Glaucon & the Cave
With credibility backing him, Socrates is seemingly a master of persuasion and the presenter of sound, logical arguments. His use of persuasion manages to convince his own student, Glaucon, of going back to the “cave.” The cave is the world of ignorance, containing people that have not been educated on the greater good in participating in events of the state.
Socrates employs a repertoire of methods to cajole Glaucon back into the cave.
The manipulation of Glaucon's emotions allowed for Socrates to make his way in convincing him back into the cave. This can be observed when Socrates mentions that the uneducated “must be made to descend.” Despite Glaucon's apparently passionate response, claiming that it would be an injustice
…show more content…
Socrates establishes the claim that the injustice Glaucon see is actually just “caring and [having] providence [for] others” by the philosophers. With attention being placed on the people that were enlightened, Socrates reassures Glaucon that the unfairness that he claims is being forced upon the inhabitants of the cave; is in fact a necessary evil that would benefit them despite not knowing of it. Socrates focuses on the good of the state rather than the selfish wants of the few that have not yet been enlightened. The people that are “self taught” owe nothing to the state and therefore do not need to go back into the cave. Now Socrates begins to place guilt upon Glaucon by mentioning that because he had a teacher he had an obligation to the community. This obligation is what manages to fully convince Glaucon that he must return to the cave because of his obligation. In which case he is sent to rule over but never educate the inhabitants of the cave. The philosophers are even considered “benefactors of the state and benefactors of one another” their loyalty lies among the public and not within their own self interest. The selfishness of others is what they aim to get rid of among the people of the cave. Their overall objective is to command the rest of the public in benefiting the state rather than …show more content…
Growing up at their “own sweet will” and therefore would be raised differently than the great minds of his own state. Glaucon’s responsibility lies not with himself but rather with the state and the uneducated within his own state. Socrates means to put down other states so that his own may seem superior and that Glaucon be ever more grateful for being raised in such a state. Since his students have been “educated far better” they are ultimately better benefactors for the state. In particular Socrates keeps retaining his point of obligation to the greater good in a variety of ways. Here, however he pushes the quality of the education Glaucon received and not just what was give to him, but rather what was taught. Socrates also criticizes the value of other states as to him “virtue and wisdom” being the most valuable motivation. Further exemplifying the superiority complex that Socrates is instilling in his students he sneers at other states who busy themselves not on bettering themselves, but rather in dominating others. Whether that be through war or politics. Establishing that their state is better than others magnifies the fact that Socrates referred to him as a leader of such a virtuous and wise
Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own but rather aimed at bringing out the worst in his interlocutors.
Throughout all the years, he never could find anyone as wise as himself, and all he did was make enemies searching. These enemies are now his accusers, and they accuse him of spreading evil doctrines, corrupting the youth, and not believing in the Gods. Throughout the speech, Socrates continues to shoot down every accuser and it is evident that he has done no wrong. Eventually, one of his accusers states that he must be doing something strange and that he wouldnt be that famous if he were like other men. Socrates did not live a very public life unlike most people at that time. His thoughts of being virteous had more to do with examining yourself and becoming a better person and in that way, you benifit society. He did not believe Athens to be virtuos at all, and that they relied on materail things and reputation rather than finding happiness by searching for it deep within
... them to acknowledge the unjust state of affairs that persists in the deteriorating city-state. Socrates believed it was better to die, than to live untrue to oneself, and live unable to practice philosophy, by asking people his questions. Thus, we can see Socrates was a nonconformist in Ancient Greek society, as he laid down his life in the hopes of saving his state, by opening the eyes of the jury to the corruptness and evils of society. Socrates also laid down the framework for a paradigm shift to occur in his city, as his acquired a formidable fan group, or following, of individuals, who, began to preach his philosophy and continue his Socratic method of questioning and teaching. Socrates philosophy is still influential and studied today, thus his ways of thinking about life, truth and knowledge, changed the way western society perceives the world.
foundation for the rest of Book V where Glaucon, Socrates, and Adeimantus discuss what the
He is convinced that if an individual who is a cobbler or a farmer “goes to the bad and pretends to be what he is not” (The Republic of Plato X:III-420) the entire well-being of the state is not in jeopardy. But such is most certainly not the case if the person is a Guardian or Auxiliary. There is no point, Socrates says, in producing a happiness like that of a “party of peasants feasting at a fair.” Such a person who would aspire to such a community “has something in mind other than a civic community” (The Republic of Plato X:III-421). Of course, Glaucon agrees.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a story being told by Socrates to Plato’s brother, Glaucon. Socrates tells of prisoners in an underground cave who are made to look upon the front wall of the cave. To the rear of the prisoners, below the protection of the parapet, lie the puppeteers whom are casting the shadows on the wall in that the prisoners are perceiving reality. Once a prisoner is free, he's forced to look upon the fire and objects that once determined his perception of reality, and he so realizes these new pictures before of him are now the accepted forms of reality. Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and the way they might naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they need perpetually seen as a pleasing and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief."
