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City of Naga
Graduate Studies and Research

THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO

PLATO – BIOGRAPHY

Plato was born around the year 428 BCE in Athens. His father died while Plato was young,
and his mother remarried to Pyrilampes, in whose house Plato would grow up. Plato's birth name
was Aristocles, and he gained the nickname Platon, meaning broad, because of his broad build.
His family had a history in politics, and Plato was destined to a life in keeping with this history.
He studied at a gymnasium owned by Dionysios, and at the palaistra of Ariston of Argos. When
he was young he studied music and poetry. According to Aristotle, Plato developed the
foundations of his metaphysics and epistemology by studying the doctrines of Cratylus, and the
work of Pythagoras and Parmenides. When Plato met Socrates, however, he had met his
definitive teacher. As Socrates' disciple, Plato adopted his philosophy and style of debate, and
directed his studies toward the question of virtue and the formation of a noble character.

Plato was in military service from 409 BC to 404 BC. When the Peloponnesian War ended
in 404 BC he joined the Athenian oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants, one of whose leaders was his
uncle Charmides. The violence of this group quickly prompted Plato to leave it. In 403 BC, when
democracy was restored in Athens, he had hopes of pursuing his original goal of a political career.
Socrates' execution in 399 BC had a profound effect on Plato, and was perhaps the final event
that would convince him to leave Athenian politics forever.

Plato left Attica along with other friends of Socrates and traveled for the next twelve
years. To all accounts it appears that he left Athens with Euclides for Megara, then went to visit
Theodorus in Cyrene, moved on to study with the Pythagoreans in Italy, and finally to Egypt.
During this period he studied the philosophy of his contemporaries, geometry, geology,
astronomy and religion.

After 399 BC Plato began to write extensively. It is still up for debate whether he was
writing before Socrates' death, and the order in which he wrote his major texts is also uncertain.
However, most scholars agree to divide Plato's major work into three distinct groups. The first of
these is known as the Socratic Dialogues because of how close he stays within the text to
Socrates' teachings. They were probably written during the years of his travels between 399 and
387 BC. One of the texts in this group called the Apology seems to have been written shortly after
Socrates' death. Other texts relegated to this group include the Crito, Laches, Lysis, Charmides,
Euthyphro, and Hippias Minor and Major.

Plato returned to Athens in 387 BC and, on land that had once belonged to Academos, he
founded a school of learning which he called the Academy. Plato's school is often described at
the first European university. Its curriculum offered subjects including astronomy, biology,
mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. Plato hoped the Academy would provide a place
where thinkers could work toward better government in the Grecian cities. He would preside
over the Academy until his death.

The period from 387 to 361 BC is often called Plato's "middle" or transitional period. It is
thought that he may have written the Meno, Euthydemus, Menexenus, Cratylus, Repuglic,
Phaedrus, Syposium and Phaedo during this time. The major difference between these texts and
his earlier works is that he tends toward grander metaphysical themes and begins to establish
his own voice in philosophy. Socrates still has a presence, however, sometimes as a fictional
character. In the Meno for example Plato writes of the Socratic idea that no one knowingly does
wrong, and adds the new doctrine of recollection questioning whether virtue can be taught. In
the Phaedo we are introduced to the Platonic doctrine of the Forms, in which Plato makes claims
as to the immortality of the human soul. The middle dialogues also reveal Plato's method of
hypothesis.

Plato's most influential work, The Republic, is also a part of his middle dialogues. It is a
discussion of the virtues of justice, courage, wisdom, and moderation, of the individual and in
society. It works with the central question of how to live a good life, asking what an ideal State
would be like, and what defines a just individual. These lead to more questions regarding the
education of citizens, how government should be formed, the nature of the soul, and the
afterlife. The dialogue finishes by reviewing various forms of government and describing the ideal
state, where only philosophers are fit to rule. The Republic covers almost every aspect of Plato's
thought.

