Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Plato's perfect Republic, plausible?
In the Republic, Plato prophesizes about the perfect society built and maintained by his ‘Philosopher Kings’. This community would be free from the imitations of poetry which he argued tainted the youth with stories of ill-mannered human beings acting irrationally. In his utopian society there would be no room for lies, no place for deception or distortion of the truth in any fashion and it is because of this lack of falsehood that the ‘Republic’ would thrive. But is a society such as this possible? Did Plato truly believe that this type of community would be able to exist? And more so, did he really have that much faith in humanity? To our dismay Plato couldn’t be with us to answer these long sought questions and though his ideas in the Republic no doubt shaped the democracies of Western Civilization, one must ask if this Republic could ever truly be obtained. To help guide us in the right direction of truth, (or some form of it) it helps to look within our own society to see whether or not Plato’s ideal Republic breathes life into our own. Stepping into the courtrooms of America, the coffee shops and libraries, in the playground and in the office break room one can clearly see that this idea of a society rid of falsehood is nowhere to be found. The film, Liar, Liar, starring Jim Carrey is a perfect example of this phenomenon. When looking past the antics of Jim Carrey, you see a society not only built off of, but in fact thriving on common or ‘white’ lies. Carey’s character is a slick tongued lawyer winning over entire juries with his bombastic speeches and cunning tongue. It seems that everything for this character is going right, until he can no longer lie. It is as this moment that we see our society for what it really is. A society running on what Plato called “spoken lie’s” (Republic, Book II 51). Telling the truth, Carey’s character comes across a myriad of disasters and comes face to face with a society that scorns absolute truth. But did Plato foresee this all along? Even in this perfect Republic Plato knew that the souls of men found solace in appropriate deception. “Aren’t there occasions and situations when telling lies is helpful and therefore doesn’t warrant hatred?” (Republic, Book II 51). I believe that it is our inherent nature and in our over abundant self awareness that not only drives us to deceive but encourages it. No wife wants her husband to tell her she is indeed 37 pounds overweight or that the new dress makes her look like a lamp shade just as no Commander-in-Chief would allow his enemy to know his plan of attack. Thus we find ourselves in a paradox of Plato’s ideal society and the reality of our own human vanity. And though Plato discouraged deception of any kind, I think even he never told his wife not to eat that second serving.
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Plato had a wife? What was her name? It's obvious that human's are too barbaric and haven't evolved to the point where a Utopian, "ideal" society can exist. We still act like animals in the wild. Yes, we are highly sophisticated, but our sophistication doesn't succeed our immaturity. We have a natural, or conditioned ideology of competitiveness and jealousy. Rather than work together as a team, a society, better each other for the good of man and for a great power or cause, we are all selfish and don't look farther than what the eye can see. It's probably not our faults. We are just creatures of habit and still infants in the grand scheme of things. I can only imagine what we were 400BC
ReplyDeleteWe won’t ever have an “ideal” society not because we are immature or too barbaric or even that we are uncapable, its because as humans we live our life’s scared. Scared to disappoint or hurt, to get in trouble or be judged. We are fearful of our pasts, presents and most of all our futures. Sure we are competitive and jealous, but along with lying don’t those characteristics also stem from fear? Hang out with a young child for an hour. They are the perfect example of what Plato's “Utopian’ society would be like. Innocent and unfiltered. They haven’t been tainted by the burdens of reality. Yeah, Plato’s theories sound nice and idealistic, but at one point or another it seems we all have to grow up and learn how to adapt to the norms of our society in order to survive. However, in my opinion, lying and deceiving those around us isn’t the only underlying problem… it’s the fact that most of us lie to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThe question isn't if it is plausible, the question is when will it be plausible. We are experiencing a strange and fascinating transition that our species has never encountered before, and it's happening at a very rapid rate. That is technological advancement. The unlimited access to information we have at our fingertips at this very moment is mainly responsible for the giant leap that humanity is now taking. I, myself, would credit the majority of my education to the online research I've done on personal interests, as would many others. An educated populace is a steppingstone to utopia. As we continue to evolve and gain a better understanding of how to live healthy and happy lives, we will develop into a more utopian society than Plato could have imagined.
ReplyDelete“I believe in humanity. We are an incredible species. We're still just a child creature, we're still being nasty to each other. And all children go through those phases. We're growing up, we're moving into adolescence now. When we grow up - man, we're going to be something!” – Gene Rodeenberry
My faithful followers! How I have shamed myself and you all by taking so long to retort but alas here I come. Ciara, I couldn't agree more with you. We all lie to ourselves but my question to you is, is that necessarily a bad thing? Does not the athlete or competitor tell himself he is invincible before a game or match? Does not the student tell his or herself they will ace this next exam? Its an open ended question and debatable and the term "lie" carries a myriad of connotations up for scholarly dissecting. I guess I am partly at fault for leaving this debate so open, I mean on the one hand, Plato's vision of a utopian society does seem far fetched, but taking into account Derick's comments and the reality of our technological explosion we have manifested in the past decade it also DOESN'T seem that far fetched after all. I mean, do I necessarily think humans will be living in complete peace and tranquility free from strife and poverty and disease? No, not for right now anyway, but with technology comes knowledge and with knowledge, true knowledge, comes eventually truth. Take it how you want it and argue if you dare but we are on that path and are in fact in a golden age of information. It is only up to us to seek it, perhaps creating within our OWN worlds, our OWN communities, our OWN families, our OWN realities, the Platonic utopian vision and living as harmoniously and truthfully as we can.
ReplyDeleteHope you all farewell,
your bearded gentleman.
JD! im following you, better make them posts count! c'mon kid its almost been 3 weeks since your last post. is your beard still thinking? i like that you compared liar liar to this ideal of plato's. i never saw it like that, but,my dear friend,, you're GENIUS.! OOPS, i mean oops. ok, until your next post...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Justin that some lies shouldn’t be a bad thing. We should call it something else, which lacks a negative connotation. I will be president, I will get this job, my beard looks amazing. Those aren’t lies but more like confidence boosters. The definition of deception also plays a role. Some times a girl will act like she doesn’t like a guy when she really does in order for him to chase her. That can be deception or seduction or negative or positive depending on how you look at it. Point is that’s how our society is today and it is unlikely that will change. I also agree that we are scared of things such as being hurt or judged and to protect us we tell a white lie/confidence booster. In “Liar Liar” he can’t stop lying and everything goes to shit. Some things turn out good but he goes through a lot to get there. I think we will always be this way unless we stop worrying about things like money, which can lead to greed and corruption. One way to do that is to live like some of our parents did in the 60’s. The hippie revolution was closer to Plato’s perfect society than it is now. I say we try that again.
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