Plato left a legacy for each man, especially those who claim to be citizens of a state. The very ideas he left for the whole world to ponder haunt us through generations - his design of an ideal nation, what he calls his Republic.
He argued that the best city that could ever exist should be one that is ruled by philosopher kings, where there is equality between men and women and where the community should function as one unit or family. All these preconditions for the concept of a perfect state are based on his arguments on what is Truth, the Theory of Forms, the elements that there is in man and the moral brought by The Allegory of the Cave. Plato argued that what is True and Perfect in form lies in what should be and not what is, an Idea that is invisible to the eye. He elaborates on this by exemplifying that we are but prisoners in a cave, merely gawking on shadows of the real world, the true one. What life that there should be is to live in the idea of truth, for us all to be able to break free from the shadows and mere imitations of the real world.
I have to say that all Plato said, all the things that he claimed to be true, shook the very core of my soul. I can’t help but rethink of what I myself believe to be true and what I claim to be the foundations of humanity. It made me think of the applicability of the perfect state he said that should be established, the kind of life that we should pursue, as well as how we should see the world, nature and man.
Plato shook my soul for his teachings debunked the things that I hold dear: arts and aesthetics. He reiterated that life, this world, all the things in the present are but imitations of the truth that lies in the afterlife thus we are ill to appreciate these mere imitations. I have lived my own life living day by day while placing value on self-expression. I appreciate nature, arts and music, barely thinking of that ideal truth that he says. I can say that I find happiness enjoying what I have in this life and if another lies ahead after death, then I guess I would live it again just the same – appreciating, loving all that there is in me, in other people and in nature. In line with the afterlife that he says, I do think that Utopia would only be possible in that context – not in this life, not in this lifetime. A perfect society where everyone is given a definite function, where everything is in its right place would produce a world that is wrathless, faultless. This is only an idea thus it cannot be attained in the physical world. It is not possible at all, no matter how we try. Humans were not made to live in an overly ordered world. We are not robots neither are we angels. Yes, its good to be good Plato says but there will always be an inferior, a defiance to the norm. Only in the presence of the bad that the good is even strengthened and verified. Where there is defiance, there is social change too. Humanity can never be and shouldn’t be confined in monotony and stagnation. I believe that there is more to life than that.
Plato also imagined a Republic with citizens having designations to what functions in the society they should fulfill. I see that his concept of identifying the people into three subtypes (gold, silver and bronze) is still towards the goal of total social order. This design of a state is based on his argument that we are not born equal in our capabilities, and that democracy is ill-fated. I beg to disagree. Who would want his own fate to be dictated by someone else’s perception of your capabilities? What then is freedom and rationality for in this context? Humans deserve more than just being confined to the functions that need to be fulfilled. With this I say that everyone should take part, everyone should have a function to the welfare of the state and not just those that are covered by their own professions. Yes, Plato was right to emphasize that we are not all born equal. But we need not to elaborate and base our destiny on that fact. What we need is a democratic system that could offer its people equal opportunity, social mobility and a citizenship of honor and responsibility from and to the state.
Although I questioned the applicability of Plato’s beliefs on Truth and Utopia, his arguments made me question my own beliefs more. What he said about anti-pragmatism and the moral of the Allegory of the Cave made me rethink how I live and should live my life as well as how I want this world to be. He was definitely right to have said that we need to do more than just deal with a world that we are born into. We have to set our own ideals and hold on to a belief that there is a better life than what we have today. Contentment from one’s own freedom and knowledge about what is truth should be considered as a sin. We should all take part in the enlightenment of others, not just of our own.
With all that I have said, how then do I see Plato – a madman or a visionary? I see him more of an idealist, someone who believed in the good life. Like him, all of us, are confronted everyday with a question: What kind of world do you want to live in? To put it simply, he answered: “better than this”, like everyone would likely say. This very ideal makes us one people for the nation to continue forward. But we know that we could only control for so much in the real world. It’s better to believe that Utopia lies within divine grounds, a promised place to be reached upon how we searched for Truth in our own time.