In 367 BC Plato was invited to be the personal tutor to Dionysus II, the new ruler of
Syracuse. Plato accepted the invitation, but found on his arrival that the situation was not
conducive for philosophy. He continued to teach the young ruler until 365 BC when Syracuse
entered into war. Plato returned to Athens, and it was around this time that Plato's famous pupil
Aristotle began to study at the Academy. In 361 BC Plato returned to Syracuse in response to a
letter from Dion, the uncle and guardian of Dionysus II, begging him to come back. However,
finding the situation even more unpleasant than his first visit, he returned to Athens almost as
fast as he had come.
 Back at the Academy, Plato probably spent the rest of his life writing and conversing. The
way he ran the Academy and his ideas of what constitutes an educated individual have been a
major influence to education theory. His work has also been influential in the areas of logic and
legal philosophy. His beliefs on the importance of mathematics in education has had a lasting
influence on the subject, and his insistence on accurate definitions and clear hypotheses formed
the foundations for Euclid's system of mathematics.

His final years at the Academy may be the years when he wrote the "Later" dialogues,
including the Parmenides, Theatetus, Sophist,Statesmas,Timaeus,Critias,Philebus, and Laws.
Socrates has been delegated a minor role in these texts. Plato uses these dialogues to take a
closer look at his earlier metaphysical speculations. He discusses art, including dance, music,
poetry, architecture and drama, and ethics in regards to immortality, the mind, and Realism. He
also works with the philosophy of mathematics, politics and religion, covering such specifics as
censorship, atheism, and pantheism. In the area of epistemology he discusses a priori knowledge
and Rationalism. In his theory of Forms, Plato suggests that the world of ideas is constant and
true, opposing it to the world we perceive through our senses, which is deceptive and
changeable.

In 347 Plato died, leaving the Academy to his sister's son Speusippus. The Academy
remained a model for institutions of higher learning until it was closed, in 529 CE, by the Emperor
Justinian.

The Allegory of the Cave

Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so
far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms.

The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this.

In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained
in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns
a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk.
The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of
the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects that pass behind them.
What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.
Here is an illustration of Plato’s Cave:
 Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the things they
see on the wall (the shadows) were real; they would know nothing of the real causes of the
shadows.

So when the prisoners talk, what are they talking about? If an object (a book, let us say)
is carried past behind them, and it casts a shadow on the wall, and a prisoner says “I see a book,”
what is he talking about?

He thinks he is talking about a book, but he is really talking about a shadow. But he uses
the word “book.” What does that refer to?

Plato gives his answer at line (515b2). The text here has puzzled many editors, and it has
been frequently emended. The translation in Grube/Reeve gets the point correctly:

“And if they could talk to one another, don’t you think they’d suppose that the names
they used applied to the things they see passing before them?”

Plato’s point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be taking the terms
in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather than (as is correct,
in Plato’s view) to the real things that cast the shadows.

If a prisoner says “That’s a book” he thinks that the word “book” refers to the very thing
he is looking at. But he would be wrong. He’s only looking at a shadow. The real referent of the
word “book” he cannot see. To see it, he would have to turn his head around.

Plato’s point: the general terms of our language are not “names” of the physical objects
that we can see. They are actually names of things that we cannot see, things that we can only
grasp with the mind.

When the prisoners are released, they can turn their heads and see the real objects. Then
they realize their error. What can we do that is analogous to turning our heads and seeing the
causes of the shadows? We can come to grasp the Forms with our minds.

Plato’s aim in the Republic is to describe what is necessary for us to achieve this reflective
understanding. But even without it, it remains true that our very ability to think and to speak
depends on the Forms. For the terms of the language we use get their meaning by “naming” the
Forms that the objects we perceive participate in.

The prisoners may learn what a book is by their experience with shadows of books. But
they would be mistaken if they thought that the word “book” refers to something that any of
them has ever seen.
 Likewise, we may acquire concepts by our perceptual experience of physical objects. But
we would be mistaken if we thought that the concepts that we grasp were on the same level as
the things we perceive.

