plato also offers a more intuitive explanation for why the philosopher is virtuous. Since all of him strives toward truth, his other desires are weakened. He has no real drive
toward money, honor, pleasure, and so on. In short, he has none of the drives that can lead to immoral behavior. He would never be motivated to steal, lie, boast, act
slavishly, or anything else of this sort. His emotions and appetites no longer provide a strong impetus toward vice.
”””””””
Plato’s ideas on “The Good.” Socrates on April 21, 2014
https://classicalwisdom.com/pursuit-good/
If Plato’s ideas on ethics seems a bit hazy to you, then rest assured
you’re not alone. There are several reasons why Plato’s conception of
a good life are illusive. For starters, in all of his early dialogues the
philosopher spends his time giving a thrashing to our conventional
ideas of virtues such as justice, piety, and bravery.
Finally we arrive at the last segment on the line, the portion that
corresponds to the realm of the forms and, more importantly, the form
of The Good.
Very briefly, Plato’s World of Forms is a realm of existence where
the perfect conceptions such as beauty, justice, piety, truth, and
goodness, exist indivisibly and eternally. It is only by virtue of these
forms that our sensible world has any of the qualities that it does.
his means that if something is beautiful, then that object partakes
of the form of beauty. If something is just, then that thing partakes of
the form of justice.
Plato’s forms are at the center of the philosopher’s metaphysical
ideas. That is to say that through the use of the forms, Plato attempted
to explain why the universe is the way it is, why things have the
qualities that they do.
However, the forms also speak to Plato’s ideas on epistemology.
The forms emphasize attaining true understanding through an
application of reason and philosophical dialectic. This reflects Plato’s
belief that the only way to attain true knowledge is through logic and
that our empirical observations are merely shadows.
So we see that Plato’s divided line is actually a hierarchy of sorts.
The four segments on the line correspond to four different types of
knowing. In numerical order, these types of knowing are opinion,
belief (conviction), theoretical knowledge, and absolute
understanding.
We ought not to be satisfied with merely living in the observable
world, but we should, to the best of our ability, transcend the physical
world and endeavor to discover the phenomenal world where we may
become aquatinted with the form of The Good and live our life in
harmony with this ultimate goodness.
Here we begin to grasp at Plato’s ethics. But what exactly is The
Good? Understanding this ultimate form might actually be easier than
you think.
If I were to ask you, “Was Hitler good?” what would you say?
While you are thinking about that, let’s consider a few other questions.
Was Hitler good at instigating a second world war? Yes.
Was Hitler good at creating a propaganda machine? Yes.
Was Hitler a good painter? Maybe.
But back to our original question. Was Hitler good? The answer,
rather obviously, is no.
While Hitler was good insofar as he was a dictator or a public speaker,
we can say rather confidently that he was not Good.
Whether you consciously recognize it or not, there is a standard
for goodness, an understanding of that which partakes of morality and
that which does not. This seems self evident. To Plato, this goodness
was the form of The Good, and it is the single most important thing
we can ever recognize as philosophers.
Plato compares the form of The Good to the radiance of the sun.
It is only by virtue of the sun’s light that we are able to gaze upon the
world. It is only by virtue of the sun that we are not cast into darkness.
Similarly, The Good is the thing that by virtue of which we have
an understanding of other forms such as beauty, justice, and piety. We
can not have virtue without having The Good. It is towards this
goodness that we must strive if we are to live fully, wisely, and
virtuously.
“You would say, would you not, that the sun is not only the
author of visibility in all visible things, but of generation and
nourishment and growth, though he himself is not generation? In
like manner the Good may be said to be not only the author of
knowledge to all things known, but of their being and essence, and
yet The Good is not essence, but far exceeds essence in dignity and
power.” -Plato (The Republic)
So there we have a very brief examination of one of Plato’s most
fundamental philosophical contributions. In just one theory, Plato
gives us a look into his metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical
beliefs. While some might find this feat remarkable, it perhaps should
not surprise us that Plato’s philosophies overlapped so much.
Much like his teacher, Socrates, Plato believed that an educated
life and a good life were one in the same. We can not live well without
living wisely and we can not live wisely without also living well.
Pursuing a true understanding of knowledge and being will inevitably
lead us closer to the form of The Good and as a result, closer to a
fulfilled and satisfying life.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Plato's conception of philosophy in
the Republic