He argued that the best city that could ever exist should be one that is ruled by philosopher kings, where there is equality between men and women and where the community should function as one unit or family. All these preconditions for the concept of a perfect state are based on his arguments on what is Truth, the Theory of Forms, the elements that there is in man and the moral brought by The Allegory of the Cave. Plato argued that what is True and Perfect in form lies in what should be and not what is, an Idea that is invisible to the eye. He elaborates on this by exemplifying that we are but prisoners in a cave, merely gawking on shadows of the real world, the true one. What life that there should be is to live in the idea of truth, for us all to be able to break free from the shadows and mere imitations of the real world.
I have to say that all Plato said, all the things that he claimed to be true, shook the very core of my soul. I can’t help but rethink of what I myself believe to be true and what I claim to be the foundations of humanity. It made me think of the applicability of the perfect state he said that should be established, the kind of life that we should pursue, as well as how we should see the world, nature and man.
Plato shook my soul for his teachings debunked the things that I hold dear: arts and aesthetics. He reiterated that life, this world, all the things in the present are but imitations of the truth that lies in the afterlife thus we are ill to appreciate these mere imitations. I have lived my own life living day by day while placing value on self-expression. I appreciate nature, arts and music, barely thinking of that ideal truth that he says. I can say that I find happiness enjoying what I have in this life and if another lies ahead after death, then I guess I would live it again just the same – appreciating, loving all that there is in me, in other people and in nature. In line with the afterlife that he says, I do think that Utopia would only be possible in that context – not in this life, not in this lifetime. A perfect society where everyone is given a definite function, where everything is in its right place would produce a world that is wrathless, faultless. This is only an idea thus it cannot be attained in the physical world. It is not possible at all, no matter how we try. Humans were not made to live in an overly ordered world. We are not robots neither are we angels. Yes, its good to be good Plato says but there will always be an inferior, a defiance to the norm. Only in the presence of the bad that the good is even strengthened and verified. Where there is defiance, there is social change too. Humanity can never be and shouldn’t be confined in monotony and stagnation. I believe that there is more to life than that.
Plato also imagined a Republic with citizens having designations to what functions in the society they should fulfill. I see that his concept of identifying the people into three subtypes (gold, silver and bronze) is still towards the goal of total social order. This design of a state is based on his argument that we are not born equal in our capabilities, and that democracy is ill-fated. I beg to disagree. Who would want his own fate to be dictated by someone else’s perception of your capabilities? What then is freedom and rationality for in this context? Humans deserve more than just being confined to the functions that need to be fulfilled. With this I say that everyone should take part, everyone should have a function to the welfare of the state and not just those that are covered by their own professions. Yes, Plato was right to emphasize that we are not all born equal. But we need not to elaborate and base our destiny on that fact. What we need is a democratic system that could offer its people equal opportunity, social mobility and a citizenship of honor and responsibility from and to the state.
Although I questioned the applicability of Plato’s beliefs on Truth and Utopia, his arguments made me question my own beliefs more. What he said about anti-pragmatism and the moral of the Allegory of the Cave made me rethink how I live and should live my life as well as how I want this world to be. He was definitely right to have said that we need to do more than just deal with a world that we are born into. We have to set our own ideals and hold on to a belief that there is a better life than what we have today. Contentment from one’s own freedom and knowledge about what is truth should be considered as a sin. We should all take part in the enlightenment of others, not just of our own.
With all that I have said, how then do I see Plato – a madman or a visionary? I see him more of an idealist, someone who believed in the good life. Like him, all of us, are confronted everyday with a question: What kind of world do you want to live in? To put it simply, he answered: “better than this”, like everyone would likely say. This very ideal makes us one people for the nation to continue forward. But we know that we could only control for so much in the real world. It’s better to believe that Utopia lies within divine grounds, a promised place to be reached upon how we searched for Truth in our own time.
1 comment:
mahusay ka karla. yeah! i need a life better than this.
red
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