INSIGHTS- PLATO’S CAVE- A FAMOUS ALLEGORY

We can see the Plato's Cave story or allegory, as presented in the seventh book of
Plato's The Republic, as discussing how far people may claim to be enlightened or
unenlightened. It may well be that it has religious overtones relating to the Orphic mysticism
that was a strong faith background to the works of Socrates and Plato. Many people accept that
in his famous Allegory of the Cave Plato seems to be suggesting that a philosophic realization is
possible and can help to lead people away from an unenlightened, into an enlightened, state.
Now then, I proceeded to say, go on to compare our natural condition, so far as education
and ignorance are concerned, to the state of things like the following. Imagine a number of men
living in an underground chamber, with an entrance open to the light, extending along the entire
length of the chamber, in which they have been confined, from their childhood, with their legs
and necks so shackled, that they are obliged to sit still and look straight forwards, because their
chains render it impossible for them to turn their heads round: and imagine a bright fire burning
some way off, above and behind them, and an elevated roadway passing between the fire and
the prisoners, with a low wall built along it, like the screens which conjurors put up in front of
their audience, and above which they exhibit their wonders.
 Also figure to yourself a number of persons walking behind this wall, and carrying with
them statues of men, and images of other animals, wrought in wood and stone and all kinds of
materials, together with various other articles, which overtop the wall; and, as you might expect,
let some of the passers-by be talking, and others silent.

You are describing a strange scene, and strange prisoners.

They resemble us. For let me ask you, in the first place, whether persons so confined could
have seen anything of themselves or of each other, beyond the shadows thrown by the fire upon
the part of the chamber facing them. Certainly not, if you suppose them to have been compelled
all their lifetime to keep their heads unmoved. And is not their knowledge of the things carried
past them equally limited? Unquestionably it is.

And if they were able to converse with one another, do you not think that they would be
in the habit of giving names to the objects they saw before them? Doubtless they would.

Again: if their prison-house returned an echo from the part facing them, whenever one
of the passers-by opened his lips, to what, let me ask you, could they refer the voice, if not to the
shadow which was passing?

Unquestionably they would refer it to that. Then surely such persons would hold the
shadows of those manufactured articles to be the only realities. Without a doubt they would.

Now consider what would happen if the course of nature brought them a release from
their fetters, and a remedy form their foolishness in the following manner. Let us suppose that
one of them has been released, and compelled suddenly to stand up, and turn his neck round
and walk with open eyes towards the light; let us suppose that he goes through all these actions
with pain, and that the dazzling splendour renders him incapable of discerning those objects of
which he formerly used to see the shadows. What answer should you expect him to make, if
someone were to tell him that in those days he was watching foolish phantoms, but that now he
is somewhat nearer to reality, and is turned toward things more real, and sees more correctly;
above all, if he were to point out to him the several objects that are passing by, and question
him, and compel him to answer what they are? Should you not expect him to be puzzled, and to
regard his old visions as truer than the objects now forced upon his notice?

Yes, much truer.

And if he were further compelled to gaze at the light itself, would not his eyes, think you,
be distressed, and would he not shrink and turn away to the things which he could see distinctly,
and consider them to be really clearer than the things pointed out to him? Just so.
 And if someone were to drag him violently up the rough and steep ascent from the
chamber, and refuse to let him go till he had drawn him out into the light of the sun, would he
not, think you, be vexed and indignant at such treatment, and on reaching the light, would he
not find his eyes so dazzled by the glare as to be incapable of making out so much as one of the
objects that are now called true?

Yes, he would find it so at first.

Hence, suppose, habit will be necessary to enable him to perceive objects in that upper
world. At first he will be most successful in distinguishing shadows; then he will discern the
reflections of men and other things in water, and afterwards the realities; after this he will raise
his eyes to encounter the light of the moon and stars, finding it less difficult to study the heavenly
bodies and the heaven itself by night, than the sun and the sun's light by day. Doubtless.

Last of all, imagine, he will be able to observe and contemplate the nature of the sun, not
as it appears in water or on alien ground, but as it is in itself in its own territory. Of course.

His next step will be to draw the conclusion, that the sun is the author of the seasons and
the years, and the guardian of all things in the visible world, and in a manner the cause of all
those things which he and his companions used to see.

Obviously this will be his next step.

What then? When he recalls to mind his first habitation, and the wisdom of the place, and
his old fellow- prisoners, do you not think he will congratulate himself on the change, and pity
them? Assuredly he will.

And if it was their practice in those days to receive honour and commendations one from
another, and to give prizes to him who had the keenest eye for a passing object, and who
remembered best all that used to precede and follow and accompany it, and from these data
divined most ably what was going to come next, do you fancy that he will covet these prizes, and
envy those who received honour and exercise authority among them? Do you not rather imagine
that he will rather imagine that he will feel what Homer describes, and wish extremely "To drudge
on the lands of a master, Under a portionless wight." and be ready to go through anything, rather
than entertain those opinions, and live in that fashion?

