Plato – UGC NET – Political Science Notes

Plato

(Detailed Notes)

Western Political Thought (Unit 2)

UGC NET POLITICAL SCIENCE

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PLATO

Table of Contents

LIFE SKETCH
PLATO’S CORPUS
CONTEXT OF THE REPUBLIC
Anti-Democrat
Critic of Sophism
Philosophical Influences
Knowledge and Opinion
PHILOSOPHER RULER
Who is a Philosopher?
Why should Philosophers Rule?
Philosophic Absolutism
Criticism of the Philosopher Ruler
Feasibility of the Ideal State
JUSTICE
Different Definitions of Justice
Justice in the State and Individual
Theory of Three Classes and Three Souls
Myth of Metals and of Earth-born
EDUCATION
Elementary Education
Higher Education
COMMUNITY OF WIVES AND PROPERTY
Critical Evaluation
REGENERATION OF THE IDEAL
PLATO’S SECOND-BEST STATE
IS PLATO A FORERUNNER OF MODERN TOTALITARIANISM, OR THE FIRST FASCIST?
CONCLUSION

The book Republic is not only a philosophical work but also a treatise on social and political reform.
Plato is portrayed as someone deeply concerned with reforming and revolutionizing human life.
Plato’s view of humanity is both incredibly low and incredibly high; he emphasizes the contrast between the wisdom of the low and the docility of the rest of humanity.
Plato's political programme has been criticized for being fundamentally identical to totalitarianism, despite being often regarded as morally superior.
The prejudice against this view stems from the idealization of Plato.
Plato evoked admiration, reverence, and criticism throughout history for his philosophical ideas.
Key works include Republic (380–370 BC), Statesman (360 BC), and Laws (350 BC).
Plato is considered the founder of philosophical idealism due to his belief in a universal idea of eternal realitybeyond the world of senses.
He framed political ideas within a larger framework of a philosophical idea of Good.
Plato’s main concern was the best way for humans to live and the best organization of human society.
Plato viewed political philosophy as an architectonic science of society, distinct from other life aspects.
He conceptualized the disorders and crises of the world, presenting a vision of a desirable political order.
Plato has been praised for his criticism of materialism and selfishness, and his advocacy for human perfection and excellence.
Thinkers like Voltaire and Nietzsche saw Platonism as the intellectual side of Christianity.
Influential figures like John Ruskin, William Morris, and Ralph Waldo Emerson admired Plato’s ideas on human excellence and perfection.
Emerson considered Plato to be synonymous with philosophy and declared that all philosophical ideas come from him.
Plato laid the foundations of Greek political theory, influencing the Western political tradition.
Aristotle, a critic of Plato, rejected many of his ideas in Republic but extended some of them in Laws.
Whitehead famously stated that European philosophy is merely a set of footnotes to Plato.
Plato’s critics, especially from the twentieth century, argued against his ideas as hostile to progressive, humanitarian, and democratic ideals.
Many twentieth-century critics viewed Plato as the philosophical forerunner of modern totalitarianism.
Paradoxically, nineteenth-century liberals saw Plato as a liberal of his time.

LIFE SKETCH

Plato was born in May-June 428/27 BC in Athens, from a distinguished, aristocratic family.
His father, Ariston, traced ancestry to early kings of Athens and Poseidon, while his mother, Perictione, was a descendant of Solon (famous lawgiver).
Plato’s relatives, Charmides and Critias, were among the 30 tyrants who ruled Athens after the Peloponnesian War.
Plato had one sister (Potone), two brothers (Adeimantus and Glaucon), and one half-brother (Antiphon).
His real name was Aristocles, meaning "best and renowned," but he was nicknamed Plato due to his broad and strong shoulders.
Plato was known for his good looks, charming disposition, and excelled in music, mathematics, poetry, and rhetoric.
He fought in three wars and won an award for bravery but never married.
Plato met Socrates in 407 BC at age 20 and was deeply influenced by him, abandoning the idea of becoming a poet.
The trial and execution of Socrates in 399 BC marked a turning point in Plato’s life; he could not attend the last discussion due to illness.
Anaxagoras and Protagoras were also persecuted, and Aristotle would have been too if not for exile.
In 404 BC, Athens saw an oligarchic revolution led by Plato's relatives; he briefly participated in politics before withdrawing after the restoration of democracy.
Plato fled to Megara in 404 BC and sought refuge with Euclid, then went to Egypt to study mathematics and the historical traditions of priests.
He returned to Athens in 395 BC and fought for Corinth before visiting Archytas in Taras in 387 BC.
In 386 BC, Plato established the Academy in Athens, a seat of higher learning, with subjects like mathematics, astronomy, music, law, and philosophy.
The Academy, initially dedicated to worshiping Muses and Apollo, admitted women and emphasized mathematics, as evident from the inscription "medeis ageometrtos eisito" ("let no one without geometry enter here").
Plato’s emphasis on mathematics and its connection to philosophy influenced later thinkers like Hobbes and Bentham.
The Academy was a training school for future philosophic rulers, with The Republic serving as its prospectus.
Teaching in the Academy involved lectures, Socratic dialectics, and problem-solving situations, keeping alive Socratic legacy.
The founding of the Academy was a turning point in Plato’s life and a milestone in European science.
Plato devoted much of his life to organizing and managing the Academy.
In 367 BC, Plato visited Sicily to influence Dionysius II, the heir of Dionysius, to become a philosopher king but was forced to return due to Dionysius’ resentment of Plato’s ideas on geometry and statecraft.
In 361 BC, Plato visited Sicily again to reconcile Dion and Dionysius II, but was captured and sold as a slave until ransomed.
Plato spent his last years at the Academy, teaching and instructing.
He died in 347 BC at a student’s wedding feast, passing away in his sleep. The citizens of Athens mourned his death, honoring him as one of its most distinguished citizens.

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