The Republic and Other Dialogues (Plato, 428 BC – 348 BC)I can’t exactly discuss this in huge details, because it is philosophy, and it would take a long time, so I’ll just add a few comments to each dialogue.
1) ApologyThis is one of the most famous dialogues. Socrates is being accused of several different crimes, and he defends himself in court.
Probably my favorite dialogue of Plato, it is interesting to read and to be honest, also easy to read.
”Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that death is a good; for one of two things--either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell us how many days and nights he had passed in the course of his life better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that any man, I will not say a private man, but even the great king will not find many such days or nights, when compared with the others. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is gain; for eternity is then only a single night. But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead abide, what good, O my friends and judges, can be greater than this?”2) CritoSocrates is in jail, and a friend of his wants to help him escape. Socrates refuses that it would be morally wrong for him to escape. By living in a society, you have a social contract with it. You can’t just break it whenever something goes wrong. If you are wrongly imprisoned, then you still have to stick to the contract by listening to the laws. By breaking it, you are thereby increasing injustice in the society.
That is not to say I fully agree with Socrates’ arguments. I don’t like his emphasis on submitting to the Laws of Society. If that were true, there would never be any change. Sometimes, we have to break the contract we have with society.
“If you cannot persuade your country you must do whatever it orders, and patiently submit to any punishment that it imposes."”3) PhaedoNoooo. This is the part where Socrates’ the poison and dies. After the philosophizing, he dies, and it is a touching scene. Shucks. Poor Socrates.
This one is more about death, but it touches more on afterlife and souls and all that, and frankly, it is pointless, since there is no way to prove any of it, and conclusions are made based on assumptions they all figure must be true. Example, Socrates claims souls are immortal, but how can we even begin to make that argument when I bring into question the validity of the concept of souls?
"I am afraid that other people do not realize that the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death."4) Symposium
Okay, enough of death and everything morbid. This part is about a dinner party and for fun, what they do is have everyone give a small speech about Love (or sing a praise to the God of Love, Eros). The speeches are interesting for their diversity, as all of them approach the subject in complete different ways. It is also an entertaining look at the times, as the friendly banter sheds a light on a different era. An era where everyone is gay. Seriously. It is like some massive gay orgy.
Arguments are put forth about how loving a young boy is a beautiful thing as long as the intention is good. I’m assuming this means don’t rape a 8 year old boy, but gently push your cock in his ass.
Also, Aristophanes argues that homosexuality is manly.
“But they who are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are valiant and manly, and have a manly countenance, and they embrace that which is like them. And these when they grow up become our statesmen, and these only, which is a great proof of the truth of what I am saving. When they reach manhood they are lovers of youth, and are not naturally inclined to marry or beget children,—if at all, they do so only in obedience to the law; but they are satisfied if they may be allowed to live with one another unwedded; and such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love, always embracing that which is akin to him.”5) The RepublicFinally, the Republic. A dialogue about a government envisioned by Socrates to be a perfect one. Don’t let its name or reputation fool you, in no way is the Socrates’ republic democratic. It is a fascist system, ruled by philosophers, any book or art which they think will spoil the citizens to be banned, breeding to be controlled, and every class in its place. Socrates intentions are good but misplaced. Not just because I think a perfect system is a democratic one, on the contrary, I don’t believe in democracy. But I can see Socrates biggest error. He assumes philosophers would be good governors. The other speaker mentions that philosophers have a bad reputation, and Socrates’ argument is that it is not the fault of the study, but its followers. But we here this all the time. It is not the fault of the ideology of communism, but the people who implemented. It is not the Bible/Quran, but the followers. And so on. But reality is that ideologies and schools of studies are only as good as their followers. Who cares how good it is originally if it ensures that it breeds follows who misinterpret it? Socrates’ Republic would have been the same. A bunch of lazy rich philosophers abusing their powers.
“Then the first thing will be to establish a censorship of the writers of fiction, and let the censors receive any tale of fiction which is good, and reject the bad; and we will desire mothers and nurses to tell their children the authorised ones only. Let them fashion the mind with such tales, even more fondly than they mould the body with their hands; but most of those which are now in use must be discarded.”Final Thoughts: It is always interesting to read or reread Plato. It is amazing how relevant some of his thoughts remain, but we should not fall into a trap of assuming that his thoughts are automatically applicable anymore. It is a good mental exercise, but he argues from established assumptions, and I can easily debate that some of his initial assumptions are incorrect.
The most I took out of this is Socrates’ way of arguing. He does it by asking questions and allowing the other person to come to a conclusion. This is a perfect way to debate, and I need to use it more, mainly because by asking, you can easier play with words. It is easier to get the conclusion you want.
4/5