And now consider what would happen if such a man were to descend again and seat
himself on his old seat? Coming so suddenly out of the sun, would he not find his eyes blinded
with the gloom of the place? Certainly, he would.
 And if he were forced to deliver his opinion again, touching the shadows aforesaid, and
to enter the lists against those who had always been prisoners, while his sight continued dim and
his eyes unsteady, - and if this process of initiation lasted a considerable time, - would he not be
made a laughingstock, and would it not be said of him, that he had gone up only to come back
again with his eyesight destroyed, and that it was not worthwhile even to attempt the ascent?
And if anyone endeavoured to set them free and carry them to the light, would they not go so
far as to put him to death, if they could only manage to get him into their power? Yes, that they
would.

Now this imaginary case must apply in all its parts to our former statements, by comparing
the region which the eye reveals, to the prison-house, and the light of the fire therein to the
power of the sun: and if, by the upward ascent and the contemplation of the upper world, you
understand the mounting of the soul into the intellectual region, you will hit the tendency of my
own surmises, since you desire to be told what they are; though, indeed, God only knows
whether they are correct. But, be that as it may, the view which I take of the subject is to the
following effect. In the world of knowledge, the essential Form of Good is the limit of our
inquiries, and can barely be perceived; but, when perceived, we cannot help concluding that it is
in every case the source of all that is bright and beautiful,- in the visible world giving birth to light
and its master, and in the intellectual world dispensing, immediately and with full authority, truth
and reason;- and that whosoever would act wisely, either in private or in public, must set the
Form of Good before his eyes.

Plato later in this same seventh book of The Republic introduces the notion that there are
four planes upon which people know about things. These planes are words, perception, concepts,
and ideas. These planes may be compared to the various levels depicted in the allegory of the
Cave.

Men start out in the realm of words - where shadows are thrown upon the wall. A more
true reality is that of the road and the images being carried by the persons passing along it. These
are as perceptions which cast the immediately apparent reality of shadows (words) upon the
wall. The next approach to a fuller realisation of reality is more testing - it involves being out in
the glare of the Sun and the conceptual recognition that the images being carried are not as real
as the variously motivated people carrying them. The next phase suggested is that of ideas where
people become, philosophic, observers of the world.
 Plato
Ancient Greek Philosophy - Famous Philosophers - Plato (429 -
347 B.C.)
On Philosophy / Metaphysics of Plato and the importance of
philosophy to humanity.
Plato quotes (The Republic)

Introduction

Plato was brilliant, astute, charming, amusing, profound, practical, sensible,

logical, enquiring, seeking, exploring by considering the simple and obvious.

A wonderful mind!

He also had a good understanding of human nature and our tendency for tribal
belief in customs. Both Socrates and Plato knew that a good society must be founded on
wisdom derived from truth and reality.
So read one of the greatest minds in human history, wisdom that directly applies to
improving ourselves & our society.

PHILOSOPHY

And those whose hearts are fixed on Reality itself deserve the title of Philosophers. (Plato,
Republic)

The society we have described can never grow into a reality or see the light of day, and
there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed, my dear Glaucon, of humanity itself, till
philosophers are kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly
become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands, while
the many natures now content to follow either to the exclusion of the other are forcibly debarred
from doing so. This is what I have hesitated to say so long, knowing what a paradox it would
sound; for it is not easy to see that there is no other road to happiness, either for society or the
individual. (Plato, Republic)

When the mind's eye rests on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it understands and
comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns to the twilight world of change
and decay, it can only form opinions, its vision is confused and its beliefs shifting, and it seems to
lack intelligence. (Plato, Republic)

Plato Quotes on Philosophy Truth and Reality

And isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the
truth is? For I assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are.
(Plato)

The philosopher is in love with truth, that is, not with the changing world of sensation,
which is the object of opinion, but with the unchanging reality which is the object of knowledge.
(Plato)

Truthfulness. He will never willingly tolerate an untruth, but will hate it as much as he
loves truth. ... And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth? (Plato)

What is at issue is the conversion of the mind from the twilight of error to the truth that
climb up into the real world which we shall call true philosophy. (Plato)

The object of knowledge is what exists and its function to know about reality. (Plato)