by private individuals” (Crito, 50b) acting based on their whims and fancies, it shows the Laws are non-binding and lack the authority to enforce against deviant behaviours, which then calls to question the social stability of Athens. Therefore, Crito was persuaded by the Laws to give up assisting an act of injustice that will destroy the Laws and Athens. Secondly, assisting Socrates’ escape is an injustice against the Laws because Socrates will be asserting an equal status with Athens through criticising and retaliating against his prescribed punishment, when Socrates has been dependent on Athens and the Laws since birth. As a citizen, Socrates has benefitted from Athens’ Laws. The Laws have “given [him] birth, nurtured [him], educated [him].
I think the prisoner is pulled out of the cave by the enlightened ones, the ones who have reached this essential wisdom They also might stand as deities asserting there power over the prisoner because according to Socrates Plato's teacher only a diety or auricle has the wisdom of the gods and as a result the beings that pulled the prisoner out of the cave and into the light must be deities seeking to grant humankind the wisdom they
In the beginning of the essay, Socrates creates the setting by creating an illusion of a cave, prisoners and the sun. The prisoners are trapped in a cave and are chained head to toe. They have only been able to look at the cave wall their entire lives. There is a fire behind them so that object’s shadows can be seen on the cave wall. Because of this, the prisoners believe that the objects they see on the cave wall are real. One prisoner is dragged out of the cave and is forced to open his eyes in the
In the analogy, Socrates describes how the prisoners accepted their current situation and never bothered to believe that life could be different. The prisoners never questioned what they knew, maybe for the fear of the of what their fellow inmates would think. This is exactly how humans act in society. We would rather accept what is considered the norm to maintain peace and avoid conflict, even if it means denying the truth. Socrates says to Glaucon, “Consider, then, what being released from their bonds and cured of their foolishness would naturally be like…” (515c). He is implying that their minds are so far from the truth. The only way for them to have a clear perspective, the prisoners need to be stripped of their emotions. Their eyes were focusing on the wrong objectives preventing them from seeing what was right in front of
(37) The problem is that many of the citizens of Athens who wanted Socrates dead, lacked that emotional intelligence and thought highly of themselves. So of course they become defensive when Socrates sheds light on the idea that they may be wrong. As someone who cared most about the improvement of the soul, Socrates would have made a constructive role model to the criminals of Athens, as he would go on saying, “virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man…”(35) Socrates was able to benefit everyone alike as he had human wisdom- something that all the Athenians could relate
Glacon’s argument to Socrates may appear very convincing at first glance. People who succeed in li...
In Plato’s Republic, Glaucon is introduced to the reader as a man who loves honor, sex, and luxury. As The Republic progresses through books and Socrates’ arguments of how and why these flaws make the soul unhappy began to piece together, Glaucon relates some of these cases to his own life, and begins to see how Socrates’ line of reasoning makes more sense than his own. Once Glaucon comes to this realization, he embarks on a path of change on his outlook of what happiness is, and this change is evidenced by the way he responds during he and Socrates’ discourse.
In The Republic, a truly just state contains four cardinal virtues, which can also be found in a just individual. Justice is the fourth cardinal virtue, but can only be reached once three other virtues are achieved. The first cardinal virtue necessary for justice is wisdom. In an individual, wisdom stems from the prevalence of reason in one’s rational mind, which in turn leads to knowledge and a good sense of judgment. When extended to the just state, the members of Socrates’ utopian society who embody wisdom are the ruling class of philosopher kings (Plato, Republic, 428e). In fact, wisdom is so important to Socrates that he believes in a extremely rigid and structured education for these members of society, so as to develop the rational part of their brain (Plato, Republic, 428e). Courage is another virtue necessary for justice, and occurs when an individual’s wisdom is “backed up” by his or her spirit, unflinching in the face of “fears and desires”(Plato, Republic, 429d). Without courage, wisdom and reason will not be the dominant forces is one’s mind. This reasoning certainly applies to the importance of auxiliaries in a perfect society, where the values and beliefs integral to its well being are constantly imparted on public servants through education and training (Plato, Republic,
Socrates was a philosopher who set out to prove, to the gods, that he wasn't the wisest man. Since he could not afford a "good" Sophist teacher, surely a student of one had to be smarter than he. He decides to converse with the youth of Athens, but concludes that he actually is wiser than everyone he speaks with. He then realizes that their lack of intelligence is the fault of their teachers. Socrates understands that the practice of "sophism" leads to a lack of self-knowledge and moral values. Socrates was later accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and put on trial. In The Apology of Socrates he sta...