Plato Be Censored Through Education Essay

Ancient Philosophy Essay 1A

Plato argues that certain poets should be censored primarily through education. He states that legends and fables, while useful for their historical presence, should not be told to younger children. Socrates argues “Shall we carelessly allow our children to hear any old stories made up by just anyone, then, and to take beliefs into their souls that are, for the most part, the opposite of the ones we think they should hold when they are grown up" (377b). He believes these stories initiate the behaviors that are unjust and oppose how society expects them to conform. "Just as a painter might paint a picture that is not at all like the things he is trying to paint," (337e) children should only be taught the truth otherwise they get a false sense of reality. Plato is particularly

Plato deduces that Gods are good, they are not what many have claimed to be the cause of everything. They are, in turn, only the cause of a few things in a human being's life, such as the good. A good portrait of the gods and heroes will show them as worthy and exalted beings but poets such as Homer and Hesiod often spread tales of the gods and heroes fighting, bickering and acting immorally (390b-391e). With the censoring of the Odyssey, they are taking out what is thought to muddle the youths mind with deceptions and fallacies and instead putting in only truths to clarify the sense of justness. This idea of restricting poets, writings, or stories still applies to the modern day in terms of schools contemplating the mandatory reading of some books such as How to Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, and I know why the Caged Bird Sang due to the disturbing content and choice of language used within in the pages. Just as Plato was concerned with the corruption of youth’s minds with falsehoods about gods, parents are concerned of racism having the same effect today. Racism is the strong contender for the reasoning behind pulling these