One trait in the philosopher's character we can assume is his love of the knowledge that
reveals eternal reality, the realm unaffected by change and decay. He is in love with the whole of
that reality, and will not willingly be deprived even of the most insignificant fragment of it - just
like the lovers and men of ambition we described earlier on. (Plato)

Plato the Philosopher

Plato, who is without doubt one of the greatest philosophers of the past 2,500 years. Thus
it is unfortunate that many people imagine our post-modern society to have gained such
knowledge that the Ancient Greek Philosophers are now irrelevant. In fact the opposite is true.
As Bertrand Russell observed (History of Western Philosophy), it was the Ancient Greek
Philosophers who first discovered and discussed the fundamental Principles of Philosophy, and
most significantly, little has been added to their knowledge since. As Einstein wrote;

Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks
to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent
on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else. And
what a person thinks on his own without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of
other people is even in the best case rather paltry and monotonous. There are only a few
enlightened people with a lucid mind and style and with good taste within a century. What has
been preserved of their work belongs among the most precious possessions of mankind. We owe
it to a few writers of antiquity (Plato, Aristotle, etc.) that the people in the Middle Ages could
slowly extricate themselves from the superstitions and ignorance that had darkened life for more
than half a millennium. Nothing is more needed to overcome the modernist's snobbishness.
(Albert Einstein, 1954)

It is therefore both interesting and important to consider the foundations which caused
the blossoming of Ancient Greek Philosophy. First and foremost was the realisation that ALL IS
ONE, as Nietzsche writes;

Greek philosophy seems to begin with a preposterous fancy, with the proposition that
water is the origin and mother-womb of all things. Is it really necessary to stop there and become
serious? Yes, and for three reasons: firstly, because the preposition does enunciate something
about the origin of things; secondly, because it does so without figure and fable; thirdly and lastly,
because it contained, although only in the chrysalis state, the idea: everything is one. ... That
which drove him (Thales) to this generalization was a metaphysical dogma, which had its origin
in a mystic intuition and which together with the ever renewed endeavours to express it better,
we find in all philosophies- the proposition: everything is one! (Friedrich Nietzsche, the Greeks)

Further, the Ancient Greeks realised that Motion (Flux / Activity / Change) was central to
existence and reality, as Aristotle writes;

The first philosophy (Metaphysics) is universal and is exclusively concerned with primary
substance. ... And here we will have the science to study that which is just as that which is, both
in its essence and in the properties which, just as a thing that is, it has. (Aristotle, 340BC)

The entire preoccupation of the physicist is with things that contain within themselves a
principle of movement and rest. And to seek for this is to seek for the second kind of principle
that from which comes the beginning of the change. (Aristotle, 340BC)
Only recently (Wolff, 1986 - Hazlehurst, 1997) has it been possible, with the discovery of the
Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM), to unite these ideas
with modern Physics, Philosophy and Metaphysics. And let me first say that it is ironic that the
main problem for human knowledge also came from the Ancient Greeks, with their conception
of matter as discrete Atoms (Democritus, Lucretius). Unfortunately, Physics took the path of the
atomists (Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Lorentz) and this led to the creation of 'Forces / Fields'
(generated by particles) to explain how matter interacted with other discrete matter at-a-
distance in Space.
 It seems that many people believe that Reality / Physics is too complex for them to
possibly understand (and I suspect that Physicists enjoy this reputation as being the 'high priests'
who comprehend such complex things). In fact the opposite is true - Truth is ultimately simple
because Truth comes from Reality (as Plato correctly realised) which must be founded on One
thing. And there is nothing simpler than One Thing. (This explains why Philosophy is also known
as the discovery of the obvious!)

When you read the quotes from Plato below, you will also find Plato's ideas to be very
simple. This reflects his greatness as a philosopher, and partly explains why his work has endured
for thousands of years. To me, it is his realisation that philosophy is fundamentally important to
humanity that without philosophy, without truth, there can be no wisdom - which leaves
humanity blind and the future treacherous. Reason tells me that Reality has been discovered,
that the source of all truth and wisdom has finally been found. And in our currently troubled
times there is no more important knowledge than true knowledge of reality - of what it truly
means to 'Know Thyself' as the foundation for living wisely and ensuring survival.

