A The DYT Production
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
The Republic of Plato
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Ten-volume dialogue on to rule a just city
Fraught with ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
Insanely influential from the very time its writing
Dialogue of Socrates and two of Plato’s brothers
No detail is omitted:
What is justice? What is the best city?
What is the best form of constitution?
What qualifies leaders to be leaders?
What is reality?
Why should people want to be just?
Why all these questions?
So
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Kατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ
I went down to the Piraeus yesterday with Glaukon, son of Ariston, to make my prayers to the
Affairs
Conference
“The Ethical
Citizen”
– April
14-17,
Goddess andPublic
wanting
to see
how they would
hold her
feast, this
being
the 2015
first time it was held.
Piraeus in 5th Century BC
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Piraeus in 5th Century BC
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Socrates and Plato
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Socrates (470-399 BC)
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Father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor
Mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife
Intermittently employed stone mason
ENGAGED CITIZENSHIP: fought in army
ENGAGED CITIZENSHIP: served in assembly
Applied the elenchos or “Socratic Method”
More eristic than constructive
Annoyed Athenians of all sides
Aristophanes wrote “The Clouds” about him
Tried for atheism and corrupting youth, 399 BC
Drank hemlock and died
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Socratic Method, The
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Almost like midwifery – working out the TRVTH
Mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife
Ask simple questions of self-appointed experts
Make the experts look like monkeys
Supposedly, TRVTH is the result.
Supposedly, Socrates was wisest man in Greece
Only because he knew he knew nothing
Most dialogues really didn’t solve much
The “solutions” are mostly Plato’s addition
Not so in the Republic, however
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Plato (428-347 BC)
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Born Aristocles (or Ariston), son of Ariston
Parents were both from aristocratic families
Later wrote down the dialogues of Socrates
Never a character in the dialogues himself
Operated “the Academy” to teach philosophy
In later life, was a political consultant in Sicily
Highly regarded, but disastrously unsuccessful
Wrote several political dialogues
Laws, Statesman, Meno, and Republic
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Allegory
• Metaphor = uses a image, an object, or a story to
represent a complex or obscure idea
• “Life is like a box of chocolates.” – F. Gump
• Allegory is an extended metaphor, usually a story, in
which characters can stand for complex or obscure
ideas.
• Can also be associated with the “parable”
• Parable of the Good Shepherd (Luke15.3-7) explains
God’s love for all creation
• Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (Republic 7)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Allegory of the Cave
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Music Break
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Plato, Republic 10: Grand Finale
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Boot out the poets! Even Homer!
The poetic education is the worst education
It focuses on the “interesting” and the “spectacular”
It’s as bad as that stuff on the back wall of the Cave
The emotions caused by poetry are dangerous
Citizens might feel that life is like poetry
(or like in the movies, or books, or reality shows)
The ideal city is not a bunch of KARDASHIANS
Citizens need to learn about life as it really is
Therefore, citizens need philosophical education
Citizens also need motivation to lead moral lives.
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
The Katabasis of Er
• Er is a soldier who dies in battle
• Bodies of dead are collected for burning after 10
days
• Er’s body has not decomposed!!!!
• Two days later, Er comes back to life and tells his
story
• Learns of the afterlife and of reincarnation
• Visits the USED CAR LOT OF SOULS
• Acquires Celestial Cultural Competence
• Comes back to life to report on his visions
• Practices Cosmic Community Engagement
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Judgement Process
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At death, the body perishes in the usual fashion
Souls come to a place between heaven and earth
They are judged on their life’s deeds and misdeeds
Held strictly accountable for individual actions
Good souls go to heaven for 1000 years
Bad souls go beneath earth for 1000 years
Much more complex than the Homeric version
Homeric version: body greater than soul
Platonic version: soul greater than body
Er also sees souls returning from their 1000 years
Heaven dwellers happy, earth dwellers beaten up
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Schematically Speaking
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
THE USED CAR LOT O’SOULS
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The body is mortal and the soul is immortal
Souls are judged on their life’s deeds and misdeeds
Souls are rewarded or punished for 1000 years
Supposedly this gives time for reflection
Newly returned souls must select next lives
Souls select from physical appearances of bodies
Souls can choose human or animal lives
Once a life has been selected, that’s it
The soul must live its selected life as best it can
The soul bears FULL responsibility for its actions
No griping, no whining: deal with it
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Hooptius Maximus
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
THE USED CAR LOT O’SOULS
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The returned souls see a wide range of lives
But they can only judge upon the bodies they see
What have they learned over the last 1000 years?
First chooser picks a TYRANT: bad career move
Fun to be a living tyrant: a dead one, not so much
Orpheus picks a swan (didn’t like women)
Agamemnon chooses to be an eegull
Odysseus chooses to be just a regular dude
After choosing, the souls proceed to river Lethe
Then they get reborn… good luck!
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015
Cosmic Cultural Competence
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As ever, evil is punished and justice rewarded
People are bad because they choose to be bad
People are ____ because they choose to be ____
Only philosophy can teach people to live ethically
Obviously, an immortal soul should live ethically
Get it right for enough lives and maybe win the jackpot
Not spelled out at all
Still a major eschatological breakthrough
Body = transitory, soul = immortal
Bound to have consequences for philosophy
Bound to have consequences for religion
Public Affairs Conference “The Ethical Citizen” – April 14-17, 2015