Plato 'The Republic' Quotes

I don't know anything that gives me greater pleasure, or profit either, than talking or
listening to philosophy. But when it comes to ordinary conversation, such as the stuff you talk
about financiers and the money market, well, I find it pretty tiresome personally, and I feel sorry
that my friends should think they're being very busy when they're really doing absolutely nothing.
Of course, I know your idea of me: you think I'm just a poor unfortunate, and I shouldn't wonder
if you’re right. But then I don't THINK that you're unfortunate - I know you are. (Plato)

Plato is an astute and important philosopher, who writes beautifully and with great power
and elegance on Truth and Reality. His work is still profoundly important in today's postmodern
world, and can be easily understood due to its simplicity of language and engaging style of
dialogue. The following quotes are taken from Plato's great work The Republic, and speak grandly
for themselves, thus I largely leave them as they are, with little commentary or analysis (though
I of course hope that you will read them with the Wave Structure of Matter in mind).

Plato Quotes on the Understanding of New Ideas

We are like people looking for something they have in their hands all the time; we're
looking in all directions except at the thing we want, which is probably why we haven't found
it.(Plato, 380BC)
 'That is the story. Do you think there is any way of making them believe it?'
' Not in the first generation', he said, 'but you might succeed with the second and later
generations.' (Plato, 380BC)

'We will ask the critics to be serious for once, and remind them that it was not so long ago
that the Greeks thought - as most of the barbarians still think - that it was shocking and ridiculous
for men to be seen naked. When the Cretans, and later the Spartans, first began to take exercise
naked, wasn't there plenty of material for the wit of the comedians of the day?'

'There was indeed'

'But when experience showed them that it was better to strip than wrap themselves up,
what reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye. Which shows how idle it is to
think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.' (Plato, 380BC)

Plato on Truth and Reality

And isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the
truth is? For I assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are.
(Plato, 380BC)

The philosopher is in love with truth, that is, not with the changing world of sensation,
which is the object of opinion, but with the unchanging reality which is the object of knowledge.
(Plato, 380BC)

Truthfulness. He will never willingly tolerate an untruth, but will hate it as much as he
loves truth... And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth? (Plato,
380BC)

Then may we not fairly plead in reply that our true lover of knowledge naturally strives
for truth, and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied
passion till he grasps the essential nature of things with the mental faculty fitted to do so, that is,
with the faculty which is akin to reality, and which approaches and unites with it, and begets
intelligence and truth as children, and is only released from travail when it has thus reached
knowledge and true life and satisfaction? (Plato, 380BC)

What is at issue is the conversion of the mind from the twilight of error to the truth, that
climb up into the real world which we shall call true philosophy. (Plato, 380BC)
 The object of knowledge is what exists and its function to know about reality. (Plato,
380BC)

And those whose hearts are fixed on Reality itself deserve the title of Philosophers. (Plato,
380BC)

When the mind's eye rests on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it understands and
comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns to the twilight world of change
and decay, it can only form opinions, its vision is confused and its beliefs shifting, and it seems to
lack intelligence. (Plato, 380BC)

'But surely "blind" is just how you would describe men who have no true knowledge of
reality, and no clear standard in their mind to refer to, as a painter refers to his model, and which
they can study closely before they start laying down rules about what is fair or right or good
where they are needed, or maintaining, as Guardians, any rules that already exist.'
'Yes, blind is just about what they are' (Plato, 380BC)

One trait in the philosopher's character we can assume is his love of the knowledge that
reveals eternal reality, the realm unaffected by change and decay. He is in love with the whole of
that reality, and will not willingly be deprived even of the most insignificant fragment of it - just
like the lovers and men of ambition we described earlier on. (Plato, 380BC)

Plato Education Quotes

...for the object of education is to teach us to love beauty. (Plato, 380BC)

And once we have given our community a good start, the process will be cumulative. By
maintaining a sound system of education you produce citizens of good character, and citizens of
sound character, with the advantage of a good education, produce in turn children better than
themselves and better able to produce still better children in their turn, as can be seen with
animals. (Plato, 380BC)

'.. It is in education that bad discipline can most easily creep in unobserved,' he replied.

'Yes,' I agreed, ' because people don't treat it seriously there, and think no harm can come
of it.'
 'It only does harm,' he said, 'because it makes itself at home and gradually undermines
morals and manners; from them it invades business dealings generally, and then spreads into the
laws and constitution without any restraint, until it has made complete havoc of private and
public life.'

' And when men who aren't fit to be educated get an education they don't deserve, are
not the thoughts and opinions they produce fairly called sophistry, without a legitimate idea or
any trace of true wisdom among them?'

'Certainly'.

' The first thing our artist must do,' I replied, ' - and it's not easy - is to take human society
and human habits and wipe them clean out, to give himself a clean canvas. For our philosophic
artist differs from all others in being unwilling to start work on an individual or a city, or draw out
laws, until he is given, or has made himself, a clean canvas.' (Plato, 380BC)

' Because a free man ought not to learn anything under duress. Compulsory physical
exercise does no harm to the body, but compulsory learning never sticks to the mind.'

'True'

'Then don't use compulsion,' I said to him, ' but let your children's lessons take the form
of play. You will learn more about their natural abilities that way.' (Plato, 380BC)

For we soon reap the fruits of literature in life, and prolonged indulgence in any form of
literature in life leaves its mark on the moral nature of man, affecting not only the mind but
physical poise and intonation.

'It is not only to the poets therefore that we must issue orders requiring them to represent
good character in their poems or not to write at all; we must issue similar orders to all artists and
prevent them from portraying bad character, ill-discipline, meanness, or ugliness in painting,
sculpture, architecture, or any work of art, and if they are unable to comply they must be
forbidden to practice their art. We shall thus prevent our guardians being brought up among
representations of what is evil, and so day by day and little by little, by feeding as it were in an
unhealthy pasture, insensibly doing themselves grave psychological damage. Our artists and
craftsmen must be capable of perceiving the real nature of what is beautiful, and then our young
men, living as it were in a good climate, will benefit because all the works of art they see and hear
influence them for good, like the breezes from some healthy country with what is rational and
right.'

'That would indeed be the best way to bring them up.'

 'And that, my dear Glaucon,' I said,' is why this stage of education is crucial. For rhythm
and harmony penetrate deeply into the mind and have a most powerful effect on it, and if
education is good, bring balance and fairness, if it is bad, the reverse.

'Then i must surely be right in saying that we shall not be properly educated ourselves,
nor will the guardians whom we are training, until we can recognise the qualities of discipline,
courage, generosity, greatness of mind, and others akin to them, as well as their opposites in all
their manifestations'.

Plato on the Mind

Do we learn with one part of us, feel angry with another, and desire the pleasures of
eating and sex with another? Or do we employ our mind as a whole when our energies are
employed in any of these ways? (Plato, 380BC)

We can call the reflective element in the mind the reason, and the element with which it
feels hunger and thirst, and the agitations of sex and other desires, the irrational appetite - an
element closely connected with pleasure and satisfaction. (Plato, 380BC)

'So the reason ought to rule, having the ability and foresight to act for the whole, and the
spirit ought to obey and support it. And this concord between them is effected, as we said, by a
combination of intellectual and physical training, which tunes up the reason by intellectual
training and tones down the crudeness of natural high spirits by harmony and rhythm.'

'Certainly'

'When these two elements have been brought up and trained to their proper function,
they must be put in charge of appetite, which forms the greater part of each man's make-up and
is naturally insatiable. They must prevent taking its fill of the so-called physical pleasures, for
otherwise it will get too large and strong to mind its own business and will try to subject and
control the other elements, which it has no right to do, and so wreck life entirely.' (Plato, 380BC)

Then let us be content with the terms we used earlier on for the four divisions of our line
- knowledge, reason, belief and illusion. The last two we class together as opinion, the first two
as intelligence, opinion being concerned with the world of becoming, knowledge with the world
of reality. Knowledge stands to opinion as the world of reality does to that of becoming, and
intelligence stands to belief and reason to illusion as knowledge stands to opinion. (Plato, 380BC)
Quotations from Plato on Illusion

In the analogy of The Cave, Plato shows the ascent of the mind from illusion to truth and
pure philosophy, and the difficulties which accompany its progress.

'Then think what would happen to them if they were released from their bonds and cured
of their delusions. Suppose one of them were let loose, and suddenly compelled to stand up and
turn his head and look and walk towards the fire; all actions would be painful and he would be
too dazzled to see properly the objects of which he used to see the shadows. So if he was told
that what he used to see was mere illusion and that he was now nearer reality and seeing more
correctly, because he was turned towards objects that were more real, and if on top of that he
were compelled to say what each of the passing objects was when it was pointed out to him,
don't you think he would be at a loss, and think that what he used to see was more real than the
objects now being pointed out to him?'

' Because he would need to grow accustomed to the light before he could see things in
the world outside the cave. First he would find it easiest to look at shadows, next at the
reflections of men and other objects in water, and later on at the objects themselves. After that
he would find it easier to observe the heavenly bodies and the sky at night than by day, and to
look at the light of the moon and stars, rather than at the sun and its light.'

' But anyone with any sense,' I said, 'will remember that the eyes may be unsighted in two
ways, by a transition either from light to darkness or from darkness to light, and that the same
distinction applies to the mind. So when he sees a mind confused and unable to see clearly he
will not laugh without thinking, but will ask himself whether it has come from a cleaner world
and is confused by the unaccustomed darkness, or whether it is dazzled by the stronger light of
the clearer world to which it has escaped from its previous ignorance.'

' If this is true,' I continued, ' we must reject the conception of education professed by
those who say that they can put into the mind knowledge that was not there before - rather as if
they could put sight into blind eyes.'
'It is a claim that is certainly made,' he said

'But our argument indicates that this is a capacity which is innate in each man's mind, and
that the faculty by which he learns is like an eye that cannot be turned from darkness to light
unless the whole body is turned; in the same way the mind as a whole must be turned away from
the world of change until its eyes can bear to look straight at reality, and at the brightest of all
realities which we call the Good. Isn't that so?' (Plato, 380BC)
Plato on the Importance of Philosophy

The society we have described can never grow into a reality or see the light of day, and
there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed, my dear Glaucon, of humanity itself, till
philosophers are kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly
become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands, while
the many natures now content to follow either to the exclusion of the other are forcibly debarred
from doing so. This is what I have hesitated to say so long, knowing what a paradox it would
sound; for it is not easy to see that there is no other road to happiness, either for society or the
individual. (Plato, 380BC)

...there are some who are naturally fitted for philosophy and political leadership, while
the rest should follow their lead and let philosophy alone. (Plato, 380BC)

'But the man who is ready to taste every form of knowledge, is glad to learn and never
satisfied - he's the man who deserves to be called a philosopher, isn't he?' (Plato, 380BC)

'Then who are the true philosophers?', he asked

'Those whose passion is to see the truth.'

'Suppose the following to be the state of affairs on board a ship or ships. The captain is
larger and stronger than any of the crew, but a bit deaf and short-sighted, and doesn't know
much about navigation. The crew are quarrelling with each other about how to navigate the ship,
each thinking he ought to be at the helm; they know no navigation and cannot say that anyone
ever taught it them, or that they spent any time studying it; indeed they say it can't be taught
and are ready to murder anyone who says it can. They spend all their time milling around the
captain and trying to get him to give them the wheel. If one faction is more successful then
another, their rivals may kill them and throw them overboard, lay out the honest captain with
drugs and drink, take control of the ship, help themselves to what's on board, and behave as if
they were on a drunken pleasure-cruise. Finally, they reserve their admiration for the man who
knows how to lend a hand in controlling the captain by force or fraud; they praise his seamanship
and navigation and knowledge of the sea and condemn everyone else as useless. They have no
idea that the true navigator must study the seasons of the year, the sky, the stars, the winds and
other professional subjects, if he is really fit to control a ship; and they think that it's quite
impossible to acquire professional skill in navigation (quite apart from whether they want it
exercised) and that there is no such thing as an art of navigation. In these circumstances aren't
the sailors on any ship bound to regard the true navigator as a gossip and a star-gazer, of no use
to them at all?'
 'Yes, they are,' Adeimantus agreed

'I think you probably understand, without any explanation, that my illustration is intended
to show the present attitude of society towards the true philosopher' (Plato, 380BC)

And tell him it's quite true that the best of the philosophers are of no use to their fellows;
but that he should blame, not the philosophers, but those who fail to make use of them. (Plato,
380BC)

I feel like standing and applauding when I read Plato, for he is one of the true greats. The
early Greeks were exceedingly smart and aware, and they created the system that then led to
Aristotle, and his most profound work, 'The Metaphysics'. Their knowledge lies at the very heart
of the Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Wave Structure of Matter. See Links below.